The now and again Five Pieces of Art thing feature again. Well why not (again)? Again and again (and again and again), all this art flowing past on various feeds or wrapped up in press releases or jumping off actual gallery walls or wrapping chips or passing on the side of those Whitechapel white vans. So we ask (again) why not five pieces of art every couple of weeks or so alongside everything else that appears on these fractured pages on a daily basis? Can you think of one good reason why not to? Well besides the time involved and the this and the that and the dancing around and the skins on the tins of paint and the man at the door…

Five pieces of art then, a semi regular feature, just five pieces of art that have passed our way in the last few days, nothing more (or less) than that. Nothing really to do with an upcoming show or anything else (although maybe they are), just a simple, semi regular five pieces of art feature. Let’s do it again. Oh and if your curious about that Melike image up there at the top of the page then, there’s an online show opening any moment now on these fractured pages

1: That’s a Martha Cooper photograph, no one documents street art and graaf quite like Martha does, this is shot taken during a visit to Mumbai, India earlier this year that we saw passingmy on our Facebook feed. Explore Martha’s world here via her social media , or indeed here via her always rewarding Instagram feed

2: Went out to take the Saturday air and to take a look at an East London gallery or two, the new breed of gatekeepers and such, the Roman Road, the Hackney Road. Several were closed (whatever it might say on their websites or Instagram pages), the one that was open was at best underwhelming. This was the best piece of art I encountered last Saturday, another of those East London white vans,. Why run a gallery if you don’t actually bother opening that gallery? Not that the new gallery on the Roman Road is bothered about anything we might say, “no longer interrested” is what they actually said. We had been rather positive about the first two Split Gallery shows, seems we’re not cool enough for the new breed of gatekeepers though. Gawd that lastest show at that, nah, let’s leave it, it was boring, Boris and his bags were far more exciting…

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3: EMMA HARVEY – I posted this piece on the Cultivate website the morning after Mixtape no.3 opened – That painting that Emma Harvey has in the latest Mixtape exhibition is one of a recent number of relatively larger canvas pieces she has been quietly working on as 2023 kicks in, here’s a shot of it in her studio. i rather like this latest development. Personally I don’t think you can appreciate the size and the life that is in that painting when it is presented as a flat cropped image as it is in the Mixtape show so I asked her if this shot could be shown here. I know Emma is a big part of Cultivate, and yes, this is another case of us blowing our own trumpets here but she has nothing to do with this particular post and I think, without making a big noise about it, she is one of the more exciting painters around at the moment, someone who should be getting far more attention that she does. Of course Emma didn’t go to the right art school so the gatekeepers both old and new don’t have her on their (very) limited rather selective horizons (I do recall one artist/curator getting very excited about her work and wanting to feature her until as an almost after-thought he asked her in an e.mail which art school she went to, he didn’t get the answer he wanted and she never heard from him again. Emma Harvey has been consistently producing exciting work for the last ten or so years, her Riot Grrrl flavours and her defiant feminist attitudes to the front, her paintings, her prints and her ambition are to be embraced.  Yes, Emma co-curated these Mixtape shows and has co-run Cultivate from te start, she’ll probably not thank me for saying all this this morning, but, as some of you know, I’ve never been one to keep my big mouth closed when it comes to art or artists, she’ll want this post taken down and well, for a number of reasons I don’t think it should be. I love this painting. and I love this photograph of it far more than the image of it in the Mixtape show, art excites, artists excite.  (sw) 

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4: Sarah Purvey – this image of one of Sarah Purvey’s pieces went by on a social media feed earlier today, it is rather beautiful, rather organic, deliciously tactile, it kind of reminds me of what I liked about weaving and why I went and studied textiles rather than painting.  “Made in 2017 and recently returned from storage to the studio, this vessel is now available, if you would like any more information please contact me Ochre Form 36cmH x 39cmW x29cm D” . It realy makes me want to see more of her work and as delicious as this image is, I relaly need to see it in the flesh, to be able t owalk around it, sneak a touch…

And here’s a “stolen” shot of Sarah’s studio, do love those accidental marks made while making art, we should follow up that show with a second one… Cultivate Presents The Accidental Marks Made While Making Art, an on-line exhibition

5: Tricia Gillman – I see I’m quoted on this show poster (which is nice to see), it is indeed a fine show, an excellent exhibition, more than most shows it really needs to be seen in the flesh though, it is work that you need to have a private conversation with. highly recomended if you can make it, the gallery is just off Redchurch Street, East London. One of my favourite art shows of the year so far and I’m yet to see a photograph that goes anywhere near telling you why… . the full review – ORGAN THING: Tricia Gillman, Moment Fields at Benjamin Rhodes Arts – the tiny details feel important, the layers beneath, the things you almost sense rather than see. This, for more than one reason, is a rather recommended exhibition…

And while we’re here., or while we’re out on the East London street. Shall we credit this one or just leave it here….