Painting as Commitment

To celebrate the publication of the Journal of Contemporary Painting issue 3.1+2: Painting as Commitment, the editors and the RCA’s School of Fine Art invite you to special screenings of two recent films about painters:

A Path to the Absolute: John Golding

As If They Existed

RCA research students Desmond Brett, Yifei He, Lola Lasurt, Tom Palin and Jeroen van Dooren will lead a discussion with the films’ directors Bruno Wollheim and Felicity Allen and ask the question of why paint now?

Followed by a drinks reception.

Copies of JCP3.1+2 (double issue) will be available to purchase on the evening at the limited launch price of £15 (cash only).

A Path to the Absolute: John Golding
(Dir. Bruno Wollheim, 2016, 45mins)

John Golding (Photograph courtesy of David Bennett 1994)

John Golding who died in 2012 was an abstract painter though today he is better known as an eminent art historian, teacher, curator and critic who taught for many years at the RCA. This documentary presents a life and art in precarious balance, exploring through his friends, ex-students and colleagues the turbulent evolution of his painting and the creative tensions within a divided life.

Bruno Wollheim is a London-based documentary filmmaker. His work includes two award-winning BBC films on David Hockney (Double Portrait and A Bigger Picture) and In Your Face, a series on contemporary portraits for Channel 4.

As If They Existed (Dir. Felicity Allen & Tom Dale, 2015, 30mins)

Still from As If They Existed, with Felicity Allen and Anne Wagner

Commissioned from a residency by Turner Contemporary, As If They Existed is one of a series of collaborative productions made with sitters as part of Allen’s Dialogic Portraits process. Made in a spectacular public space overlooking the sea, the film reveals intimate flows of conversation, painting, and observation with women who have worked with the visible, including Griselda Pollock, Denise Riley, Anne Wagner and Rose Wylie.

Felicity Allen is an artist and writer. Recent productions include several series of Dialogic Portraits, creating artists books, films, watercolours. Her book Education came out in 2011 (Documents of Contemporary Art, MIT/Whitechapel) and she has written numerous articles on gallery education.

JCP3.1+2 Cover image: David Mabb (2015): Scrap Trident (back), acrylic paint, William Morris ‘Fruit’ fabric, projection screen with tripod, 180 x 110 x 75cm, courtesy of the artist.