Tower and Town, March 2020 (view the full edition)Arts ReviewThe first exhibition of 2020 at The White Horse Gallery is a selection of Deep Space photographs taken from the new book by Gavin James and Jonathan Genton, In the Marlborough Night Garden: Vol 2. If we step inside the space time continuum and whizz back to 2016, you may recall the publication of the first In the Marlborough Night Garden. Fast forward four years, and we have Volume 2. Still puzzled? Read on... The back garden of a regular house in River Park, Marlborough, Wiltshire is home to the River Park Observatory. On every clear night, it is the scene of intense astronomical activity as the imaging set-up in the observatory is busy hoovering up photons to create another beautiful photograph of the night sky. In the Marlborough Night Garden: Volume 2 shows the results of the activity between July 2016 and June 2019, with over 500 hours of data in 30 colour photographs of deep sky objects. Gavin James. This is a more unusual exhibition for me to review, but here goes... Sadly, by the time this month's edition of T&T is out, the exhibition will have come down. It was a truly mind-blowing show for many reasons. Firstly, because WOW, secondly, because these phenomenal photographs were taken from, what could mistakenly be, a garden shed and have produced unbelievably clear and staggeringly inconceivable images of Deep Space. The exhibition was broken down and categorised into Nebulae, Clusters and Galaxies. These matte acrylic prints were coupled with labels detailing information such as: object type, constellation, discovery, diameter, telescope, data gathered and exposures. The Full Moon (a personal favourite) was a particularly beautiful brushed aluminium print. Gavin James is an accomplished astrophotographer, and has been "addicted to the pursuit of deep sky object image creation for over seven years." Jonathan Genton, who has also long been "fascinated by physics and astrophysics" taught physics and astronomy at the College, where he was also Head of Science. Perhaps one of the most pleasurable things about this exhibition was the collaboration between art and science. The photographs are awe inspiring. It is a wonderful marriage of scientific fascination and understanding, with artistic beauty and skill. It really focusses the mind, and reiterates how art and science are constantly forming partnerships and collaborating, I give you Concorde, the London Underground, electric cars, sustainable fashion... If you missed the exhibition, I suggest you either buy the book available from The White Horse Bookshop, or visit Gavin's website for more information: www.gjmultimedia.co.uk. |
