The Aardvark Blog

Michel Gondry 'Brutalist Video', Wonder of Phil Rogers Part Two, Presteigne Festival & Presteigne Open Studios
21/08/2025

It is perhaps unsurprising that I have been late to the party of appreciating the dance music of The Chemical Brothers. I am a tail-end boomer and Gen X music is not really my thing (will be forever true to The Associates and the Monochrome Set). But their tracks are insanely catchy, which is why I found myself watching the Michel Gondry video to their track. It is a reflection of my senescent decrepitude that I found myself obsessed not by the matching dancers, but by the incredible Brutalist architecture (for a fuller idea of the magnificence click here for a really good photo roundup).

The architects responsible for these buildings - Henri Pottier, Michel Proux, Jacques Binoux, and Michel Folliasson - are from a new wave of brutalist architects, who I suspect were not born until after the likes of Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer had been long dead. Their work is perhaps more nuanced than our own, beloved of fellow architects Alison and Peter Smithson. There is a simplicity and sculptural quality I find appealing, but then I now live in an ancient vernacular building, the earliest parts of which date to 1400AD, so perhaps that tells you something about me also.

The prospect of hosting the first Marches memorial exhibition for Phil Rogers is, I confess, one that is starting to feel quite daunting. I have been in email contact with his widow Hajeong Lee Rogers, and the prospect of seeing so many pieces together at the same time is very inspiring. Some of the pieces being shown will come from her personal collection, and I am sure it will be hard or her to let them out of her sight even for a short time.

Amongst the pieces we have assembled is one that Phil made at his friend Mark Griffiths' pottery at Culmington outside Ludlow. The piece is a really good example of one of Phil's ash glazed pieces, but the shape seems to me to be derived from a Song dynasty bamboo brush pot. There is something about the way in which Phil got his glazes to pool, and to change colour, that marks his work out as something very special. Having a piece that has both Phil's very distinctive mark, and that of the Culmington pottery is also rather special. Mark Griffiths is himself a very distinguished potter and earlier this year the Leach Pottery at St Ives organised a celebratory exhibition for his 50th anniversary as a potter. 

Finally this weekend sees the launch of  both the Presteigne Festival and the Presteigne Open Studios. The former has been wowing audiences since 1983, but the POS has rapidly become as popular an event locally. The fantastic range of arts and crafts is a testimony to the depth of creative talent that is present in the central Marches.

This year there are over 50 different contributors!

Do not miss out.