Judith Cordeaux

I am delighted to be part of De Brug/Die Brücke (The Bridge) project, the brainchild of Michiel Brink (HogeDRUKgebied) in Rotterdam. This is an international exhibition of art and poetry, with accompanying book. The exhibition opened at the Kunstverein in Bochum (Germany) on 30 July and ran to 3 September 2022. The exhibition then transferred to Rotterdam (The Netherlands), supported by a significant grant from the Municipality of Rotterdam, and was on show at Galerie Wind from 5 November to 4 December, 2022. Those contributing were asked to interpret the theme of "bridge/bridges".

The essential purpose of a bridge is to connect – places, people, cultures. It functions across time and space, joining two points. From those two points, lines of communication extend, in potentially limitless fashion. My 3 paintings are from my "Woman" series titled "Life-lines". They refer to the wrinkles, lines or “stretch marks” left on a woman’s stomach after pregnancy, which, like living bridges, connect women globally and through time. These “bridges” are evidence of the universal phenomenon of childbirth - an experience which brings not only pain, but also joy and hope for the future. The lines on my belly bridge the experiences shared with my mother, and connect me with all those other mothers throughout millennia and across numerous cultures.

• Life-lines #21 2020,
  walnut stain,
  blackboard paint,
  acrylic on board,
  90cm (H) x 120cm (W)

• Life-lines #3, 2020,
  walnut stain,
  blackboard paint and acrylic on canvas,
  76cm (H) x 102cm (W)

• Life-lines #12, 2020,
  walnut stain,
  blackboard paint and acrylic on canvas,
  76cm (H) x 102cm (W)

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In October 2022, I was one of four New Zealand artists whose work was selected for a special loan exhibition at the University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, Lublin, Poland. Look to the Light #1 was accepted for the IV Mini Print Cantabria international competition in 2021 and, with Look to the Light #2 (also accepted in 2021) is now part of the permanent collection of the Faro Cabo Mayor Centre, Santander, Spain.

Staff from the Arts faculty of UMCS visited Santander in 2021 to see the IV Mini Print Cantabria exhibition. An invitation was later sent by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University, Dr Alicja Snoch-Pawłowska, for a selection of prints from the permanent collection for the inaugural exhibition celebrating the University's new Fine Arts Gallery and its 50 years of Arts Education.

Look to the Light 1 , 2021,
monoprint.
20cm(H) x 20cm(W)
[Mini Print Cantabria Collection, Faro Cabo Mayor Art Center, Santander, Spain]

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Arte Laguna World (Venice, Italy) featured me on their social media pages focussing on some of my earlier works shown on their artist website.

For this exhibition, artists were invited to interpret the theme “What Are You Looking At?” Rather than just answer it (i.e. not "what you're looking at is x,y,z") the hoped-for response would confront expectations around art, interrogate the idea of looking itself, and so on.

I exhibited 3 works from my Screwed-Up World series (2022), which form a triptych Safe; Danger; Dead. Artists are always looking and perhaps they “see” more than is visible in a casual glance. However, to actually say something about what they are looking at (or less literally, the issue they are discussing), it is necessary to interpret the vision or issue in ways that might resonate with the viewer  - though this is not always successful.

Our world – climate, society – is in a parlous state. Humans have caused it, by and large, though some would argue that climate change is just a naturally recurring process. We have treated the home on which we all live like a piece of rubbish. By literally screwing up the canvas, just as we screw up a piece of used, unwanted paper before discarding it, I have attempted to convey our throwaway society and its dire consequences.

As an artist, I choose not to use a photo-realistic approach, or photographs themselves, depicting pollution and destruction of the environment. Rather, I try to use a medium and technique that is appropriate to the topic, and I challenge the viewers to think about my art works and what they might be about – and then get them to think about the issues raised. To me, there is no point in merely reproducing (for example) a landscape, which is the work of Nature, not my work. We are so bombarded with images by the media, that in the end it is doubtful if anyone really takes it in. However, the artist can make people stop, question, and think – and maybe act.

• Screwed-Up World - Safe, 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  61cm(H) x 61cm(W) x 20cm(D)

• Screwed-Up World - Danger, 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  61cm(H) x 61cm(W) x 20cm(D)

• Screwed-Up World - Dead, 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  61cm(H) x 61cm(W) x 20cm(D)

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I was pleased to be included in this international award for contemporary artists, selected by curators Salvatore and Francesco Saverio Russo, presented in Milan. My painting Just Memories Now (2021) featured in the catalogue and in the March/April issue of “Art International Contemporary Magazine”.

Described as an exhibition “ bursting with uplifting and colourful art” Brilliant Vibrant Women featured the work of 17 women artists from the Canterbury region. I was pleased to have 4 paintings included – Life Cycles #1-3  and Just Memories Now.

• Life Cycles 1 , 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  120cm(H) x 51cm(W)

• Life Cycles 2 , 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  120cm(H) x 51cm(W)

• Life Cycles 3 , 2022,
  acrylic on canvas.
  120cm(H) x 51cm(W)

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• Just Memories Now , 2021,
  mixed media on board.
• 120cm(H) x 90cm(W)

From 1912 to 1952, a parallel and contemporary Art Competition was held during the Olympic Games. It was divided into five categories: painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music. This competition, in which artists of the various disciplines competed, was conceived in 1906 by Baron de Coubertin. He wanted men to be educated in both mind and body, and competing in sport rather than war. One of his other desires was to combine both art and sport, and he succeeded in including artistic competition in the Olympic Games.

In 2021, the year of the Covid-postponed Games of the XXXII Olympiad, Salvatore and Francesco Saverio Russo initiated an “Art Olympic Prize” for painters, sculptors, photographers, graphic designers and video artists. Their aim was to inspire the reinstatement of artistic competitions as future Olympic events. I was pleased to be selected as an awardee of this prize in November 2021. The catalogue of works of the Art Olympic Prize and the accompanying “Art International Contemporary” magazine for the November/December 2021 issue included Mother Nature Speaks #5, 2021, from my Mother Nature series.

Mother Nature Speaks #5, 2021,
acrylic on board.
90cm(H) x 120cm(W)

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The 4^th edition of the International Mini Print Cantabria here attracted 278 international artists who submitted 683 works with the theme “The Sea and the Lighthouse”, which were exhibited in the Faro Cabo Mayor Art Center, Santander (Cantabria, Spain). The Award is open to all the printmaking disciplines, and I submitted two works inspired by a walk to a local lighthouse at Tuhawaiki (Jack’s) Point near Timaru, New Zealand. These have now become part of the permanent collection of the Santander Port Authority Art Fund, which is deposited for its conservation and exhibition at the Faro Cabo Mayor Art Center.

Look to the Light 1 , 2021,
monoprint.
20cm(H) x 20cm(W)

Look to the Light 2 , 2021,
monoprint.
20cm(H) x 20cm(W)

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During 2021 the White Bear Center for the Arts (White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA) decided for the second year to hold an online Plein Air Competition, “Into Nature”, with the intent of supporting and connecting artists during the Covid-19 pandemic. The competition was open to international artists. I was delighted to have my painting Trees Under Threat #2 selected as one of the finalist entries, from among 217 works submitted by 98 artists from around the world. The online opening on 12 August 2021, with commentary from the three distinguished judges Andy Evansen, Marc Hanson, and Judy Palermo, and views of all the finalist works, was streamed on YouTube here and the full illustrated catalogue made available for download here.

Trees Under Threat 2 , 2021,
acrylic on card.
20.5cm(H) x 51cm(W)

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Drs Salvatore and Francesco Saverio Russo included me in their 2021 issue of “50 Artists To Invest In”, a guide to the works of selected international contemporary artists. My featured work was Life-tree.

Life-tree: Lost Limbs, 2020,
walnut stain,
charcoal,
acrylic on board,
120cm (H) x 120cm (W)

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I am deeply honoured to have received this award from Drs Salvatore Russo and Francesco Saverio Russo (Italy) who have supported me in the expression of my own voice. The award recognises that "contemporary art needs artists capable of witnessing, each with their own language, the true value of art." The catalogue and the May/June 2021 issue of  "Art International Contemporary Magazine" that accompanied the award featured Life-lines #20, from my ‘Life-lines’ series of paintings (2020).

Life-lines #20, 2020,
walnut stain,
blackboard paint,
acrylic on board,
90cm (H) x 120cm (W)

I was invited to submit a work to be associated with the March/April 2021 issue of the "Art International Contemporary Magazine", which celebrated the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri and the artists of the past who portrayed him. A prize was awarded to participants by Drs Francesco Saverio Russo and Salvatore Russo. The work I submitted was my Self Portrait in Lockdown (2020), and was described by Salvatore Russo as “truly extraordinary”.

Self-Portrait in Lockdown, 2020,
ink on card,
40.3cm (H) x 27.3cm (W)

I was pleased to be selected by Drs Salvatore and Francesco Saverio Russo for their “David – Michelangelo International Award”, in association with the January/February 2021 issue of "Art International Contemporary Magazine". The award was designed to recognize artistic merit in contemporary art, and showcased my painting The End is Nigh, from my 2020 ‘Life-tree’ series.

Life-tree: The End is Nigh, 2020,
walnut stain,
charcoal,
acrylic on board,
120cm (H) x 120cm (W)

I was invited to exhibit in a multicultural group exhibition at the Linwood Arts & Eastside Gallery, Christchurch, in February 2021. The theme of the show was “Pan”, meaning all-inclusive, uniting, or collective. The root of the word (“pan”) is found in many forms (e.g. a cooking container, severe criticism, a Greek god), and “pan-pan”, the exhibition title, is an international distress signal, of less urgency than a mayday signal. However, artists were free to interpret “pan” in any way or medium.

My four works were from my storm-based 2020 series “Pandemonium” – numbers 1, 2, 4 and 7.

During the period of nation-wide lock-down in New Zealand (March-April 2020) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Aigantighe Art Gallery invited the South Canterbury community to submit self-portraits as a snapshot of the unprecedented times. These could be conventional painted or drawn works, or “selfies” taken on a phone camera. The works could be emailed or posted on the gallery’s Facebook or Instagram pages, and were to be collated and exhibited in an exhibition when the gallery was able to re-open. The response from the community was amazing, and the results were eventually printed on large banners and displayed in the gallery’s Foyer space in late November 2020. My pen and ink Self Portrait In Lockdown was also featured on the large advertising banner for the exhibition.

(Photo by Roselyn Fauth)

I was again asked to be a guest artist for the Annual Exhibition of the South Canterbury Pottery Group, held at the Aigantighe Art Gallery. It was a delight to exhibit with this group, and the aptly-named Top of the Pots became the first major exhibition for the gallery after lockdown forced its closure for several months. I was able to show several paintings from my new “Life-lines” series, including the study works as a set, as well as an earlier painting The Three Graces from my 2018-19 “Woman” series.

I was selected for this prize by Drs Salvatore and Francesco Russo (Rome), awarded to "a small number of artists who have distinguished themselves in the current year". As part of this award, my painting Life-lines #8 was published in the July-August 2020 issue of "Art International Contemporary Magazine", and was screened in a video exhibition (with accompanying catalogue) at the Sciortino Museum in Monreale, Sicily, 12-18 September 2020, as part of The Norman Biennial of Contemporary Art.

I was invited to submit a work (Giotto’s Circle 2019) inspired by the Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone, for a competition commemorating Giotto’s “perfect circle”. This competition was associated with the Giotto International Prize which I received in November 2019. For this award I submitted my painting Cut #29 - the penultimate painting in my “Woman” 2019 series, and which comprises 6 canvases in the form of a large cross.

Both works were published in Art International Contemporary, Issue #6, November-December 2019.

Giotto’s Circle 2019 is an addition to my “Recycled” series, using brick dust from Venice with marker pen enhancing the “perfect circles” indented on the base of a soft-drink packaging box.

Giotto's Circle, 2019,
Venetian brick debris,
marker pen, recycled packaging,
34cm (H) x 41cm (W)

I was delighted to win the Trustpower Oils/Acrylic Award for my painting Cut #3 (“Woman” series, 2018-19).

I was asked to be one of two guest artists, with two guest potters, whose works complemented the annual exhibition of the South Canterbury Pottery Group. I chose five works from my Recycled series, inspired by my April arts residency in Venice: Recycled # 17, 18, 22, 23 and 24. Two of these works incorporated brick debris from Venetian buildings, which seemed appropriate for an exhibition featuring ceramics.