Francis Upritchard, Alfred Kubin - A Hand Of Cards, The Other Side

Catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibitions: Francis Upritchard - A Hand of Cards & Alfred Kubin - The Other Side. Edited by Alex Farquharson. Text by Ali Smith Francis Upritchard's psychedelically coloured human figures "live" on islands of ornate furniture. There is a festival feeling to their gatherings, emphasised by Upritchard's acid-bright colours, hand-woven blankets and tie-dyed silks. Upritchard has said "all the things that hippies hoped would happen, or felt might happen, didn't." In one sense her exhibition is about the failure of the 1960s and 70s counter-culture that is still celebrated at festivals - and its gaudy, individualistic "alternative" aftermath. Haunting drawings of death, trauma and fantastical creatures inhabiting imaginary worlds sprung from Alfred Kubin's pen at the beginning of the 20th century. His work, executed in a delicate, atmospheric ink wash technique, anticipated some of the horrors of the First World War, and the following decades, at a time when Europe's empires were toppling. His exquisite, yet nightmarish black and white drawings came from his own imagination, or from illustrating works by writers like Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe. Born in Austria, Kubin (1877-1959) is considered an important representative of the Symbolist and Expressionist movement. Nottingham Contemporary presents the first major exhibition of his work in the UK.