Christmas Exhibition 2012

Joseph Pearces Bar, 23 Elm Row Edinburgh. Exhibition Preview Sunday 25th November 11 am - 12.30 pm

I am pleased to invite you to the preview of our new show in Joseph Pearce's Bar.

Our Christmas Exhibition is a charming collection of paintings, driftwood, paintings on driftwood and all sorts of gems in between!

From Miss Shilling’s little creatures at £15 to Mike Dix’s £1200 new bumble bee brought all the way from Dundee … (the previous one sold within a week!), there is something to suit every pocket and style.

Also presenting work by our new artists Bea Green and Jacqueline Warburton.

I hope to see you there!

"Bath with a friend hanger", by Dagmar Shilling £34 

Small ship painting, by Dagmar Shilling £20

Say it with art. Support your local artists and surprise a loved one with a one-off piece this Christmas.

Festival Exhibition 2012: Olympic Reflections

Joseph Pearce's Bar, 23 Elm Row, Edinburgh.
From Sunday 12th of August 2012

As it usually happens, once I start thinking about writing something, it starts growing and all I read afterwards seems to be falling into place. It is no coincidence, and it happens to all of us according to Arthur Koestler in “The Act of Creation”.

These days have been strongly marked by the Olympics. Some BBC journalists had been accused by viewers of being very hard while interviewing sports men and woman taking part. They refer to “failure” and “disappointment” when they should have congratulated them instead. This attitude would not surprise author Oliver Burkeman, who believes that the “positive thinking” culture has led to us being terrified of failure, instead of embracing it together with the uncertain nature of life as a necessary step in any endeavor. Neruda said that the triumph of the real man rises from the ashes of failure.  I started wondering about the untold fights and failures in the paths of some of the medalists and how many of them would have risen from their own ashes and overcome fear and the possibility of losing only to secure a long and cherished goal. I thought of Andy Murray and his patiently carved route to the top. Recently I have been fascinated by the ideas of Philippe Petit in Cheating the Impossible in the theme of being able to domesticate patience in the pursuit of a goal.

Once again, as if serendipity was an invisible hand turning paintings into thoughts, I came across the work of Daniel Young. A young artist who, inspired by his late grandfather's dementia, created a narrative where a young boy finds a black stone that turns him into an old man; the stone symbolizing the loss of youth and memory, among other things. To me, his works are a visual example of the creative potential of our hard times and the beauty that lies in the ability to embrace it all, the good but also the sad.

I am happy to welcome his paintings while sad to have to say farewell to those of Aremy Stewart soon. She presents her last collection of works before she leaves us for the Netherlands at the end of the month.

Join us this coming Sunday 12^th of August to celebrate a beginning, and an end, and everything in between.

Vanessa Davila 

07986595585

vanessa@delicartessen.co.uk

The exhibition runs until the end of September (excluding Aremy Stewart works)

and also includes works by Ronnie Buchan, Jacqui Higgs, Christine Morison, 

Dagmar Shilling, Mike Dix and other invited artists.

Bees & Birds, by Aremy Stewart, 
mixed media on panel 
£125 each £200 for the pair.

"Family Matters": 5th anniversary party and exhibition

Whitespace, 11 Gayfield Square. Edinburgh. Private View Friday 25 May from 6.30 to 8.30 pm

"Do you remember when they fitted in these? They grow so fast and then you realise they have outgrown their clothes…and their shoes."

I’m sure you have heard this many times before. Mummies everywhere talking about their kids. And maybe that is why artists from close and afar insist on immortalising that first pair of shoes. As a tender attempt at defeating the implacable pass of time.

Well, they are right. Delicartessen is 5 years old this month and I simply don’t know where the time has gone.

I am sure that the same feeling applies to Mr Javier Jimenez-Ugarte, Spanish Consul in Edinburgh, who has also out grown his shoes and is leaving this city to take on the Embassy of Spain in Sweeden. We say farewell to him with gratitude and wish him the best for the rest of his journey.

In the last 5 years we have written about the weather, volcanoes, and coincidences; against all odds events, the weather again and, above all, JOURNEYS.

Some take a lifetime and some happen in an instant. Some happen in remote places, like Marton’s photographs around Thailand and Malaysia , while some happen locally, like Christine’s driftwood pieces reflecting the adventures of the waves in Fife, or Dagmar’s depictions of the depths of night life in Edinburgh .

Often the most powerful journeys are those that happen close to home and inside, the trips of the soul. Like Neil Macmillan’s journey around the North West of Scotland.

Or the journey of Aremy Stewart, both outside: leaving the States to come to Edinburgh , and inside: starting up a new family.

This exhibition is inspired by the idea of family, of growing, of the different stages in life. Delicartessen’s birthday gift is having a growing family of international artists and presenting their beautiful explorations of the human bond.

As for birthday wishes…let’s hope that the coldest May of the century will give way to the hottest June ever yet… Even if it’s against all odds.

Join us to celebrate our 5^th anniversary and launch of our new exhibition on Friday 25^th of May from 6.30 to 8.30 pm at the Whitespace.

There will be shoes, wine, tapas and good wishes all round.

"Take Your Time": Photographs by Marton Zsichla

Joseph Pearces Bar, 23 Elm Row. Edinburgh. Opening Sunday 11th March 2012 - 11.30 am

Do you remember those old, time consuming childhood games of “spot the difference”? Don’t you have the feeling that everything now goes too fast…? “Click”, “Send”, “Book”, “Go” E-books. On-line shops. City breaks. We move too fast. We live too fast. We even travel too fast! And some experts are even worried that these speedy actions will change forever the way our brains work. Documentary Photographer Marton Zsichla took his time traveling through South East Asia . He spent two and a half months soaking his senses in the day to day lives of the inhabitants of Thailand , Cambodia , Laos , Vietnam , Malaysia and Burma ( Myanmar ). Observing, capturing, and spotting differences…it all takes time. As Marton says, “all these countries seemed very similar at first, but when you spent some time in each of them, you realized that they are all very different…” Art forces you to discipline your senses…to stop, perceive, learn and share. If you've got some time this Sunday, join us and indulge your eyes in the stunning beauty of this journey. You will soon be rewarded with a hidden treasure, a gift brought to you by the photographer. Him taking the time.

Christmas Exhibition 2011

Joseph Pearces Bar, 23 Elm Row. Edinburgh. Sunday 18th Dec 2011 12pm - 15th February 2012.


I don’t know about you, but the truth is that among lunar eclipses, gloomy economic forecasts and home-grown hurricanes, the Bawbag affair put a smile on my face.
Call it Scottish idiosyncrasy or pure banter, but turning a negative into a positive, dark into light, tragedy into comedy, seems to be an art in itself.
An art that is priceless in times like these.
Artists can often practise it and have a laugh at the surrounding world because their creations exist “per se”. They are not subject to the laws of the demand. And thank goodness for that!
And one who’s really been about turning dark into light, literally, is Saint Lucia , who’s just passed marking the point where we get a minute of extra light per day.
So there are other reasons to smile.
Dagmar’s new humorous works, where colourful, oversize insects, butterflies and frogs have been superimposed onto gloomy cuttings of this year’s news are like a chronicle of the year we are about to leave behind. But with a funny twist.
Again, call it self-indulgence or idiosyncrasy…
Or a breath of fresh, hurricane air!

Vanessa Davila 07986595585
vanessa@delicartessen.co.uk


Join us for the launch of our Christmas exhibition, this Sunday 18th of December at Joseph Pearce’s Bar, 23 Elm Row, Edinburgh.
Between 12 pm and 1 pm.
Prices start at £26 and we’ll be giving away a free limited edition mug with every purchase.
Only this Sunday.
With best wishes for Christmas and the Year ahead.

No One's Land: An Encounter of Spanish and Scottish culture, past and present through art

This is the newsletter sent to our clients on the event of our annual exhibition at the Gladstone Land Gallery, in the Royal Mile. For the second year in a row, Delicartessen secured funding from the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh to celebrate an encounter of Spanish and Scottish art.

The exhibition was, after conclusion of the week, transferred to Joseph Pearces, our regular venue, in Elm Row, as part of our Edinburgh Festival exhibition 2011, where it would stay until mid September.

"No One´s Land"
The Gladstone Land Gallery, The Royal Mile. Edinburgh. 1st -8th August 2011. 10 am till 7 pm.

A few months ago I attended a conference by Marjorie Trusted from the V&A Museum in London, organised by the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh.
It explored the fascination of Picasso for Velazquez and his painting of “Las Meninas” (which Velázquez had originally painted in 1656 and Picasso would reinterpret 300 years later). The talk highlighted Picasso’s motto that in art, little is original or new, and it provided renewed inspiration for this exhibition, which pays tribute to the circularity of cultural iconography; where symbols and images are repeatedly recycled over time.
Picasso was, in his days, accused of being “all over the place”; a “chameleon” absorbing other artist’s influences and styles but lacking his own. But he would argue that this need for belonging to a movement or school was limiting.
His rootless nature was probably related to an emotional “middle place” too: where he felt quite alienated from his country of origin as the authoritative regime took its course in Spain; yet still a foreigner in his adoptive and beloved France. No sense of belonging here or there. In No One’s Land.
He affirmed that “art is the elimination of the unnecessary” and in his search for simplicity he kept reducing reality, emptying the superfluous and transcending the idea of belonging to achieve universality.

“No One’s Land” echoes themes of land and identity and therefore, we present representations of the artists’ immediate realities. Yet, even when differences emerge (i.e. Highland cows as opposed to bulls) the common nature of the themes that arise among both Scottish and Spanish artists, the new reinterpretations of classical themes: (i.e. Las Meninas, still being revisited by artists near and afar); reaffirms this idea of “no one’s land” or, if you prefer, “common land”, in the sense that the relevant human emotions and reflections that fuel the arts inscribe in a universal language. A language that Picasso spoke loudly and clearly. And which still resonates to this day.

With the support of the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh, Tapa Restaurants and the Council of Alhaurin, Malaga.
Click here to download a pdf version of the printed catalogue.

The advertisement announcing the exhibition at the

Edinburgh Festival magazine.

Compliments of ellustration.net designs.

Aftermath: Still Life. Photographs by Neil Macmillan

This is the newsletter sent to our contacts for the celebration of our 4th anniversary and the launch of our new exhibition at Joseph Pearce's:


...I’ve always wondered why in art you often have to choose between images and words. They say that an image is worth more than a thousand words but I recently saw an exhibition which combined both to great effect.

And the same applies to visuals and music. As Picasso said “To draw you have to close your eyes and sing” and many great artists have been great music lovers too. I am now remembering an article by Tim Cornwell that I read recently in the Scotsman about John Campbell Mitchell’s studio, which had been left untouched for 80 years and included a couple of pianos because apart from being an accomplished painter he was very keen on music too.

And music can compress a lifetime in a second, take us back to a previous moment… suspend us in time. Doing acoustically what a still life achieves visually.


Neil’s photographs are lost in time, still life impressions of derelict houses he found in the West coast of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides and the Highlands, during a very meaningful family journey. As he says: “Many of these pictures were taken on a final holiday with my dad who was in the last stages of cancer at the time. Despite the sadness of the trip, it was also filled with moments of happiness too as my dad truly loved Scotland and we saw the best of it on this trip."

His images speak (without any need for words) about the pass of time, human frailty and possibly even war. Houses abandoned in a rush, left in the spur of the moment, maybe with a promise of a return (like a kettle still waiting on the stove…) exactly like John Campbell’s studio. They tell (silently) about Neil’s personal story of a farewell journey and his coming to terms with an announced loss. But they are also “still life impressions” in the literal sense that, no matter what, life always renews itself. Like birds nesting in an abandoned chest of drawers and Nature claiming back what is hers and closing a circle that includes birth and death. As Picasso also said. “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction”.


So when I heard Phamie Gow’s “War Song” by chance, it sounded like Neil’s photographs…it was the perfect acoustic complement for the exhibition. I went back home and listened to the composer's reflections on Moments of Time, and felt that both, images and music were talking loudly the same truth, so why not have both?


I am pleased to invite you to our 4th anniversary celebration and the launch of our new exhibition:

Aftermath: Still Life with photographs by Neil Macmillan

This Sunday 8th of May from 11.30am till 1pm at Joseph Pearce’s Bar. 23 Elm Row, Edinburgh.
Complemented with music by Phamie Gow and Moments of Time


I hope to see you there!

This is a video featuring the photographs included in the exhibition, with music by Phamie Gow played during our launch. Phamie joined us for the preview and was a delightful guest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9j46InzypM

The exhibition will be on show at Joseph Pearce's bar, 23 Elm Row, Edinburgh, until the 30th of June and listed as part of the activities of the Leith Festival 2011.