listings

Category: Art

The 25th edition of London Art Fair – the largest Modern British and contemporary art Fair in the UK – opens tonight in Islington. This year's strong>London Art Fair is the largest ever, bringing together over 130 galleries exhibiting work by over 1,000 artists. It really is the most extraordinary place to discover new art: check out my two reviews of the London Art Fair from 2012 for an idea of what is on offer. Read part one here, and part two here. Writer Jessica Furseth reveiwed the London Art Fair in 2011 here.

Your ticket includes access to an impressive selection of free Talks, Tours, Performances & Book Signings (booking is recommended).

Highlights include:
Thurs 17 Jan 2.00pm – Publishers Lund Humphries present two talks: the first, a look at the unseen photographs of a Modern British artist usually known for his paintings, Keith Vaughan.
Thurs 17 Jan 3.30pm – Iwona Blazwick, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery presents 'The Artist Edition' – a guide to collecting prints and multiples from the days of Duchamp to the present day.
Fri 18 Jan 12.30pm – The second Lund Humphries talk presents painter Jeremy Gardiner, talking to Pallant House curator Simon Martin about his fascination with coastal landscapes and geology.
Sat 19 Jan 1.30pm – Foyles and Phaidon present 'The Art Quiz' – a one-off quiz for novices and aficionados alike. 40 questions in 40 minutes. Prizes to be won.
Sat 19 Jan 12.00pm – The Arts Desk and a special guest panel, including broadcaster Matthew Collings, examine 'Art Crazy Prices' and whether increasing auction prices have changed our experience of art.

View the full Talks Programme and book your place here.

Opening times:
Wednesday 16 January – including Photography Focus Day – 11am-9pm
Thursday 17 January – including Thursday Late – 11am-9pm
Friday 18 January 11am-7pm
Saturday 19 January 10am-7pm
Sunday 20 January 10am-5pm

Tickets:
Tickets Available to Buy Online and On the Door

Preview Evening, Tues 15th Jan – £30, valid for the strong>London Art Fair Preview reception, 6.30-9.00pm
Day Tickets – £16, valid for any one visit to the London Art Fair during normal opening hours
Six Day Pass – £35, unlimited entry for the duration of the strong>London Art Fair from 6.30pm on 15th Jan until the close of the strong>London Art Fair.
Call the ticket hotline on +44 (0)844 8480 138 or **BOOK TICKETS ONLINE**

Nearest tube stops: Highbury & Islington and Angel.

Category: Art

Re-examining the creative potential of the classic children's stories is all the rage amongst illustrators at present. Hot on the heels of Emma Block's The Enchanted Forest Grimm's fairy tales exhibition comes Curiouser and Curiouser, an exhibition exploring the stories of Lewis Carroll. This timely show follows the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the Tate Liverpool in 2011 (read my review here) and features the illustration work of Middlesex University alumni; current students, tutors and graduates. For sneak previews of the artwork in show visit facebook here.

Alice Through the Looking Glass by Emma Block.

Taking place for a week at Curious Duke Gallery, you are also invited to the private view, complete with a Mad Hatter’s tea-party and talk by the Lewis Carroll Society (6:30pm) on Thursday 24th January, from 6 – 9 pm. To see more work by Middlesex Uni illustration department check out my review of 2012's graduate show here.

White rabbit by Eileen Kai Hing Kwan.

Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 11:30am – 6:30pm, Sat: 12:00am – 4:00pm.

Category: Art

Camilla Westergard.

After successful shows in Liverpool and London in 2012, the Ghosts of Gone Birds project arrives in Brighton with a brand new exhibition hosted by the ONCA Gallery – an art space set up by Laura Coleman in Brighton to work with local and national conservation projects, giving artists and communities a platform through which to engage with our changing environment. The charitable trust will run themed exhibitions, creative writing courses, workshops and outdoor education events in coordination with each of the projects.

Deborah Moon.

'It’s a perfect fit for us,' says Ghosts of Gone Birds creator and creative director, Chris Aldhous. 'It gives the Ghosts project a permanent base for three months so that we can really stretch out and develop a lot of new ideas and involve a lot of new artists – as well as some of the familiar work from last year’s show at the Rochelle School. But the idea remains exactly the same: inviting people to use their creativity to breathe life back into the birds we have lost – so we don’t lose any more.'

Victoria Foster.

The trust’s founder and director, Laura Coleman, is a Ditchling-born artist who had been working at an animal refuge centre in the Bolivian jungle. She returned to Sussex to start the ONCA project (One Network for Conservation and the Arts) and says, 'I wanted to find a way to use creativity to connect with and preserve the wild, both inside and out.'

Geo Law.

The first phase of Ghosts in Brighton will feature new art by Stephen Melton, Patrick St. Paul, Victoria Foster, George Law, Jenny Hooper, Eduardo Fuentes and Amelia's Magazine contributor Deborah Moon – who got involved after reading about the project in these pages. There will also be performance events in collaboration with Feral Theatre, live poetry with WordPLAY and the return of the Ghosts Night Out live music event featuring a range of local musicians and bands.

Carolyn Drake.

For the first time the project will feature photography – by Carolyn Drake – and the campaigning side of the show will focus on raising awareness and funds to fight the illegal trapping of endangered birds in Cyprus through the barbaric use of mist-nets and lime sticks.

Chris Aldhous added, 'Ghosts is about raising a creative army for conservation – and finding the most powerful way to tell the story of what has happened in the past, so that people can understand and chose to get involved in preventing extinctions in the future.'

Definitely somewhere to visit if you're down in Brighton, and in the meantime make sure you also check in with my review of last year's Ghosts of Gone Birds show too.

Opening times: Tues – Fri 12 – 7pm / Sat & Sun 11 – 6pm
For latest info don't forget to visit the Ghosts of Gone Birds Facebook page.

Category: Art

At the 2013 London Art Fair I discovered the intriguing work of American folk artist Butch Anthony, who started making art when his friend John Henry Toney ploughed up a turnip that looked like it had a face in it. Butch suggested that John Toney make a picture of it which he then took to a local junk shop and sold for $50. As Butch tells it ‘I thought hell, if he can do it I’ll make one too. I made a picture, stuck it in the junk store, put $50 on it. Next day someone came along and bought it. I’ve been painting ever since.’

King.

Chiuhuahua.

The Alabama sculptor, inventor, designer and folk artist Butch Anthony just so happens to be putting on his first ever UK show with Black Rat Projects in London Soho this month. Intertwangelism sees Butch add his home-honed artistic skills to found paintings and photographs, which sit somewhere between a ‘yesteryear’ nostalgia and a celebration of modern day pop-art, and yet probably pay little regard to either.

Swoonia Londonii.

Enigma.

The self-titled ‘artist, builder and picker of things’, and creator of the annual ‘Doo Nanny’ festival, has been hailed a ‘national treasure’ stateside with his indefinable – yet in-demand – artworks. His humorous, clever and strangely beautiful paintings coupled with his unique brand of ramshackle genius have gained him a cult following in the US.

Butch explains: ‘Intertwangleism is how I look at people and break them down to their primordial beginnings. Almost like x-ray vision, seeing through a persons clothes, through their skin, and muscles and veins and bones even their shadow. These first skeletonized paintings are just the first phase of my Theory to take over the art world as we know it'. Candice Tripp, artist, commented: 'I keep trying to articulate just how much I adore Butch Anthony’s work, but I can’t explain it any better than by saying how jealous I am. I love it, so much so that I wish it was my own.' Intertwangleism’s art-works are at once humorous, morbid, childlike and yet strangely sobering, Butch constantly questions the boundaries of art, existence, time and respectability- all whilst wearing Liberty dungarees. Never has ‘mixed-media’ been so mixed.

A private view for the show will be held on Thursday 7th February, 6-9pm. Butch Anthony will be in attendance. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 11am – 6pm & Saturday 12 – 5pm.

Category: Art

The Secret Emporium began life at Secret Garden Party, joined in with Wilderness Festival madness last year and then hosted a special Christmas Market, showcasing the best of British independent designers. This year Secret Emporium is set to turn an urban Shoreditch warehouse into a winter world of wonder this Christmas.  

Isobel Webster, fashion designer and graphic artist

Lovingly hand selected and carefully curated, Secret Emporium will be showcasing 44 independent British designers in a two day market. At each event two scholarship places are awarded to young designers who are just starting their labels. This year Isobel Webster, who has previously produced bespoke costume for the likes of Jessie J, The Correspondents and Goodbye Leopold, will be launching her first ready-to-wear collection of cat-suits and leggings. Keep your eyes peeled for eccentric roaming performers and peculiar characters who will also be dressed in her unique pieces. Next up is artist Lauren Baker, whose work has previously featured in these pages. Lauren attracted Secret Emporium’s attention with her one off mosaic-decorated skulls.
 

Lauren Baker, mosaic artist and sculptor

Other designers include: SJSTYLEE / SPANGLED, Lilah, Rose Willis, Wolf & Moon, Vanessa Conyers Ceramics, Jobee Jo, Beara Beara, Kate Gilliland Jewellery, Grace Du Prez, Happy Harriet, Key Lime Pie, St Saviours, SYNDICUT Boxers, Merrimaking, House of Ismay, Feathered Fantasy, Boutique Alter Ego, Yas-Ming Ceramics, Discover Another, Fur Fatale, BLINGDEENIE, The Perfumed Workshop, Sir Plus, ShopFloorWhore, Chido Bueno, Tessa Metcalfe Jewellery, Camille Walala, Spanglebooth, Bottletop, Bon Bon, PUCKOO COUTURE, Circus Kinetica, Eleanor Bolton, Thor & Wistle, HAM, Workhouse, Eddy & Grice, ARLETTE ESS, Inyour Dreams, Lucy Peacock and Wild Things.
 

Camille Walala, product designer, graphic artist and interior designer

Shoppers will be able to interact with performers with a Dr.Zhivago vibe and a Secret Emporium David Bowie twist! Hot mulled cider and roasted chestnuts will welcome them into a wonderland of twisted oak arches, lanterns, carols and food from the award-winning Exmouth Market Moro restaurant. Plus there will be a foot-stomping line-up curated by one of The Secret Garden Party’s favourite stages: Woodburner. Acts already confirmed for the event include Ewan Bleach & the Snakewalkers, The Turbans, The John Langan Band, Whiskey Moon Face, Hicks & Higgins, Jessica Burn, Harky and Ben DeVere.
 

Sophie Woodrow, ceramic artist from homewares label, Eddy & Grice 

Secret Emporium was born from a love of costume culture and independent, original fashion. SE aims to seek out designers who do something left-of-field, to catch them when ideas and ambitions are fresh, creative and exciting, when designs have not been commercialised or sold out. Everyone should have access to independent designers as a viable choice over the high street!
 
There will also be a Grand Christmas tree raffle for which each of the designers has kindly created and donated a unique, handmade tree decoration. One very lucky raffle ticket winner will get to take home a 44-piece collection of one-off bauble designs from jewellers, ceramicists, artists, illustrators and fashion designers. Theirs will certainly be the best dressed Christmas tree in London this winter and all proceeds go to the homeless charity, Shelter.

Category: Fashion

Bath’s Fashion Museum is celebrating its fiftieth with an exhibition showcasing 50 of its greatest dresses. Boasting pieces from Burberry and John Rocha, as well as dresses by the masters of couture such as Schiaparelli, Poiret and Vionnet; 50 Fabulous Frocks will delight tourists and fashion lovers alike. Read my review of 50 Fabulous Frocks here.

Covering fashion from 1660 right up to modern-day, the selection includes a dress by André Courrèges, a pioneer of the mini-skirt, as well as Worth, arguably one of the first fashion designers. Other familiar names in the collection include: Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Comme des Garcons and Louis Vuitton. With commentary on the dresses available via handsets in the reassuringly authoritative tones of Museum Manager Rosemary Harden, this is a fashion-must whether you’re a Downtown Abbey lover or a bonafide fashionista.

The Fashion Museum holds several other exhibits including: Dress of the Year, Glamour, Behind the Scenes, 20th Century Daywear and Top Trends. There is also a collection of 17th century gloves on loan from The Gloves’ Collection Trust as well as the opportunity to try on replicas of historical dress. As the home of fashionable life in the 18th century, nowhere could be more appropriate than Bath to house such a vibrant exhibition.

Tickets cost £2 and can be bought on the door, children under 16 go in free.

Category: Art

If you're near the Tate Modern area in the next week and a half, make sure you to check out artist Paul Vyse's debut show at the Refinery bar on Southwark Street.

A collection of ten paintings, Paul's works each capture a snapshot of London life: candid images of Southbank skaters, couples copping off outside London boozers and old ladies on the tube. Paul regularly exhibits at the Attic Gallery in Swansea and recently featured in SpaceArtLife's Summer Exhibition on Brick Lane.

Check out Paul's website for more information.

Category: Art

The glorious world of Pick Me Up returns to Somerset House this spring and is a must-see for designers, illustrators and creatives alike.

Now in its fourth year of taking over the Embankment Galleries, Pick Me Up features a diverse range of graphic artists and illustrators and includes affordable prints (starting at £10), creative workshops, late-night art events and family fun.

Highlights this year include Shaun the Sheep workshops with Aardman (!), comedy cartoonists Modern Toss and a pop-up nail art bar. Featured artists as part of Pick Me Up Selects include Anna Lomax, Stuart Patience, Hattie Stewart and Jean Jullien.

Anna Lomax

Print Club London's Open Studio will also return; Nelly Duff will bring famous flower market Columbia Road to the galleries and Hero of Switzerland are building a Pick Me Up boozer where you can design your own beer labels while having a chat with the creative landlords.

For full listings information visit the Pick Me Up website. See our review of last year's event here and look out for a full report from Pick Me Up coming soon!

Hattie Stewart

Category: Art

Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the high street, a unique shopping experience awaits – just in time to sort out all your Christmas dilemmas. Perfect for South London Christmas shoppers, the Crafty Fox Market can be found at the Dogstar, Brixton, where a cast of 80 UK designer makers will transform the old Victorian pub into a wonderland of Christmas shopping. Treasures range from hand-drawn plates from Jimbobart (who also designed the wonderful image to promote the market above) to quirky bow-ties from The Bow Tie Club. Sellers have been hand-selected for their originality and the quality of their products.

Mesh137 – at the market on Saturday 8 Dec, showcasing a range of cheeky humoured prints and hand painted originals by artist/illustrator Mesh137

At the Crafty Fox Market you will also be able to make stuff with craft writer Perri Lewis or screen print your own bag with the charming Mr Wingate. Other workshops include origami, knitting and card making. Or you could just sit back and relax with one of The Teas’s Knees cakes and a cuppa in the tea rooms while enjoying tunes from the Crafty Fox DJ’s.  

Forgotten Stitches – at the market on Saturday 8 Dec with a collection of embroidered and beaded homewares, accessories and dolls. Heavily inspired by bygone eras using vintage and recycled materials.

Entry is free and children are welcome. The market can be found on Brixton’s Coldharbour Lane, a convenient two minute walk from the Victoria line. The Crafty Fox Market was the brainchild of Brixton local Sinead Koehler who creates jewellery from found objects under the Galavant label. The market was launched in 2010 to provide a platform for emerging designer makers to showcase their work in a community-driven and creative atmosphere. Why not show your support?

Jimbobart – showing on both Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 Dec. The world of animals inhabiting Jimbobart's hand-drawn ceramics range has a woodland setting but its creatures have urban sensibilities.

Category: Art

Craig Fisher's deceptively playful work is inspired by violence, disaster and it’s aftermath as viewed by Film, TV and the Media. By employing bright colours and a childlike sensibility in their creation, his sculptural installations and paintings question and challenge the seductive potency of such representation.

For his solo exhibition ‘Homemade Devices’ at Beach, London, Fisher presents new work inspired by the improvised explosive devices he found whilst trawling the Internet. In these pieces he explores the formal inventiveness and provisionality of such objects as well as their potent potential as objects of threat and danger. Ideas of cartoon violence are juxtaposed with decorative and ornamental motifs; the seductive nature and materiality of the artwork making it easy to miss the horror that lurks beneath.

Private view: Thursday 7th March, 6-9pm
Opening Times: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm