COMFORT
AND
JOY

Blain is delighted to announce: ‘Comfort and Joy!’ This celebratory, festive-inspired exhibition brings together works by: Helen Beard, Maryam Eisler, Anna Freeman Bentley, Dinos Chapman, Kathy Dalwood, Nicole Farhi, Lucio Fontana, Matous Hasa, Radu Oreian, Harland Miller, Mirela Moscu, Daniel Pitín, Kathleen Ryan, Robert Ryman, Fredrikson Stallard, Attila Szücs and Christopher Wool.

Synonymous with one of the world’s most beloved and joyful carols, the words ‘comfort and joy’, evoke the feelings most longed for in an often-troubled world and especially during the holiday season. The festive period brings with it the possibility of respite from the cares and tribulations of everyday life, but it also offers hope for a renewed, more peaceful future - as evinced by the original Christmas story and the ‘welcoming in’ of another new year.

For people who are homeless or struggling to keep a roof over their head, however, this  time of year can be especially hard. The charity ‘Shelter’ exists to defend the right to a safe home, because - in their words: ‘home is everything’. The organisation seeks to bring both comfort and joy into the lives of people who are contending with difficult, lonely and often frightening contexts. Blain is proud to be able to help support their efforts, through donating a percentage of proceeds from this exhibition to their cause.

‘Comfort and Joy’ draws from the colours associated with the festive season and incorporates mediums that encourage the viewer to make celebratory connections. Enticing objects and visions of splendour contrast with quiet reflections of contemplation and serenity. Purple - the colour of advent - red, gold, silver and green - the colours of Christmas - are balanced with the snowy whites and forest greens of ancient mid-winter.

Artists often delve deep into their souls to make their work, but they also delight in the joys of the physical world as well as the sublime. Viewers entering this seasonal exhibition will discover pieces to delight the senses, inspire, enliven or quieten the mind.

The effects will be distinctly different - as the works are deliberately diverse: some pieces  engage directly with the Christmas message and angelic figures, others evoke the season elegantly but obliquely. Christmas isn’t Christmas without a party (or two); a heavenly host reimagined - still lit by a transcendent light, but captured via a phone;  cosy, festive interiors that contrast with a surprise cowboy - his depiction synonymous with the mid-west and journeys to far-flung frontiers to escape the winter blues. There is the orange - evocative of the Christingle; playful and powerful busts that would adorn the most elegant of festive interiors; the vision of a true icon; pared-down minimalist visions of beauty and essentialised forms - redolent of purity and symbolic of the spiritual. A ‘national treasure’ is immortalised in glass - see if you can find her -  and - in keeping with the Christmas message - Love will save the day - this time in the form of a painting that immortalises a book cover. Something then for everyone - a ‘not so secret Santa’ - but all the works chosen to hopefully ensure that each viewer leaves feeling joyful - and comforted.

PRIVATE VIEW 4TH DECEMBER 6-8PM