It goes it goes it goes it goes, it goes like this, well something like this, five art things in this still formingnw world? That Stephen Pinnell piece up there is the 122nd of 200 pieces of art you ca nfind in the third and (maybe not quite) final Cultivate on-line show durng this lockdown period, a show that is now live and can be viewed here on the Organ website via this link.

So five art things, five more art things happening righ here, right now, or coming up any moment now, five art shows to check out in the coming days . Hey, I know we said it last time but we will try to do it most weeks now we appear to be coming out of lockdown, and yes this admittedly rather fractured Five Art Things feature was and is intended to be a regular, almost certainly weekly, or something like something near weekly thing – an almost weekly round up of recommended art events. Five shows, exhibitions or things we rather think might be worth checking out. Mostly London things for that is where we currently operate and explore, and like we said last time (and the time before), these five recommendations come, as we already said up there, with no claims that they are “the best five” or the “Top Five”, we’re not one of those annoying art websites that ignore most things whilst claiming to be covering everything and proclaiming this or that to be the “top seven things” or the “best things this weekend”., no, this is simply a regular list of five or so art things coming up soon that we think you might find as interesting as we do, five art things coming in in the next few days in no particular order…

1: Howard Dyke at Glass Cloud – “Glass Cloud Gallery presents the latest site specific installation by painter of colossal scale, Howard Dyke. Visible from the street during daylight hours”. Now I really must get along to see this in the flesh, it is out on the street, or at least can be viewed from the street, we really must get back to somewhere near the habit of going to see art in the flesh, I do like Howard Dyke,

The paintings Dyke has made for ‘SIREN’ at Glass Cloud ‘are not pretty abstractions displayed in a shop window’ he says’ ‘but reflections of the current mood of unease, violence and unrest. I’ve used some of the visual vernacular of painting – pours, splashes gestural brush strokes, colour shifts and spacial plays, but these are physical collages — imagery cut torn & spliced together to form shifting narratives. My attempt to make sense of the world.’

Howard Dyke’s work mixes paint with collage and photographic imagery, raiding styles taken from 1990’s process painting, eighties appropriation through to 1950’s abstraction and Schwitteresque material gathering. He uses charged imagery foraged for in newspapers and the internet as a starting point for his exploration and will tend to investigate a theme over many works. The final reckoning of each one is not an illustration of the source material but a multilayered interpretation of it.

Dyke aims to let the posing describe the image emotively; working fast but using collage elements to then change the pace. These elements migrate around the studio from painting to painting, changing destination until they sit uncomfortably in their new surroundings. He will constantly make and remake paintings layering the visual information again and again, revisiting and changing the nature of successful works. The scars from previous paintings are evident, bloodied, bruised stabbed and cut. The palette is unapologetic- shiny, matt, lurid, soiled, patterned, industrial, hard and soft. Happy and angry.

About Howard Dyke: Dyke (b.1971, London) exhibits between London and New York. He studied at St. Martins and Goldsmiths College in London and works from his studio which often transforms into the art gallery, Ridgeway Road, nestled in the south London railway arches. He has held many solo exhibitions at Charlie Dutton (2011 & 2013), Vijo Gallery (2013) and Thames Side Gallery (2018) to name a few. In 2011 Dyke was shortlisted for the prestigious Columbia Threadneedle Art Prize, and the Marmite Painting Prize in 2009. His work is held in private and public collections including Saatchi and Simmons & Simmons.

Glass Cloud Gallery is to be found at Camden Peoples Theatre, 58 – 60 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PY – you can find Howard Dyke’s work there now, the show is already open and runs until August 16th, there’s a late night viewing/reception thing happening in a socially distanced way out on the pavement on July 31st from 6pm until 7pm

2: Isn’tses, Liminality at Gallery 46 – Thursday July 23rd, live broadcast from 6pm – these Liminality transmissions have been rather rewarding during this time where lock down is evolving to become some kind of new normal.Are we still in lock down? Have I asked that too many times already? Will on-line transmissions do? Well of course they won’t, performance, like everything else, is much better in the flesh.

Transmission No12 – Super Superstition with Isn’tses, the latest in a series of live transmissions from Gallery 46, a series of what shall we call them? performances? transmissions? Events? A series of things curated by Sean Mclusky / Bjørn Hatleskog / Johny Brown / Kevin Quigley / Martin J. Tickner Liminality are working with Gallery 46 to produce a series of new works dealing with the themes of incubation / self isolation / modes of liminality / meditation / restrictions and freedoms”.

“Super Superstition – a widely held but irrational belief in supernatural influences :’she touched her locket for luck, a superstition she’d had since childhood.'”

Isn’tses – “Adhering only to a mythical structure, Isn’tses inflect a narrative of textured sound and auditory fullness using esoteric electronics, expanded vocals and emotional valences. Their music conjures themes such as paganism, political anger, intergalactic heroism and a playful interpretation of popular culture. An Exploration between Lisa McKendrick and Tim Drage”.

There’s a Gallery 46 YouTube channel here, the Gallery 46 website is here

. We do rather like Gallery 46, this one stood out last year, or was it the year before? Sometime back in the old world anyway  –ORGAN THING: Paul Renner and Paul Sakoilsky – This is The Gate of Heaven at Gallery 46, Whitechapel, East London, now that was an opening…

Here some .Isn’tses…

.

“Isn’tses is a collaboration between visual/electronic artist and musician Lisa McKendrick (Listen Lisse) and animator and electronic artist Tim Drage (Cementimental). The duo perform wearing costumes and masks in conjunction with live video projections and illuminated props. They deliver a spontaneous and improvised performance using theatrical style interaction with their self-built synths, noise boxes, circuit bent toys and vocals. Their music conjures themes such as paganism, freedom of speech, freedom of sound, intergalactic heroism and a playful interpretation of popular culture”.

3:  TVRBVLENCES is a show from Demsky at StolenSpace – StolenSpace is excited to debut new work by Demsky this Summer, in his provocatively abstract solo show, ‘TVRBVLENCES’. Demsky unites nostalgia for the past with the future to create stunningly balanced works, that reference his many influences across the globe and different time periods. Demsky is a Spanish street artist, who first embarked on his creative journey through the 1990’s graffiti boom. He spent the next 20 years developing and experimenting with his painting style around the globe, making reference to his roots in the graffiti scene and his influences from around the world. He uses his childhood love of Japanese mecha and VHS sci-fi movies to create nostalgic work, that is punctuated with futuristic intent through his compositions, and use of colour and form, across many mediums.

‘TVRBVLENCES’ represents a “glitch” of the present moment, a shaking time in our lives. After the Covid 19 lockdown, there is one before and one after world, and so Demsky has evolved to this accordingly. ‘TVRBVLENCES’ means stepping back, putting matters into perspective, as if we were observers of our own planet and looking for relevant moments of change. It’s a new reconfiguration, a journey to the unknown, a path to new feelings… It’s time to push “play”.

The TVRBVLENCES  “opening reception” is on Thursday July 23rd (6 – 9pm), there’s a strict RSVP with numbers allowed in limited so do check the website. The exhibition then runs from 24th July until 23rd August.  .Stolen Space is at 17 Osborn Street, Whitechapel, London, E1 6TD

This was one of our relatively recent favourite shows – ORGAN THING: Timeholes, cold Thursday nights, Seen and Risk at Stolen Space, “probably the best thing I’ve seen in here in ages” she said with a great big excited…

4: We’re All Going To Die Of Something a group show at Blasé House – After a prolonged state of suspended animation, “Blasé House are proud to present ‘We’re all going to die of something…’ Our first event back, after 4 months lounging on the couch enjoying the luxurious Blasé space, is a group show reflecting on the idea of death and how it relates to us in these peculiar and uncertain times?”,  we’re told “Blasé House bounces back with a group show reflecting on the idea of death and how it relates to us in these peculiar and uncertain times. Should we fear death? Should we protect ourselves? Should we protect others? How much does it cost? Is it worth it? Is it the end? Is there any point worrying about it? These and other questions — some valid, some not valid at all, and some just plain facetious will be addressed by a stellar line up of established and new talent including… Al Daw – Harry Adams – Iman West – SEYEN – Sean Coates, Michael Curran – Teddy Baden – Giulia Vitiello – Polly Voilá – Paul PIOUS James Deman Giovanni £rd – Celia Fullbrook – Louise Loudon – Paola De Martin – The New Not Banksy Realisation (STOT21stCplanB) – Pete Bennett – Jon Braley – Billy Beeching – Ben J Pollock – Ethan Murphy – Michael Hanrahan – Nik HB – Ben Westley Clarke – Renate Sharman – Shérézade Bodin – Gabriel Chaim – Carmen & Louisa – Nathalie Coste + more to be announced…”. We’re also told “anti-social distancing measures will apply…”  Blasé House is over in Hackney Wick by the station at 55 Wallis Road, London, E9 5LH. The show runs from July 23rd until the 26th, we’re told all are welcome, there’s a Facebook event page with more details here, there’s certainly some interesting names on that list of participating artists, I’m still not sure if I’m ready to go to a gallery or a show yet and if I am going to die of something I have quite a few things I still have to do first so here’s the information, I might drop by over the weekend, maybe?

5: Julie F Hill at Glass Cloud –  Julie F Hill’s work responds to the vastness of nature as represented by modern science. Taking an expanded approach to photography and image-making, she creates sculptural installations that explore conceptions of deep-space and cosmological time. Using sculptural processes, scientific imaging software and code she reshapes astronomical data into uncanny phenomena, creating immensities that we can walk amongst, and enter into. Enigmatic and illusory materials act as conduits or portals, inviting us to cross a threshold to experience the unknowable. Through such environments she questions scientific images and the technologies used to construct them.

For Glass Cloud, Hill likens the window gallery to the void of a subterranean cavern. Its folded recesses are sculpted from scientific images of deep space along with stalagmites – reminiscent of scientific core samples – that rise from the floor. Astronomical images – registering wavelengths beyond what the eye can see – often invoke uncertain geologies: geological time or ‘deep-time’ being our nearest approximation to the grand scales of the cosmos. In this sense, Cavern represents the idea of thought collapsing on itself as it approaches its perceptual limit, attempting to comprehend the cosmos.

About Julie F Hill – Julie studied at Central Saint Martins (BA, 2004) and the Royal College of Art (MA, 2006), and is currently a Fellow in digital print at the Royal Academy Schools (2017–). In 2019 she was invited to Canada to take part in the Capture Photography Festival with a residency and solo exhibition The Space Out of Time at Terminal Creek Contemporary. Other solo and duo exhibitions include Of Stars and Chasms, with Hannah Luxton at ArthousSE1, London (2019); Deserts on the moons of other planets, Passengers, London, UK (2017); Single-Shot, Tate Britain, London, UK (touring exhibition, 2007). She is currently the recipient of an Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice Grant for her project Through Machine & Darkness working with artificial intelligence algorithms and astronomical datasets.

Glass Cloud Gallery , as we already said up there at te top of the page, is to be found at Camden Peoples Theatre, 58 – 60 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PY – you can find Julie’s work there now, the show is already open and runs until August 16th, there’s a late night viewing/reception thing happening in a socially distanced way out on the pavement on July 31st from 6pm until 7pm

And while were here we should have a repeat blowing of  our own trumpets yet again, if we don’t d oit then who will?

The third and (maybe not quite) final Cultivate on-line show durng this lockdown period is now live and can be viewed over on the Organ website via this link.

“And with good reason” she said, (And with good) Reason then, a third and final on-line art exhibition brought to you by Cultivate during these strange locked-down virus-fearing times. When we first planned April’s #43Artists show, the first of what has now become a trilogy of on-line exhibitions, we had no idea that this Covid thing was coming and that our gallery doors would have to close with very very little warning – yes, we had planned an on-line show in April anyway, before what would have been more physical shows in May. Lockdown (and the financial fallout that has followed) had of course put a stop to all current physical shows (as well as future plans) and so one on-line exhibition quickly evolved and became three, this is the third.

This time we have 39 artists and two hundred (images of) pieces of art, once again the show is brought to you by Cultivate founders Emma Harvey and myself, Sean Worrall, this time we have selected, invited and including 37 of our fellow artists to show work along side some of our own pieces. Once again we have some names probably familiar to Cultivate regulars, we have some artists who have never been involved Cultivate shows before (this is our 156th show under the Cultivate banner), and we have some artists making their debuts with us, indeed some we’d not heard of less that a month ago (always exciting searching for new artists). And, yes, while looking at art on line can never ever be a serious substitute for exploring it in an actual physical gallery, there are some advantages in that we can give you those vital links and let you go explore beyond our exhibition, we can also feature the work of people from all over the world, rather than just work from those who can realistically get their work to us for a physical show here in London.

This bit is important, those links (and using them) are so vitally important and so this time, rather than actually tell you what you’re looking at in terms of a description, a tittle, a size, an indication of medium and such like we have done with the previous on-line shows, this time we’ve decided we’re deliberately just going to give you the name of the artist and then at the foot of the exhibition we’re going to give you the link to each of the artists in the hope that you will (please) go and find out more, that you will go and explore, maybe communicate, that you will go find out if their paintings are big, if they work in oil or id they paint with a Polaroid camera or make linoprints of Joan Jett or acrylic paints of fruit or if their installations go further than what you see on this page – what is Lidia Lidia’s art about? Who is Jessica Hill? how big or small are those wonderful Liz Griffiths pieces? This time we’ve decided to only give you the visual information and very little else besides that all important link and rather then labelling each piece in the traditional way, this time, with good reason, all you are going to get is the image, the name and the link, all about those links that take you further.

It has been exciting exploring all the art for these three shows, exploring the artist’s websites, exploring the responses to the open call element of these three shows (this time 14 of the 39 artists involved were via an open call), personally I’ve enjoyed that part of the lockdown that has been the hours and days putting together these three, we have no idea what the future holds right now for us as artists or indeed for us as the people who bring you Cultivate but if this is it (and we really hope it isn’t, a tiny bit of that emergency funding that Art Council England have been dishing out too so many others would have been helpful when we really really needed a lifeline), if this is the last Cultivate exhibition then I think these three on-line shows following on from the success of the Nothing is Square Part Two show over by Columbia Road here in East London back in March have been good strong positive notes to end it all on. .Do please explore the art and enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together, do hit some of those links and do watch this space with good reason. Thanks everyone, keep looking, keep creating, contact and switch the other, this thing will not blow over, hopefully there will be more cultivating, art is a force for good, it bring people together in the right way and right now we really need that  (sw) .

The third and final Cultivate on-line show durng this lockdown period is now live and can be viewed over on the Organ website via this link.