Nicholas Crombach at New Art Projects, Hackney, May 2018

Day two and a bit and on with the poking about in the art spaces of East London and some kind of notion of writing down the adventures of a whole week, well that was the idea, tales of giant hundred foot tall flame throwing spiders in Hackney Wick as another building comes down and another bunch of people are forced out, tales of art shows and gigs and well, the reflections on a week of things here on these fractured Organ pages never really happened. That show by the canal at Hackney’s Guest projects put things back on a positive after the complete let-down of Whitechapel gallery’s First Thursday sham, did go back again for a second look at that excellent show at Guest Projects a couple of days after posting that feature review thing and encouraging of others to go see, but as is so often the case, the gallery was all locked up in the middle of the afternoon. Been back to that other gallery as well, you know, the new one at the top of Vyner Street that we were on about the other day, been four times over the last week or so now, every time during their advertised opening hours and every single time the place is all all locked up and no sign of anyone. The art looks like it might be good through the window but hey, come on gallery people, if you can’t be bothered to at least keep your advertised opening hours then why should any of us bother with coming along to checkout what you have to offer? So the idea of a whole week and a kind of diary thing fell off the cliffs or down the drain or floated away in a cloud of spraypaint or something. Leftfield sounded so so good rebounding off the buildings and the deserted futurism of the Olympic Park, didn’t go in, the price of a ticket was about a month’s worth of paint, it looked and sounded rather impressively impressive from one of those sculpted hills of the park and we were clearly somewhere way off in the future, repetitive beats and lights and giant flame throwing mechanical spiders and the whole place deserted save for about a dozen people standing on the hill watching for free, no one there empty, just giant futurist buildings and the most amazing soundtrack from Sven Vath and Leftfield – the sound was perfect, the light show brilliant, the spider and the flames and the sounds of the crowd inside sounded incredible, can’t help but think we were getting the best deal of all walking around the dystopian emptiness of it all though .

Watching that giant fire breathing spider

The notion of writing down a daily diary-type look at art in the East End of London, a whole week of adventures, kind of fell fell off a cliff then, but then we’ve kind of been writing it all down on a daily basis since this fractured Organ thing started back in the photocopied days off the last century haven’t we? Nights and days have faded together here for years now and no one much care about what we might have to say about anything these days, Yesterday we bought an old battered Newtrament 12″ single in a Bethnal Green junk shop that was closing down because their rent has gone up 300%, I had to buy it, the record I mean, already have it, but the shopkeeper only wanted a quid and he said all their stock was going into a skip and we say hello to the guy most days, Newtrament that is, not the shop guy, he insists no one knows or cares about who he is now, but I always loved that record, he says he hasn’t got any copies of his own and that everyone has forgotten him now, he lives on the streets of Hackney these days, currently in a tent in front of a block of newly built flats that no one can afford to move into, what is going on? Hang on, some good music just landed, we’re getting a lot of “nice” music at the moment, this isn’t “nice”, this is right up our street, people send in music everyday, endless e.mails with links to “nice” “polite” music, none of it anywhere near as exciting as that Newtrament, but I already said all this a couple of days back – ORGAN THING: CXR are not a band, well they say they’re not, they’re our musical thing of the day today though, right up our fractured street… and well, CXR was the thing that caught hold of ears, you just passed the link that will take you to more of that and  Newtrament and more, on with today’s Thing and Brian Paumier and…

Brian Paumier at New Art Projects, Hackney, May 2018

First Thursday was a massive letdown, that excellent Reformation show and the work of Kashif Nadim Chaudry, Michael Forbes and Barbara Walker at Hackney’s Guest Projects on Friday afternoon, got things back on track in terms of art and just about the corner down by the Regent’s Canal and a stones throw from Broadway Market on Sheep Lane, the latest presentations at Fred Mann’s almost always rewarding New Art Projects (and yes it is easy to get the names of the two almost adjacent galleries mixed up).   There’s a new show at Fred Mann’s space, a show we failed to get to when it opened, but hey, the morning (or afternoon) after the night before is as good as anything, I guess there were a couple of decent openings on the first Thursday of May (not that the official First Thursday website had either of them actually listed), enough of Thursdays, on with the Friday… and day two and bit of the week that fell off the cliff.

Nicholas Crombach at New Art Projects, Hackney, May 2018

CUT TO THE CHASE, HERE COMES THE BIT ABOUT THE SHOW….

Apparently there’s two shows running at the same time in the four basement rooms of the gallery, it isn’t immediately obvious where one show ends and the other one starts, this is not a bad thing, the art of Nicholas Crombach and Brian Paumier works so well together and once again this is a beautifully hung deliciously curated treat of a show (or a couple of shows). I think we might have mentioned before that the drama of the decent down those gallery stairs and the first sight of a new show at New Art Projects does add to the experience so well and this first glimpse can’t possibly do anything other than immediately put a smile on your face.

Nicholas Crombach at New Art Projects, Hackney, May 2018

The pieces and the colour and the space of Nicholas Crombach and Brian Paumier works so well together, the yellows, the frames, the  rocking horse, two artists who immediately grab attention, this is an instant delight, these shows are an immediate rush, you do almost want to punch the air in triumph (again). The colour, the space to breathe afforded to the art, the playful respect, I love everything about this show and the two artists, two artists I must confess I knew nothing about until a moment ago. You see, this is why I keep going back to these places, for every disappointing art show there’s another waiting to fill you full of delight and excitement, another show waiting to engage in the right way. Things might have been a little slow over on this side of London so far this year but there is always another thrilling show just around the corner and when you’re feeling like it must be just you and you’ve finally had enough of art and making art and going to see art and shouting about art, when you feel like it might be time to just quietly go away a show like this comes along and grabs you and off you feel like going again, yes, more art, need more art, need to see more art, need to make more art, need to share and shout and engage. And yes, I must confess it has taken me a few days to actually write down a thought or two about this show, and yes I’ve been back again just to check I wasn’t high on the relief of it all. Now I could be a smartarse and bluff it, I could go read the gallery statements and research the words of the artist and tell you about what they’re saying and doing, I could tell you what my first impression was, how I read the work and the show(s), what I think they’re exploring, I don’t want to though, a cop-out you might say but I just want to say, for now, hey, excellent show, exciting show, engaging art, brilliant, go see it, and then leave you with the address, the links, a bag load of fractured photos that do little more than hint at the flavour of it all and leave you to do what you will with it…  (sw)

The Links: Nicholas Crombach / Brian Paumier /  New Art Projects

The show(s) run at New Art Projects until June 30th.  New Art Projects is at 6d Sheep Lane, Hackney, London, E8 4QS.  Just beside Broadway Market, not far from the Regents Canal and a stone’s throw from Beck Road