This November Welsh Artist, Iwan Bala, will be exhibiting a new body of work never before seen by the public at the Penarth Pavilion.
Iwan Bala ,60 , was born Richard Iwan Ellis Roberts in Sarnau near Y Bala in North Wales. He will be showing his new work Dyma Gariad (Fel y moroedd), or in English Here is a Love (deep as oceans), in the Penarth Pier Pavilion for the month of November.
The pavilion went under a £4.2 million restoration in 2013 and won ‘project of the year’ by the UK’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The venue is host to art exhibitions, workshops, cinema screenings and concerts.
The artist said, “my interest lies not in ornamental cartography, in skillful and pleasing formations of letters but in attempting to express the spontaneity of the moment of writing.” With his work, Iwan wants to return to the origins of the words, before the piece becomes perfectly finished.
A second part of the exhibition is the artist’s satirical response to the main characters in the lead up to, and in the result of, Brexit. Many of Iwan’s Brexit drawings have become popular on Facebook, adding that he believed an artist has a duty to comment and protest.
Jossef Evans, 24 from Cardiff said, “I like how thoroughly cross the artist is, it is really good and also quite thought provoking.”
Five years in the making, the body of work will be compromised of drawings from the Welsh artist that engage with text. The exhibition will include handwritten words and poems alongside conceptual drawings.
Iwan is an established artist, writer and lecturer. He has exhibited widely, Showing pieces in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe to the National Museum Wales. With 35 years experience in fine art, critical writing and exhibition curation, Iwan has presented welsh language television programmes and lectured widely over the world.