Gemma Jayne Paine: A Retrospective: Cardiff Bay & Beyond
Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay
Wed 6-Fri 29 June
In the universe of British cities, Cardiff is very much a star on the rise, having transformed into a thriving, cosmopolitan entity in the last 20 years. However, for Gemma Jayne Paine, Cardiff’s seismic changes have had an undesirable impact on the architecture of the city. In her latest exhibition, the artist attempts to encapsulate this architectural shift from elegant, Victorian buildings to contemporary, towering structures. Whilst the focus is on the city, the exhibition is in equal parts a visual manifestation of the personal and artistic changes Paine has undergone since she first began in the late 90s.
Paine first dipped an apprehensive toe into the cityscape pool when studying a Foundation Art and Design course. It wasn’t long before she had fully immersed herself in the genre, allowing her to move beyond emulating the work of others, to manufacturing her own unique creations. A descendent of Folmer Bendtsen, a Danish artist and former rag and bone man (the collector of unwanted items, not the one-hit wonder), Paine’s work appears to be a merger of both her ancestor’s trades, with an emphasis on the inclusion of found objects in her creations.
Appropriately, the exhibition will be housed in the Pierhead Building, one of Cardiff’s most recognisable Victorian stalwarts, with Jane Hutt launching the grand opening at 5pm on Tue 5 June. RHYS FISHER
Admission: free. Info: 0845 0105500 / www.pierhead.org