Five more art things, five more recommendations, five things that have been brought to our attention, five things we feel are worth bringing to your attention, your five.  Been a busy few weeks here with the coverage of the excellent open studio events at Chisenhale Art Space and the Martello Street opening, that and putting the Accidental Marks show together, Particularly looking forward to the Richard Woods show after the excellent things that happen in Folkestone this summer… Here’s your five then, London things for that is where we are right now…

1: Richard Woods: Second Home at Chelsea Space – “On one of my first visits to Folkestone, as I walked up the high street from the harbour, I was given a small piece of paper. The note offered me a ‘quick cash sale on my house’. The simple statement made me think about who would be selling up their house and moving out of Folkestone; who maybe moving in; where would be a good place to buy a new home; and where you should avoid. It made me think also about whether second home ownership added to the housing problems in towns similar to Folkestone or whether it added to the life of the town and more broadly about immigration, wealth distribution and about a town’s natural population fluidity.” (Richard Woods, 2017)

“Chelsea Space presents Richard Woods: Second Home, an insight into the working practices of internationally renowned artist, Richard Woods. Woods practice of architectural, design and material interventions with graphic line and vibrant colour provide striking interruptions within a designated environment. This exhibition explores this practice through preparatory maquettes and drawings for the finished installation Holiday Home at the Folkestone Triennial 2017. Identical in size and design, Holiday Home comprised of six ‘cartoon bungalows’, set down in Folkestone where you may not have expected to find a house – in the harbour, on a traffic roundabout, sinking into the pebbles on the beach. Containing new sculptures, paintings and photography, this exhibition includes material charting the fabrication, installation and public reaction to Holiday Home exhibited at the 2017 Folkestone Triennial. The material exhibited in Second Home will provide a contemporary retrospective on the recent project, reinforcing some of the issues that Holiday Home activated, while creating ongoing discussion around this project and interpretations of public art in general”.

Chelsea Space is easily found by the entry gate at Chelsea College of Art & Design, 16 John Islip Street, London, SW1P 4JU. Easiest way to find it is for head for Tate Britain (not Modern) then turn left just before you get to the Tate, walk up the broad street that runs up the side of the Tate, around the adjacent block and there’s the gallery just inside the gate to the college. The exhibition runs from 15th November until December 15th 2017.

3: David de la Mano – ‘Adrift’ – “Hang-Up Gallery is proud to present their upcoming exhibition entitled Adrift, the inaugural London exhibition by acclaimed Spanish Street Artist David de la Mano. The multi-faceted exhibition will showcase the artist’s brand new collection of acrylic, coffee and inks on canvas and paper. The artist’s monochromic murals that can be found across the globe will be brought from the streets into the gallery, where the walls will be painted from floor to ceiling in his distinct poetic style.

In a world of those forced to flee, of poverty, of war and violence, David de la Mano paints his haunting figures as shadows looking for their place in the world. All united, they are travelling to a destination unknown. Boats with broken sails and women with animal heads drift without direction but are all linked by an uncertain journey. Adrift portrays the anonymous epic of travelling on a rough ship, or passing through reinforced wire fences – all characteristics of the current fear of some nations to the refugee invasion.

Adrift analyses the timeless concept of migration and group behaviour. It refers to the drifting movement that characterises the migrant’s journey and the determination and strength that grows and develops when your house and your neighbourhood have already been disfigured. As writer, critic and poet Ben Clark says “When I first stood in front of one of David de la Mano’s pieces, I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was contemplating an image of a distant future or a distant past. “Adrift” made me think of a world on the edge of our own. A world of lost souls marching without a purpose towards a war that they have already lost.”

David de la Mano’s ‘Adrift’ is on at Hang-Up Gallery, 81 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8AD from 24 Nov – 14 Jan 2018, with the Private View launch on the evening of the 23 Nov, from 6 – 9 pm

3: Same Same but Different: Three artists with differing practices – Sally Booth, Hugh Huddy and Aaron McPeake – have collaborated to complete a residency and exhibition of new work at Guest Projects. All of the artists have acute visual impairments and are registered blind, although it is not a subjective element in their work. This exhibition is supported by Shape Arts. It is free to attend and fully wheelchair accessible. The Facebook event page is here, more on Shape Arts. The  private view: 6 – 8.30pm, Tuesday 14 November 2017, Exhibition: 12 – 6pm, 14 – 19 November 2017. The rather frustrating and hardly ever open Guest Projects place is located at 1 Andrews Road, London E8 4QL, an excellent space when it is actually open (why are so many art space so annoyingly underused?)

Notes on the three artists taking part and what they’re doing….

Sally Booth: Drawing the Lines: A drawing installation inspired by journeys on the London Underground. From High Barnet to Morden, from Ealing to Upminster, Sally Booth has been making drawings across the London tube network. Fast and furious, these line drawings are often made over just one or two stops, and reflect movement and snatches of life on the Underground.

Hugh Huddy: Silent Pipe -“Silent Pipe” is a sound sculpture that suspends curious conversations in mid-air. Its visual form hides an invisible purpose. The pipe transmits an audible signal that the listener can eavesdrop on through gaps in the pipe. AI Chat bots are heard talking to people, passing fragments of a story that has not yet been told.

Aaron McPeake: Same but Different -“Same but Different” is a series of pairs of bell-bronze sculptures that appear identical but produce very different sounds. The interactive nature of this work makes the encounter a multi-sensory experience.

Guest Projects is an initiative conceived by artist Yinka Shonibare MBE which offers the opportunity to practitioners of any artistic discipline (visual arts, dance, theatre and music), to have access to a free project space. Guest Projects provides an alternative universe and playground for artists. It is a laboratory of ideas and a testing ground for new thoughts and actions. www.guestprojects.com – and as fine as all that sounds, the space is more often than not locked up and empty when it could be alive with art, indeed some of us have hung art outside the locked door in the past.

Shape Arts is a disability-led arts organisation which works to improve access to culture for disabled people by providing opportunities for disabled artists, training cultural institutions to be more open to disabled people, and through running participatory arts and development programmes. www.shapearts.org.uk

Guest Projects is at Sunbury House, 1 Andrews Road, Hackney, E8 4QL London,  Right by the Regents Canal, right by Broadway Market

4: Interstices is a rather short run a group show featuring art from Ralph Anderson, Amelia Bowles, Secil Erel, Antoine Langenieux-Villard and curated by Senem Cagla Bilgin, it happens ay Hackney Wick’s Stour Space Gallery, East London London –  “Interstices brings together artists from different places and sub-cultures around the world. Exhibiting artists from England, France, Scotland and Turkey, this exhibition aims to inhabit the space between their cultures. An experience starts between space and artwork. The two main concepts that form this experience are defined as time and place. David Harvey animated time not as a flow, but as memories of living places. Therefore, he defends the opinion of history -as the main material of social expression- leaving its place to art and time leaving its place to space. These definitions that manifest the decisiveness of an individual’s senses in perception of space and time, which also have a place within modern and contemporary art.  Interstices argues that the experience of an artwork is only realised by being physically in front of the work. The exhibition presents artworks that have contemporaneous physical and retinal paths, creating niche abstract systems of colours, dimensions and layers. Holding within them the rhythms of the individual’s memory and daily life. When presented together the artworks generate new energies and re-establish their identity. Artists use different techniques and materials in similar ways which are collage, painting, pattern, map, tactile sensation, illusion and physical reality.  Interstices is the first exhibition held by Art Elsewhere. The exhibition features artworks by; Ralph Anderson, Amelia Bowles, Secil Erel and Antoine Langenieux-Villard. Further information via www.artelsewhere.com

Hackney Wick’s Stour Space Gallery is at 7 Roach Road, London, E3 2PA. The private view (these things are almost always public and open to everyone) on Friday 10th November, 6 – 9 pm. The show will run on the 10th and 11th November.

 

5: Inside Pussy Riot – As part of the ‘Art Riot: Post Soviet Actionism’ exhibition, Les Enfants Terribles, in association with Tsukanov Family Foundation present ‘Inside Pussy Riot’. ‘Inside Pussy Riot’ is the story of a group of modern day, post-punk feminist revolutionaries who stuck two fingers up at the system and suffered the consequences. Pull on the balaclava, stand in the dock and live the realities of imprisonment in this immersive experience. The event runs from November 14th Until December 24th at Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4SQ – www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk / Tickets and details

Meanwhile The (Accidental) Marks Made While Making Art show another cultivated on-line art show, following on from the rather successful Red, Black and Blue shows/experiments. The accidental marks made while making art are always intriguing, the floors of artist’s studios, their boots or dresses or shirts, the outside wall that a canvas might have been propped against while it was being painted on. This on-line show will feature photographs of studio floors, paint covered boots, colour encrusted easels, old paint brushes, painting tables, painting marks, all the marks artists accidental make while making their art.  the accidental marks made as a result of making art, the stains on studio floors, old brushes, the marks once the performance is over…. The show went live via  Cultivate Gallery and Organ magazine websites at 6pm (UK time) on Monday November 6th. The 10,000 visitors checked out the show just after the show had been on line for 48 hours.