Art for Art's Sake, Bristol UK

Name: Discussion: Paula Rego and the beautiful grotesque
Start: 2025-05-08T18:30:00.000Z
End: 2025-05-08T20:30:00.000Z
Location: Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel

Bristol, GB

324 members · Public group

Organized by Phil Cheatle and 1 other

What we’re about

A friendly group for practising artists at every stage of their creative journey. We are working in the visual arts, particularly painting, and welcome beginners as well as more experienced practitioners.
We are each developing a thoughtful, explorative individual art practice and enjoy sharing and discussion with others. We provide a positive, supportive, and fun community, helping each other develop our individual styles.
For us, devoting time, an inquiring mind, and a desire to express something of ourselves, is more important than realism.
Our events are community-led by artists who have experienced the creative process. Our activities include:

Discussion evenings: We research a topic in advance, then get together to discuss what we've learnt and how it applies to our practice.
Virtual art days: Participants commit to a day of creativity. We start with a 30 min Zoom call sharing individual objectives for the day. We share midday results over lunch. At the end of the day we meet again to discuss how we got on, show results and share positive feedback and constructive suggestions.
Visiting art exhibitions: We look round the exhibition then meet in a cafe afterwards to discuss what we've seen
Film evenings: We gather to watch a film with an art or artist theme and then meet up afterwards to discuss what we've seen
Catch up gatherings:
Get-togethers and socials where friends and family are also invited. These events will be clearly marked in the write up as ‘social’.

The group will always run on a not-for-profit basis. I'll ask regular attendees for occasional donations to share costs.

Featured event

Thu, May 8, 2025, 7:30 PM BSTDiscussion: Paula Rego and the beautiful grotesque

Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, Bristol

Portuguese born visual artist Paula Rego, has been called THE preeminent female artist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her work is rich with story, political and social content, and is often described as the beautiful grotesque.

Unusually for a woman starting her career in the mid20th century, she fully and consistently made art throughout her life. She was no dabbler, nor did she fit her art around child care despite having three children.

Rego disliked the distinction between high and low art and would cite her influences including Velasquez and Walt Disney. She loved printmaking as a medium for expression.

Elena Crippa, curator of modern and contemporary British art at Tate Britain, believes Rego's influence has been wider and cuts deeper than is often acknowledged. "I see [her influence] in the work of most female painters – particularly in artists who engage with the body – and with women's position in the world," she says. "In fact, I would struggle to think of a significant painter, particularly in Britain, where I can't see a connection to Paula.”

What do we think?

Please check out the resources below before we get together. You could also bring an example of Rego's work to the discussion and tell us about why it grabs you.

Note that a selection of Paula Rego paintings will be sent out to attendees the day before we meet. Please bring a means of viewing the images with you to the discussion (printouts, a tablet or smartphone)