Never mind whatever we said last time, that was then, this, once again is about this week and next and cake and yes you are right, we haven’t done this for a week, here we go with five more art things. five art things, five more art things happening somewhere around right now (or any moment now). Five art shows to check out in the coming days. 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, these five recommendations come 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”. This Five Things thing is simply a regular list of five or so recommended art things happening now or coming up very soon that we think you might find as interesting as we think we will…

And we should add, that entry to these recommended exhibitions and events, unless otherwise stated, is free.

1: The Art Car Boot Fair Goes Pop – This one is actually 37 days away as this page is being put together but you do keep telling us we don’t give you enough warning. As we reported last week,

The date for this year’s much anticipated Art Car Boot Fair has now been announced on the official website. The fair has been branching out in recent years, on line events, pop ups and special releases via the website, and yes, there has always been events outside of the capital city, events at the seaside, that time in the forest, up at the Liverpool Biennial, Hastings, Folkestone, Margate, appearances at festivals and such but it has really always been about the main event that is the annual Summer Art Car Boot Fair here in London. It has always been about the live event, the Summer art party, the dancing in a car park, the people-watching, the music and of course the art, and of course it is about the cast list of artists, the interaction, the hair let down and the car boot fair prices you get just for that day.  

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This year the Art Car Boot Fair will happen in terms of a live event on Saturday September 16th, it will once again happen in London at Lewis Cubitt Square, Kings Cross and this year the theme is Pop.

Tickets have gone on sale and we anticipate an announcement in terms of the artist line up in the next few days (we’re expecting the usual suspects along with a new name or two, there’s always an interesting new artist or two)

And yes, London may be the spiritual home of the fair (some would say East London is), the fair has become a global affair since the pandemic forced it all on line in 2020, could it be argued that it was one of the very few good things that came out of the whole Covid mess was the Fair going on line and reaching out beyond the city?  The big Art Car Boot Fair online events have seen collectors from all over the globe interacting directly with the participating artists and once again, as well as being live in Kings Cross in September, Art Car Boot Fair Goes Pop will also open on line in September. Further reading.

2: Benzilla and Kabeku, Eye Contact at StolenSpace – 11th August until 3rd September 2023 with an opening on Thursday 10th August, 6 until 8pm – “StolenSpace Gallery is excited to present: ‘EYE CONTACT’ a collaboration exhibition by the artists Benzilla and Kabekui. From Thailand and Japan respectively, these two artists have come together to unite their talent and shared inspirations into one place at StolenSpace”.

“Both Benzilla and Kabekui share a similar recurring theme in common – their artworks include characters which have lots of eyes. In this exhibit, the artworks and the “eyes” of the viewers complete this shared experience, and unite their works together from Thailand and Tokyo, to London. Throughout the exhibition, the colour yellow also works to unite the palette of both artists and the gallery, offering another dimension of collaboration and connection. These vivid works are created with the image of finding hope in the chaos.

Benzilla graduated from Fine and Applied Art, at Bangkok University, and then started his career as an artist in 2007. His art is inspired by pop and street culture, as well as fashion and music, which he weaves together through painting, spraypaitn, and graphic design. His signature three-eyed character guides the viewer through his artworks, urging the viewer to self-reflect. Kabekui lives and works in Tokyo, Japan, creating artworks that cleverly transition between 2D and 3D design. Influenced by manga and anime, Kabekui translates images of Japan into his own style, and his signature “twisting” design. His artwork expresses “things that cannot be unraveled,” which intersect with each other and are intricately intertwined.

Stolenspace is at 17 Osborn Street, London, E1 6TD (top end of Brick Lane to you and me, just around the corner from the bloated Whitechapel Gallery.  They say the gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday 11am until 6pm (5pm on Fridays) although it has to be said, that hasn’t always been my experience in terms of finding the space open. 

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3: Damien Cifielli, Welcome to Tarogramma at Moosey Hoxton  – 10th to 31st Aug 2023 with an opening on Thursday August 10th, 6 until 8pm – Moosey Hoxton say thare are “delighted to announce a solo exhibition by Damien Cifielli. The exhibition will launch Thursday 10th August, 6-8 pm, with the artist in attendance”

Damien Cifelli is a multidisciplinary artist from Edinburgh, now based in London.  Damien’s work explores a fictitious land named Tarogramma. Referencing the scale and compositions of history paintings and historical sculpture, he has built a detailed culture with its own aesthetic, way of living, and understanding of the world; one that is at once alien, and eerily similar to our own. The paintings are a visual representation of this alternative society – documentary images of a new world.

What Is Tarogramma?  Shrouded from the eyes of the world, a hidden civilisation has long existed in parallel with our own. The elusive land of Tarogramma holds the promise of something far beyond our understanding.

Over the course of human history Tarogramma has been discovered accidentally on several occasions. All we know about the place exists in the artefacts and images recovered from expeditions and from the detailed testimonies of the few who have returned. Using this information, a vivid picture has been built of the people and their lives. It is a place with a detailed culture; its own aesthetic, way of living, and understanding of the world.

It is perhaps Tarogramma’s elusiveness that has allowed it to live long in the imagination of writers and explorers. As a result, there is no real consensus on the origin or material properties of the place. It is believed by some to be an inaccessible forgotten city, others to be an afterlife, and many to be completely fictional.

“I use fictional anthropology, through storytelling, to examine the idea of searching – the impulse we all feel to look beyond what we know. Do we, by virtue of looking for an alternative, critique the present? And by creating a fictional world, can we hold up a mirror to ourselves?

Inspired by personal histories, the creativity of the diaspora, ancestral stories and recent collective experiences, I have created a world distilled down into the simplest necessities – human connection and a sense of community. Values that have become infinitely more important in recent times. Tarogramma is a vessel for all these ideas.”.

Moosey Hoxton is at The Shoreditch Exchange, Hackney Road, London E2 8GY, The gallery is open Thursday through t oSunday, 11am until 5pm.

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4: Health and Safety Posters from the Jupiter Factory Complex, Chernobyl at PhotoVoice – 11th to 14th August – We don’t tend to cover photography (there’s plenty of place that do), however, this does look to be rather rewarding. Photographs taken showing Soviet health and safety posters in Pripyat, the town abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster.

The Jupiter Factory complex lies on the outskirts of Pripyat, the city evacuated in 1986 as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. A series of large multi-storied buildings make up the area which, like most of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, has been abandoned and left to the elements. Within these buildings, the remains of industry have succumbed to time. Yet remnants of the health and safety posters, designed to instruct, advise, and warn about safe working practices, remain.

The design and the intended messages of these posters is often obscure, bordering on abstract. Some are clearer. Some take on a playful tone – a cartoon rendering of somebody slipping on water. Others convey more sinister information, bearing atomic symbols and gas masks, foreshadowing what would eventually happen in a way that nobody could have foreseen. They are surrounded by broken rusted machines, smashed windows, obfuscated activities.

PhotoVoice is at 26 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4NR. The space is open Friday to Sunday, 10am until 5pm

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5: Dave Buonaguidi – Here & Now at No.1 Mare Street – on until 16th August with a late evening opening on Thursday 10th August – The Real Hackney Dave, aka Dave Buonaguidi celebrates his love of vintage maps as well as his love for East London at born again space that is No.1 Mare Street. Dave’s show has been open since last week  – “We would love you to join us for a drink this Thursday 10th August from 6pm – 8pm to view Here & Now – A celebration of local artist Dave Buonaguidi and his love for maps and the east end.  We are lucky enough to have the original maps some of which are over 120 years old. We also have super limited, very special, artists prints – Here and Now Pink Neon, F**king Love this Place, East is Best, Norf Sarf and East End State of Mind”. The gallery add that everything will also be available in their website. in addition “The Pearlie Kings & Queens are joining us on Saturday the 12th from 1-3pm so pop by and say hello to them and have a photo”.

One Mare Street is, of course, found at 1 Mare Street, Hackney, London E8, Top of Vyner Steet, on the corner by The Last Tuesday Society and the canal bridge.  Not too much of a walk from Cambridge Heath overground station,,,

Previously on these pages – ORGAN THING: My Dog Sighs, his eyes and other big issues at Jealous, Lucie Flynn and Ben Eine’s Entwined at One Mare Street, two art shows happening right now…