listings

Category: Art

Pete McKee has invited Horace Panter to exhibit at his gallery A Month of Sundays in Sheffield. Given that a lot of his new work, especially the cassette series, plays on nostalgia and memory, he came up with the title Nostalgia (ain't what it used to be). History moves forward!

Born in Croydon in 1953, Horace got his accrediation in Fine Art from Coventry's Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) in 1975. It was whilst there that he met up with Jerry Dammers and they formed The Specials, a defining band on the British music scene. However, he never dropped his art roots, using his time on tour to visit galleries/exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe and America. Before embarking on a career as a professional artist in 2008, he spent 10 years as Head of Art in a secondary school. He says that teaching art made him reevaluate his own relationship to art and when The Specials reformed in that year he found he had the time to explore his art practice.

His work is a juxtaposition between religious/political iconography and Pop Art. While exploring the ideas of elevation in both iconography and Pop Art, his aim is to question the narrative of the iconic subject; he chooses to portray objects/places/people that are considered ordinary or mundane and to elevate their status to icon, thereby realising the Pop Art trope of 'elevating the mundane' (Andy Warhol). The cassette paintings are particularly evocative of time and place; as well as having a strong historical context, they are imbued with meaning in terms of analogue recording studios and the humble 'demo-tape'. His work is full of colour and vitality and is as much about what is left out; the composition is often minimal so that the focus is on the central subject, like an icon.

This exhibition will feature some of the Cassette Series as well as some colourful collages which celebrate his relationship to music and his own musical icons. There will also be a selection of his very latest series on Americana. Horace says “I have to thank the highly efficient and very friendly McKee Organisation (PLC) for giving me the opportunity to show my work to the good people of Sheffield … can't wait!” Pete McKee says: “To have Horace Panter, one of my heroes, exhibit at my gallery is a massive honour. His culturally astute paintings have a great resonance with anyone who, like me, was brought up to love music.”

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm

Category: Art

Daniel Wheeler, J'arrive, Carbon on paper. All photography by Benjamin Cosmo Westoby.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in this field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to help define a wider understanding of drawing for future generations.

Bonita Alice, Beast dead, Acrylic on paper.

Selected from original drawings, it has established a reputation for its commitment to championing excellence, and promoting and celebrating the breadth of contemporary drawing practice within the UK. The longevity of the project is a testament to the appetite of the artists producing work, and the continued interest of audiences visiting the exhibition, making it one of the most popular shows in the Jerwood Visual Arts programme.

Kate Morrell, A.V.M. 1954 screenshot 2013-12-10 (3), Giclee print and drawing ink.

A total of 51 works by 46 artists have been carefully selected for exhibition by the 2014 panel; Gavin Delahunty, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum; Dr Janet McKenzie, author and Co-editor of Studio International; and Alison Wilding RA, artist. Their chosen works explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

David Cooper, PRE INFO No.15, Xerox ink, packing paper, card, pencil, biro, marker pen and rubber tape.

Opening times: Mon-Fri 10am – 5pm, Sat & Sun 10am – 3pm

Category: Art

Time Travel probably isn't possible, we just keep on moving forward, but we all experience the tick tock of passing seconds and minutes in different ways. Time can be elastic and sometimes art can stop us in our tracks.

The Over Time art project engages eleven contemporary artists to make ‘time pieces’ in a place that is about to change forever… the Greenwich foreshore. Each of the artists will make a response to spending precisely the same fixed amount of 'clock time' (five hours without watches or phones) in the very historically resonant and atmospheric riverside space at Enderby Wharf, the site of the first underwater telegraph cables. This is a site marked by time as industrial history, social development and the natural rhythms of the tides. Works will include sound, movement, performance, film, drawing, writing, conceptual, objects.

This project is a way to explore time in a place that is already marked by time…… by the natural rhythms of weather and tides, the marks of our London ancestors, of industrial heritage and the rapid progress of city development.

Rachel Gomme working on site Over Time, Photo by Anne Robinson 2014.

The initial part of the project will take place over the Thames Festival weekend with art and performance events on and around the Thames Path on both days. Over Time artists will be hosting drawing workshops with local people in Greenwich about their memories of and feelings about the riverside area.

There is an exciting list of internationally recognised contemporary artists taking parting in the project as follows: Jo David, Claudia Firth, Charlie Fox, Katharine Fry, Rachel Gomme, Victoria Gray, Birgitta Hosea, The International Western, Gavin Maughfling, Sarah Sparkes and Ian Thompson. See website for further details about artists.

Birgitta Hosea working on site Over Time, Photo by Anne Robinson 2014.

Over Time is curated by visual artist Anne Robinson working in collaboration with David Waterworth at the Greenwich University Gallery. Anne teaches film at London Met University and has previously curated 'One More Time' project, Supernormal Festival, and the project is further supported by Arts Council England.

Locations:
13th and 14th September: on Thames foreshore near Enderby Wharf/ Cutty Sark pub
19th September to 16th October: Stephen Lawrence Gallery Archive Space, Queen Anne Court, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, SE10 9LS.
26th October: National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House, Park Row, Greenwich
London SE10 9NF

Opening times: see website or Facebook.

Category: Art

50 Years of Illustration accompanies the launch of a new book of the same title by Professor Lawrence Zeegen, Dean of the School of Design. The book charts the rich history of contemporary illustration, from the rampant idealism of the 1960s to the digital explosion of the 1990s as well as the increasing diversification taking place in the twenty-first century.
 

HOPE poster by Shepard Fairey.

The exhibition is part of a trio of shows named 160, that includes Alan Kitching and Monotype: Celebrating the centenary of five pioneers of the poster and Stereohype 2004-2014, which celebrates a collection of 1,000 button badges.

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak.

Dylan poster by Milton Glaser.

Speaking about the exhibitions, Professor Lawrence Zeegen explains: “160 at London College of Communication celebrates the work of numerous influential designers and illustrators across the past 100 years. Reflecting the disciplines of graphic design, typography and illustration, all taught and researched within LCC's School of Design, this trio of exhibitions has been curated to inspire and inform today's and tomorrow's generations of design creatives. Launched during the London Design Festival 2014, 160 aims to highlight the invaluable connectivity between design industry and design education, many of the exhibitors across all three exhibitions having studied or taught at London College of Communication.”
 

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John LP cover by Ian Beck.

Private View: Thursday 18 September 2014, 6-9pm
Opening Times: 10am – 5pm (Saturday 11am until 4pm and Sunday closed)

Category: Art

The AOI Illustration Awards 2014 Exhibition showcases work by category winning illustrators and highlights from this year's shortlist. The show includes emerging and established talent from across the globe. Two overall winners, The AOI New Talent Award 2014 and The AOI Professional Award 2014, will be announced at the private view and awards ceremony. After the show at Somerset House, the exhibition will continue on its tour across the UK. Some of the winners are profiled below, to find out more about their individual projects click on their names:

William Grill, the New Talent winner for the Children’s Book category, with his first book Shackleton’s Journey, which he started as a third year project whilst at university.

Andy Ward won the Professional award for the Advertising and Design category. His winning entry formed part of a mental health awareness campaign for the University Of California's Santa Cruz campus.

David Doran’s illustration for The New York Times Book Review won the New Talent category winner award. The piece titled ‘Going Home Again’ accompanied an article reviewing Dennis Bock’s novel. The story follows a man that spends a strange year at home, in Canada, after separating from his wife in Madrid.
 

Laurindo Feliciano is the Professional Editorial category winner. Flaunt Magazine commissioned the winning entry ‘Fabricating Art’, to accompany an article based on Laurindo’s answers to questions set by art director Jim Turner, on the topic of his work process.

Thoke Maer’s self initiated project ‘It’s No Biggie’ won the New Talent award in this category. The project is an ongoing series of animated GIF’s based on moments that are all too familiar and perhaps even nostalgic.

Opening times: 10am – 6pm

Category: Art

From May until July 2014, venues in Brighton and London will be holding arts and theatre performances for a range of interests. LIFT Festival, in its 33rd year, brings together performers from all over the world to look at key issues in today’s society. Brighton Festival aims to transform the city of Brighton into a hub of artistic activity, with exhibitions and performances from local and national artists. A few of the shows coming up over the next few months include:

Bring the Happy at ONCA Gallery, Brighton. Running from the 23rd – 25th of May, the exhibition invites members of the public to add their own happy memories to a giant 3D map of England. Invisible Flock and Hope & Social will then accumulate all the memories into a performance at The Old Market.

Information is Beautiful, a show by author & designer David McCandless, discusses the potential of visualised information to help us understand, navigate and find meaning in a complex world. Taking place on the 15th of May at Brighton Dome, it demonstrates the challenges of presenting necessary information to audiences in an age of information overload.

For anyone who’s interested in the philosophy of art, Symphony of a Missing Room is a must-see. Taking place at the Royal Academy of Arts from the 19th of May until the 8th of June, Lundahl & Seitl’s work discusses the imprints left on a room once the art inside it is taken away.

Museum of Water by Amy Sharrocks [https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/artists/amy-sharrocks] looks at the intricate challenges surrounding climate change, international development and human nature, by asking people to give their own unique perspectives on the most common substance on the planet. It runs from the 6th – 9th of June at Somerset House, Strand.

International artists collaborate on a takeover of the Battersea Arts Centre for After a War, an exploration of the first world war and its impact on the 21st century. Twenty-five artists and companies from around the world discuss the global impact and legacy of WWI alongside contemporary issues of war and peace. Taking place from the 27th – 29th of June, its highlights include the use of several thousand dominoes to demonstrate the impact of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, and Lucien Bourjeily’s new maps of the middle east.

Follow @LIFTFestival and @BrightFest on Twitter for more info.

Category: Art

Delaine Le Bas first met artist/photographer Tara Darby at the Transition Gallery during her solo show Room in 2005. Tara along with Alex Michon and Cathy Lomax at Transition, became one of her ‘comrades’ as she calls them. 'To be an Artist you need these comrades,' she says 'We are not with each other all the time but as soon as we are it is like the time in between just disappears. Our minds and ways of working are linked in a way that cannot not be defined. We always pick up where we left.' The exhibition is something of a homecoming, after all the collaborations and all the activism which is always implicit in her practice she wanted to work with people she could trust on an exhibition which was more personal and where she could explore facets of her own quixotic persona.
 


Thus with Tara Darby she has created a performative series of photographs. Her relationship with the gallery, shared interests in clothes and music and particularly a punk sensibility were central to this as she says, 'Keeping it real to me is what it is and will always be about. The artists who run Transition get this, Tara gets this. It's not about being fashionable even though the irony is that that is where I started, on a Fashion and Textiles MA at St Martins 1986 – 1988. Through music and clothing I could truly be me. It was not about attracting the opposite sex, it was about identity and forming that identity for myself. I brought magazines when I could, and music papers. I dressed up in a mish mash, crossing what I saw with the old musicals I watched with my Nan and Great Uncle, with Jumble sale finds and old clothing my Mum had. Even before Dennis Potter I dreamed of people 'singing in the rain' and breaking into song instead of speaking, dressed in fantastic outfits that had the glamour of the films and energy of Polystyrene.'
 

In the lead up to the show Delaine and Alex Michon (who have collaborated on a special publication for the show entitled Sister and Comrade) were both reading Viv Albertine’s recently published memoir Girls Girls Girls, Music Music, Music, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Much of the inspirational spirit of punk and especially the girls in punk lie behind this immersive show which also includes paintings, music and film. So often the media want to put Delaine in the box marked 'exotic Romany' as she herself says 'In the series of portraits with the Kabuki make up I wanted to play with who and what I am. I was taught to do the make up by my old friend Suzi Skelton from Worthing, she was part of the Kemp company. I have much to thank her for regarding how the make up works and what you can do with it. Life is not black and white, as human beings we are complex and multi faceted creatures, we are not flat pieces of paper but living three dimensional objects moving in space. As a child, I grew with music blasting in my head and with clothing and make up I realised that you could be whoever you wanted to be and the best thing to do was not to give a fuck no matter what anyone else said or tried to impose upon you. Free spirit, comrade, sister, Portrait Of An Artist is about keeping it real, for yourself and always remaining true to who you want to be no matter how the rest of the world tries to confine and restrict you in the words of Polystyrene “Oh Bondage Up Yours!!'

Opening times: Fri-Sun 12-6pm

Category: Art

An eclectic collection of contemporary tiger-inspired art launches today at Sanderson Hotel. The collection is not only set to raise significant awareness of the plight of the wild tiger but also raise desperately needed funds to help to save the wild tiger before it’s too late.The artwork will then be auctioned at a Save Wild Tigers fund raising dinner at Belgravia’s Mango Tree on 20th May.

Art by Shannon Rose Lane.

Twenty artists have contributed artworks for Thrive, curated by Lauren Baker, a London artist who recently created an installation at Tate Britain. She also exhibits in galleries across the US and Europe and has art directed the windows of Selfridges. You can read more about her on our website here. Lauren Baker's most intricate work yet, The Crystal Tigress, will be launched at Thrive – a stunning life-size sculpture of a tigress head, encrusted with 50,000 Swarovski crystals.

Lauren Baker's Crystal Tigress.

Lauren says, 'I am honoured to be working with such a talented array of artists who have all joined forces to create this very intriguing and special one-off tiger-inspired exhibition in London, all in aid of Save Wild Tigers. Sanderson offers an ideal back-drop for this exclusive collection and it’s so heartening to get the contemporary art community together to protect our tigers.'

Art by Mark Powell.

Save Wild Tigers is a global initiative set up by Simon Clinton in 2010, with profits going to tiger conservation charities including the Born Free Foundation (BFF), the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society of Malaysia (WCS). Developing creative and engaging marketing campaigns – it boasts support of global celebrities such as Joanna Lumley, Brian May, Gok Wan and Jimmy Choo.

Art by Magnus.

Founder of Save Wild Tigers, Simon Clinton comments: 'In 1900, there were believed to be 150,000 wild tigers in the world. Today there are fewer than 3,500 across 13 countries. With a constant threat of poaching and a decrease in habitat, this majestic species could be extinct in less than 10 years if we don’t act now.'

Art by Chapter.

Artists exhibiting at Thrive include: Cassandra Yap, Chapter, Chiara Lisa Perano and Bellerby & co, Claire Bentley Smith, Clara Bacou, Chris Wright, Gary Hodges, Jane McCracken, Laura Lian, Lauren Baker, Magnus Gjoen, Mark Powell, Mikey Brain, Otto Schade, Pampa Louzao, Rohan Chhabra, Roger Hooper, Shannon Rose Lane, Thomas Knights and Yanskiy.

Private viewings of Thrive are available between 9am and 9pm daily.

Category: Earth

Fancy a festival with a difference? Then Starry Skies could be for you… part festival, part camp, this event promises a plethora of family friendly activities in the great outdoors. Expect to learn with forest school, take wild walks in the woods, make nature art, star gaze into the night, sing around the campfire and have fun playing in the woodland playground. Starry Skies has been designed to make the most of the picturesque setting at Barton Hill Farm in the beautiful Brecon Beacons, allowing children the freedom to explore the great outdoors as they often can't at home.

Starry Skies is brought to you by the folks who run Shambala Festival (read our review of Shambala in 2010 here) and I love the ethos behind the camp – that parents often don't have as much fun when they attend festivals with the little ones, and long to go on a holiday where they can relax too. There is even a dedicated Toddler Tent, it doesn't get much better than that!

There will also be entertainment in the form of music from the likes of Lori Campbell, Nuala Honan and Me and My Friends. And of course there will be plenty of other options for the adults, such as yoga, walking adventures, extreme days out and Buddhist chanting.

There is only room for 250 families so expect a very friendly environment with a strong communal spirit. You could be in with a chance to win a family ticket, by suggesting your favourite campfire song here.

Category: Art

Hannah Battershell’s works are small insights into a fantasy world, often with a strong feeling of narrative running through the imagery. Her studies of English Literature are evident, with many pieces structured as if to illustrate a story. She draws on her imagination, books she has read, half remembered quotations and unusual words as starting points for her pieces. The characters and narratives within the work have a surreal quality to them, a dark sense of humour and at times an unnerving sense of loneliness. This illustrative quality to her work has previously drawn comparison to artists such as Edward Gorey or Leonora Carrington.

Hannah Battershell, Homunculus, mixed media, vintage tin, glass, 10x8cm.

Hannah Battershell, The Melancholy Dictator, mixed media on paper collage, 21 x 16cm.
 
Alongside Hannah Battershell’s painted imagery and richly textured collages, found objects feature or, at times are a framework from which the work evolves. Battershell continually hunts down vintage cigarette tins, old buttons, compasses or pocket watches to incorporate into her work, adding to a sense of nostalgia and atmosphere of an old curiosity shop. Her work is particularly suited to the setting of this exhibition – the unique space of The Rectory Gallery, the Hawksmoor designed Rectory of Christ Church Spitalfields. The Rectory Gallery maintains its domestic feel and period features such as the panelled walls, which add an interesting context to this collection of her works. 
 

Hannah Battershell, The Drunken Librarian, mixed media, 9x9cm.

Hannah Battershell, The Performance, mixed media on paper collage, 18 x 18cm.

Hannah Battershell has exhibited with Curwen Gallery since 2011, and has had work in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions in 2013 and 2011. Her painting 'Crocodilian' appeared in 'Images 36', the 2012 Association of Illustrators' Best of New British Illustration publication. Hannah lives and works in London.
 
Opening times: The Rectory Gallery is open First Thursdays of the month 1-9pm and by appointment only at all other times. Private views: Wednesday 21 May 6-8pm and Sunday 25 May 2-4pm.