A lettuce and three tins… what makes it Arte Povera?

Arte Povera at Hastings Arts Forum

The third Arte Povera exhibition at Hastings Arts Forum runs until 2 April. Lesley Barker, the exhibition director tells us why we should visit.

A tale of three tins (and also a lettuce)

You can find out more about this tale and the tins exhibited alongside it, whilst also delving into a little art history. Drop into the Gallery at the Hastings Arts Forum where you will find this alongside other intriguing pieces of art work over the next two or three weeks. This absorbing exhibition finds similarities to the Arte Povera movement of the 60s and 70s and the social and economic times we find ourselves living through today.

Changing Landscapes – sculpture by Sharon Moore

The work in this exhibition deals with so many issues and on so many levels. There are exhibits that are haunting, some that are beautiful and some that are disturbing.  All the work has interest and relevance to our times.  Migration (so often in the news today) is one of them. The artifacts and backstories remind us that wherever and whenever migration occurs, it is inevitably a social, political or economic act. The necessity to make feminist art still exists. We live in the shadows of our parents’ generation. Caroline Gregory’s work revisits her mother’s generation, and uses some personal effects to demonstrate the reverbations that one generation cannot help but bestow on the next.

Packaging, waste, the condition of our seas and the fall out from our consumer society come together in a large wall piece by Louise Witham, whilst David Reeve’s discarded chairs become a metaphor for the places where human interaction may take place. The work of both Carly Ralph and Markus Thonett question the significance of flags, as they move gently in the air above us in the gallery. Their existence a recognised marker of memory, cultural belonging, ownership and statehood.

‘Lighting the Moon’ wall piece by Lesley Barker

Both handmade and found artefacts ask questions about how we live today. Lesley Barker offers a hand reaching out to us from the wall –  but the black sand is running through her fingers. Time is short. Directly above a huge painting exploring our experience of time hangs in silence.  Small areas of vacant wall space have graffiti on the walls, claiming their right to be heard.  Read it, you will be a better person for doing so.

There is such a richness and depth in this exhibition – in fact it is an exhibition to visit more than once, simply because it provokes so many thoughts in the minds of those who view it.

‘A Hard Rain’ wall piece by Markus Thonett

But we still need to answer this question: Exactly how does a lettuce continue to interest us at least fifty years after its first appearance in an Arte Povera exhibition?

And don’t forget you have yet to discover the significance of the Tale of Three Tins… visit the exhibition to find out.

Exhibiting artists: Moram Ali, Lesley Barker, Frances Bristow, Samantha Guertain, Caroline Gregory, Heinz Kalkbrenner, Jacek Krzysik Sharon Moore, Carly Ralph, Helen Rawlinson, David Reeve, Margaret Roberts, Helen Savage, Markus Thonett and Louise Witham

Arte Povera III runs until 2 April at Hastings Arts Forum, Marine Court, St Leonards-on-Sea.

‘Max at low tide’ oil painting on book jacket by Samantha Guertin

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