John
Bently and Andi McGarry
Liver and Lights &
Sun Moon and Stars
“Living is the most important thing
and how you live”
For
thirty years Andi McGarry and John Bently have, with contagious glee, turned their life into art and their
art into life, producing a borderless, not easily categorised body of work involving Painting, Sculpture,
Printmaking, Music, Boatbuilding, Performance, Costume Design, Graphic Design, Film
and Mischief, all somehow bound together
by that most venerably ancient container
and distributor of all manner of notions, the humble Book.
Both
artists make work that is deeply routed in their respective communities and
both source a prodigiously wide range of ancient and modern skills and
techniques.
Andi McGarry ( sun moon and stars
press) is best known for his hand painted books which are collected
the world over. Co founder of renowned Wexford Artists' Book Exhibitions, he also
works with community groups making skin boats that embark upon
adventures with the excited constructors,
these remerging as books, paintings and even films.
John Bently (Liver
& Lights), has for many years been turning his books into live
costumed performances with his band Bones
& the Aft, including most recently the epic song cycle Liver & Lights No 43.The People, an
ongoing attempt to create text and image portraits of everyone he has ever
known.
Liver & Lights and
Sun Moon and Stars
celebrate all things running, jumping shouting, kiss chase, lost and found, DIY,
hand made and home baked. They celebrate the sheer joy of making without
boundaries, nor even the merest hint of post modern Irony. Good friends for
many years, bonded by their shared
Northumbrian roots as well as their artistic outlook, this first ever joint
exhibition celebrates both their past achievements and current enthusiasms……
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