We left it, it being more of the constant search for art, we left it last time with the leaving of the Tim Stoner exhibition at Pace over in Hanover Square, there wasn’t time for the glossy shiny floor sports car sales room of an art gallery over the road from Pace, a space that mostly disappoints, no time on that particular evening, there was a need to get to Cork Street and read Part One if you feel you need to catch up – Before Break The Glass last Thursday, there was a need to go West. More of the constant search for art, this time Tim Stoner’s Negative Space at Pace Gallery…

There’s a couple of reasons for wanting to be in Cork Street this evening, the first is the opening of Black Star at Kearsey and Gold and the second is the need to catch the latest Anne Rothenstein exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery, her last one in the Gallery’s old West End space was rather stylish, her muted colour, her lines. A solo exhibition of new paintings by British artist Anne Rothenstein, following her solo presentation in New York last spring. And as we said of her 2022 show, there’s a calming beauty to Anna Rothenstein’s work, there are subtle undercurrents though, subtle suggestions, quietly powerful pieces…

Anne Rothenstein is a calming soothing stylish painter, she is seemingly in a world of her own, well in terms of the art she makes and where it fits, you kind of get the idea she has no interest in where it might fit, I could be wrong, I’ve not heard her say so, I just conclude.  There is something captivating, distinctive, it is just a pleasure to be in a quiet peaceful gallery with her paintings, to wonder about them, to not have to wonder too much about them.  I have no idea where Anne Rothenstein stands in terms of the great art debate or where contemporary painting is at, she certainly doesn’t challenge me is the way say Madeleine Strindberg, Sean Scully or Sterling Ruby does, her paintings aren’t about a challenge, they are some kind of shade of enigmatic, they are extremely pleasing, they are kind of mysterious. Mysterious figures in her stylised landscapes or interiors, her subtle use of colour just hits some kind of spot…

Speaking of her artistic process, Rothenstein says, “My reasons, or intentions, when making a particular painting are quite mysterious to me. The spark is always lit from an existing image, a photograph or another painting, and I often don’t discover why that image leaped out at me or what it is I’m exploring until the work is finished. Sometimes I never find out. It is almost entirely intuitive. Finding a rhythm, searching for balance, alert to missteps, to what is happening, to changes of direction….” 

There is a rhythm, I’m not sure how deep anything is here, particularly so with this latest collection of paintings, I’m not sure how deep I want them to be, they’re certainly a lot more than just decoration or nice things to look at, we’re not talking biscuit tins and jigsaw puzzles here. She says she’s telling herself a story much of the time, that and asking questions. Who is this, where is this place, what is going on? You are kind of wondering, who are these people, these stylish people with their impeccable tastes, where is this place, where is that big cat-line beast running to?  

“Rothenstein is self-taught and lives and works in London. Born in 1949, the daughter of the late Michael Rothenstein and Duffy Ayres, she grew up in a lively and distinguished community of artists in the Essex village of Great Bardfield. Following a foundation course at Camberwell School of Art in the mid-1960s, Rothenstein worked as an actress for over a decade before gradually returning to painting”.

I don’t know, I just like going to see her work and spending time with them, surely sometimes that is more that enough?  

To be continues at we head for Break The Glass… (sw)  

Previously…

ORGAN THING: Before Break The Glass last Thursday, there was a need to go West. More of the constant search for art, this time Tim Stoner’s Negative Space at Pace Gallery…

ORGAN THING: Anne Rothenstein and Caroline Coon both open at Stephen Friedman’s West End Galleries in a stylishly lead up to Frieze…

More previous Stephen Friedman Gallery coverage

Stephen Friedman Gallery is at 5–6 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LQ. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am until 6pm (11am to 5pm on Saturdays). And yes, I know, the show closes on April 12th, I should have banged this out days ago but this painting light has been so good…

annerothenstein.co.uk

As always please click on an image to see the whole thing or t orun the slide show