Showing results by author "Nicholas James" in All Categories

Over more than twenty years working as a plumber, Nick has shared thousands of mugs of tea with hundreds of fascinating people. Here he gives his plumber’s-eye view of society in a series of entertaining, amusing and outrageous beneath-the-kitchen-sink dramas. While fixing pipes, Nick was also looking for characters to write about. In his toolbox, in addition to spanners, he had a notebook, which wasn’t just for jotting down measurements. And ‘the secret plumber’ has some great stories to tell, about people who might just be your friends, family or neighbours.

An interview recorded with Dr. Christopher Brown, director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, in which he describes the major renovation and expansion of Britain's oldest museum, adding 39 galleries to house its collection of Egyptian, Persian, Japanese, Saxon, and Indian artefacts.

This essay explores the development of Salvador Dalí, from the early phases of childhood, the bizarre and complex aims of his first experiments, to his absorption into high society of Paris in the 1930s, and his inclusion in the Surrealist movement from 1928 to 1939. The essay focuses on the makeup of a provocative and original personality acutely reflexive, intelligent, and pathologically driven.

The fifth of Cv's English County Guides Norfolk is characterized by the breadth and variation of its countryside, known for its arched skies and expansive landscape. In a series of journeys that crisscrossed the county, author Nicholas James recorded over 100 villages and market towns, ranging from Cromer to Hunstanton on the "Norfolk Riviera" to the King's Lynn by "The Wash".

Presents a collection of essays by Nicholas James on classic and contemporary art: "The Trinity" by Masaccio at Santa Maria Novella, Florence; Vermeer's "The Maid" and "Woman Weighing Pearls"; Cezanne and Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon portraits, and reviews of over 70 exhibitions in public and private galleries held between 1993 and 2010.

Cv/VAR 124 publishes an interview recorded in 2010 with Mat Collishaw, first published in Interviews-Artists Volume Three, explores the range of his work, from 'zoetropes', animated models exhibited at the Freud Museum and installed at the Victoria and Albert museum, to photo-works and projections, with the artist’s original interventions in the natural world that fuse histories, desires and dreams. This edition includes studies of Nam June Paik and other essays on contemporary art.

This guide explores the county of Cumbria. The journey starts in Kendal, and moves to Windermere, Bowness and Ambleside. From there: Keswick and Derwentwater, Ullswater and Braithwaite to Buttermere, via the Whinlatter Forest. The beautiful environment of tarns and fells opens many varied experiences for the traveler. The guide includes information and histories from local sources.

Pamela Roberts, curator of the Royal Photographic Society, Bath, gives an interview to Cv/VAR in 1994, which charts the development of photography from its primary innovation in the 1840s by Hill & Adamson, Fox Talbot, through Roger Fenton in the Crimea War, leading to Royal Patronage of Prince Albert and development of the society into the 20th century.

The story follows a young man name Styles through an immense world where music defies gravity, people consciously communicate through dreams and other nontangible means, and plants hold the keys to unlocking the unseen

Two brothers reflect on regrettable situations with an appreciation for all things comedy, film, & animation!

Frieze Masters, London, October 6, 2019. Into the broad arena of the covered awnings of this enormous tented gathering of leading art dealers and the first gallery space is Aquavella, with a variety of exhibits; and come face-to-face with an absolutely spiteful acid green and fluorescent pink abstract by Keith Haring (1958-1990). It’s on canvas dated 1982 and signed lower left. The green is painted in a random ventilated grid over the hyper-intense pink with a bold line of a green stripe on the top edge of the work, which is encased in a glass vitrine.

A collection of reviews made from January to June 2019 of exhibitions in museums and galleries in London and Oxford. The volume proceeds from Small Histories, published in 1996 then updated in 2011. Contents include: Mantegna/Bellini at the National Gallery, John Ruskin at Temple Place, Elizabethan Miniatures at the National Portrait Gallery, Pierre Bonnard at Tate Modern, Mary Quant at the V&A, Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean Oxford, and Anish Kapoor at the Lisson Gallery London.

A viewing room by room of Bill Viola/Michelangelo at the Royal Academy of Arts on Monday March 4, 2019. Encounter the video works by Bill Viola on the theme of life, death, and rebirth and the drawings by Michelangelo from the 1530s to 1560s on religious and spiritual themes.

A recorded visit to Elizabethan Treasures during the press view at the National Portrait Gallery London. Inspect miniature portraits by Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver of Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Frake, Henry Wriothesley and others, and the celebrated icon of Queen Elizabeth I.

A visit to the Royal Collection of Charles I at the Royal Academy, 26th March 2018. Viewing works by Rubens, van Gyck, Mantegna, and Holbein, with comments and responses of the spectators.

Painter Claudia Carr describes her surreal landscapes, composed from reflections of found objects that suggest imaginative scenarios of play and dreams.

Interview with painter Anthea Holmes, recorded in April 1988 at her Whitechapel Studio. She describes her training at Kingston University and at The Pratt Institute New York; with the development of an intricate play between figure, ground and light in an intimate process of accumulation and elision of elements.

Interview conducted with Christiane Baumgartner in 2010, by emailed questions and replies, in which she describes the process of her graphic and video work; incorporating ideas of stop-motion time frames applied to subjects of landscape, travelling, traffic, highways, and military installations.

Interview recorded with Rachel Howard at the artist's studio in July 2011. Explores her childhood and upbringing, awareness of "God", and experience of a Quaker schooling. Attendance at Goldsmiths and work for Damien Hirst on pharmacy cabinets and the Spot Paintings. Recent exhibition in Italy, the "Via Dolorosa"; discussion of her paintings and drawings; the desired effect of her work.

Artist Louise Sheridan interviewed at her exhibition at The Cafe Gallery Southwark in 1993. She describes her travels in Nepal and Thailand, and the works produced from a fellowship in Barcelona, Spain. She focuses on "The Envelope Series", votive objects made with wax and encaustic, and works made with Nepalese bark paper.