Fear and decay impress art critics

TWO talented art students have been commended by critics,\!q with one appearing in an online exhibition and another making the shortlist.

TWO talented art students have been commended by critics, with one appearing in an online exhibition and another making the shortlist.

Madeline Noble and Elisa Hurley, both studying at Thomas Rotherham College, were picked out by judges curating the Royal Academy of Art’s A-Level Summer Exhibition Online.

Madeline Noble’s piece Fragility and Decay is a portrait painting, presented on a slice of mouldy cheese.

The work was chosen to appear in the exhibition, for which 2,000 pieces were submitted by students around the country.

Madeline said: “I gathered inspiration from my own experiences with mental health, as well as Dutch still-life paintings focusing on deterioration of physical substances.

“The mind is extremely temperamental and can deteriorate very quickly, which I have portrayed by incorporating decay in my portraiture.”

Elisa Hurley’s Safety Blanket is a sculpture made from plaster, fabric and wood.

It depicts a person hiding behind a window frame, shielded by a blanket frozen in place.

Judges shortlisted her work as a potential online exhibit — though it did not make the final cut, it is displayed on the Royal Academy’s Flickr page.

Elisa said: “I chose to incorporate a large piece of fabric coated in plaster to represent a curtain that is set in place to stop destruction from reaching into people’s lives.

“Plaster is a substance which can be broken easily. This represents the hope people had when destruction came to them, hoping that they would have been able to escape.”

Art tutor Abigail Pannozzo said: “The pieces selected are currently in our art exhibition at the college — and they do look outstanding. I have to say.

“We have incredibly talented students and I am so happy they are receiving the recognition that they deserve from prestigious competitions.”

Last year, TRC student Sohail Khalil was a runner-up for the Saatchi Gallery Art Prize for Schools.

His photographic work Isolated Space was exhibited in the prestigious London gallery for two weeks.