'Curio' Private View

Thursday saw the opening of 'Curio' at the East Gallery, Brick Lane. After much discussion, many bagels and lessons in drilling, our exhibition turned out to be a great success. Thanks to everyone that came down for the Private View and drank us out of house & home! Special thanks to James, for his help on the bar and to Mike for papping the event. These photos are all his handiwork and you can see more of his work here. More photos of the exhibition to follow...

Minnie Ha-ha

SO SO much going on at the moment that I feel a bit like my brain is made of feathers. A bit like the lady above. Her stage name was Minnie Ha-Ha or Koo Koo - The Bird Girl. A strange skeletal disorder meant she had only a tiny head, a beaked nose, barely any eyesight and hardly any hair. She starred in the feast scene of Tod Browning's 'Freaks' and by all accounts seemed to lead quite a happy, albeit a simple life. In other news, 'Curio' opens at the East Gallery on Thursday. Work is returning from the framers, prints are signed and editioned, invites are sent and bottles of wine are being begged, borrowed AND stolen. I have made a fair amount of new work for the show, hence why the blog and website have been a bit on the quiet side of late. Be great if you could make it down if you were in the area. Private view is 6-9pm Thursday 5th, with the exhibition continuing through the weekend until Monday. See you there.

Curio

THIS is why I've been working so hard since the new year. I will be exhibiting a series of 6 screen-prints along with drawing, collage and print work from five other talented souls (more details below). Please come along, bring your friends (and your wallet!) for a free drink or two on the first Thursday in May.

Curio

East Gallery

214 Brick Lane London

06.05.11 - 08.05.11

Private View: Thurs 5th May 6-9pm

Curio celebrates the natural curiosity of the human mind through print, drawing and collage. A collection of five emerging illustrators, create detailed and visually rich work that reflects their collective interest in the bizarre and the curious. Referencing historical fact and folklore, Curio finds magic in the obscure and uncanny aspects typically found in everyday life.


ARTISTS

JENNIE WEBBER

By weaving narrative into the structure of her illustrations, Jennie Webber creates a visual invitation to unravel the layers of meaning that are concealed within. Playing with composition and shape substitution, she builds up dense, intricate drawings that tell the extraordinary stories of colourful characters. The pieces shown within the exhibition are influenced by the medical and social marvels of the Coney Island Freak Show characters.
http://www.jenniewebber.com/

POLLY ALIZARIN HARVEY

Polly Alizarin Harvey creates dynamic collages and prints by deconstructing and reworking an image. Collecting and arranging found fragments; objects from the physical world are merged with a strange, often disjointed fiction. This series is an exploration of superstitions rooted in English folklore.
http://pollyalizarinharvey.blogspot.com/

REBECCA HISCOCKS
Rebecca Hiscocks finds inspiration in the bizarre and macabre. Her intricate and detailed compositions reflect the uncanny and unusual past of London's streets. The pieces in this exhibition are based on the history of Smithfield and London Bridge.
http://beckihiscocks.blogspot.com/

IAN WATSON
Ian Watson is based in Cardiff, having studied painting at Howard Gardens and prior to that at Hastings College, close to his childhood home. The work shown here is influenced by a mixture of dream diary entries and nostalgia, for teenage afternoons spent hiding out in the woods and countryside around East Sussex listening to heavy metal.
http://uhoh-watson.blogspot.com/

MARIA VLADIMIROVA

Maria Vladimirova portrays the world, as if it was seen for the first time. This pioneering view on the world suggests that anything can be beautiful if you look closer. By engaging the viewer emotionally with the visual, she challenges one's taste - before, you might not have thought that such an object can be beautiful. Beauty is a dynamic experience that can be coaxed out of the ugly and obscure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mina_milk/

Sneak Preview

Here are some details from some of my new pieces, printed for my upcoming exhibition at the East Gallery, Brick Lane. I'm still playing around with imagery and characters from the Coney Island Freak Shows and the 'Barnum and Bailey' travelling circuses. But I've started to delve deeper into medical mutation and stomach turning compositions, inspired by trips to the Hunterian Museum and The Last Tuesday Society. More details of the exhibition to follow....

Put Me Down

Here's my Mutants Print on show at Pick Me Up, in excellent company. Had a great time at Somerset House, met a bunch of really talented people; Daniel Frost, Otecki and the lovely chaps from Nous Vous amongst many others. Had some great conversations, mostly about Wonders of the Universe and barber mice.

Bought an incredible book from Ditto Press. Their books of art are works of art themselves.
The book is a forthcoming release of the work of Roisin Dunne and is the best thing I've bought this year.

And above is the Hermit Editions Print Box, featuring some delicious work by some hugely talented recent graduates. They were all a pleasure to work with.

PICK ME UP

Tomorrow sees the opening of the second Pick Me Up at Somerset House. Been grafting hard all week with the rest of the Concrete Hermit lot to put together a ruddy good show. Have a peek at the new & improved websites for all the different things Concrete Hermit has to offer; Nibwax for art books and small press zines, Hermit Editions for prints and The Hermit Store for clothing (see the new T-shirt range I helped design!) and artist designed products. I also have print up on display (see above) A four colour silk-screen print, edition of 50, available exclusively at Pick Me Up. I'll be in very good company on those walls, with some smashing prints from Nigel Peake, Jiro Bevis and French to name but a few. Come down and have a look. I shall just be concentrating on maintaining my composure at the PV tomorrow evening.

Moon Pig

This Valentine's day I decided to give a Moon Pig card.