Five art things, on we go then and never mind whatever we said last time, that was then, this, once again is about this week and next and needing more (just more, nothing less) and yes you are right. Here, for what any of this is worth are 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. We do aim to make this 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.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=q8Rf1AiQi5Y%3Fsi%3DxgzmefR-0QgI4MUo

1: Ernest Cole, House of Bondage at The Photographers’ Gallery – Now we don’t tend to recommend photography events, we are mostly about paint, the odd bit or installation, performance, sculpture, we don’t often focus on photography but this looks like it might be something a little bit special – “The Photographers’ Gallery presents Ernest Cole: House of Bondage, on show from 14 June – 22 September 2024. This substantial exhibition revisits Cole’s ground-breaking project House of Bondage”. 

South African photographer Ernest Cole (1940–1990) is considered one of the most important chroniclers of the brutal reality of apartheid in South Africa. Through his work, Cole revealed the violence and injustice of apartheid to the world. Born in a township in Transvaal in 1940, as a young Black man Cole experienced the daily humiliations of the system from the inside: “Three-hundred years of white supremacy in South Africa have placed us in bondage, stripped us of our dignity, robbed us of our self-esteem and surrounded us with hate.” (Ernest Cole) 

One of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, which was only possible due to his reclassification from ‘Black’ to ‘Coloured’ under apartheid, he documented everyday life with assignments for Drum magazine and The New York Times, amongst others. Cole photographed the precarious living conditions of Black South Africans, from mine labourers to domestic workers in white households, as well as the state of the transport and health sectors. He paid particularly close attention to children and young people who were denied a proper education under the Bantu Education Act, which was introduced while Cole was still in high school and caused him to leave in protest.

In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his photographs, travelling through the UK before settling in New York. His book House of Bondage was published in 1967 and showed the countless forms of violence and repression of the apartheid system to the outside world. Its publication resulted in him being banned in his home country. House of Bondage is considered one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century. In more than 100 photographs, the exhibition covers all 15 thematic chapters into which Cole divided the House of Bondage book, and also includes works from the chapter ‘Black Ingenuity’, which was not published in the original edition. The exhibition will also feature early original prints, personal documents, original editions, ephemera and filmed interviews with Cole.

The Photographers’ Gallery is found at 16-18 Ramillies Street, Soho, London, W1F 7LW – find it just off Oxford Street a couple of minutes from Oxford Street tube. The space is open Tuesday through to Saturday, 11am until 7pm. There is an entry price with this one, price: £8 (£5 concession). Advance: £6.50 (£4 concession). Members go free. Admission is free on Fridays after 5pm.

2: 2: Ernest Cole, A Lens in Exile at Autograph – 13th June until 12th Oct 2024 – Yes, another Ernest Cole show, but look at the power of those images – “The first exhibition of Ernest Cole’s photographs documenting New York City during the height of the civil rights movement in America”

“Offering a rare and reflective insight into the seminal South African photographer Ernest Cole, A Lens in Exile is the first exhibition of his photographs documenting New York City during the height of the civil rights movement in America.  Best known for his radical images documenting the violence of apartheid, Cole fled South Africa in 1966 and was officially made stateless in 1968. In a televised interview 1969 he expressed a hope of being liberated from the day-to-day experience of racism. Focused on the humanity of everyday life, Cole spent his first years in New York City photographing Harlem and Manhattan, focusing his lens on the experience of living in a racialised America.

Framed against the struggle for civil rights, Cole captured moments of emergent black awakenings, unfolding within public and private spaces by the forces of Black Pride and Black Power. These remarkably intuitive photographs – documenting protest, politics and daily existence – were forged through a transgressive challenge to the status quo of American society. Despite Cole’s observant eye confronting America in transition, these social documentary images revealed a chasm. Disillusioned and isolated in exile, he began to reflect that the systemic exclusion and segregation he experienced in South Africa was also prevalent in America. In his own words “it wasn’t any better: there was no freedom”.

The photographs displayed here were taken between 1967–1972, representing a small chapter of Cole’s 60,000 images taken while in exile. In 2017, thousands of his negatives believed to have been missing for more than 40 years were discovered in a Stockholm bank vault. The Ernest Cole Family Trust was subsequently established to ensure Cole’s important photographic legacy is preserved”.

Autograph is at 1 Rivington Place, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3BA. The gallery space is open on the following days: Wednesdays 11:00 – 18:00, Thursdays 11:00 – 21:00, Fridays 11:00 – 18:00, Saturday 12:30 – 18:00. “Book free tickets and find out more on Autograph’s website” so it says, although I’ve never booked, and no one has ever stopped me jsut walking in. There’s some good Ernest Cole background here

3: Dave Buonaguidi AKA Real Hackney Dave – People I’ve Seen Outside The Rio at BSMT Space – from June 13th to June 30th, 2024. What was that Pop Will Eat itself song? BSMT Space was a place we did quite bit with back there before their feet grew out of their boots. There is no love between us any more and I don’t know, maybe we’re not “the bomb” any more,maybe we’re not “smashing it” or any of those other things Urban Art types like to say when a new Amy Winehouse stencil excites them or someone drops something that’s very much like something someone else dropped the week before and are you aware of the razoredge on which you live? We do like a slice of Real Hackney Dave though, especially when it is something more than just another map (got a little bored with the maps now)

“A witty new exhibition by local artist Dave Buonaguidi AKA Real Hackney Dave. This show captures the essence of Dalston’s vibrant street life and its characters through a series of unique screen prints”. We do have a ban of words like ‘vibrant’ or ‘iconic’ in gallery statements or press releases, we’ll let it slip this once. 

“Inspired by the bustling surroundings of the iconic Rio Cinema on Kingsland Road, the artist brings to life the everyday moments and characters that animate Dalston’s streets. “I find a lot of inspiration watching and listening to people. I also love the Rio cinema on Kingsland Road because it’s an architectural beauty smack bang in the middle of Dalston. For me, it’s the most beautiful building in the area, a little bit London, a little bit Los Angeles. It’s weird,” says the artist. “The Rio is like the heart of the area. Everything interesting is within three minutes, and every time I go past on my motorbike, I see people walking past and hanging about outside as it’s a great place to meet because everyone knows where it stands. For this show, I’m turning those moments into art.” The exhibition will feature a brand new collection of work, bright layers of colour screen printed onto original, independent film posters followed by one layer of type. Dave has also created a series of ‘1 minute’ pencil portraits, a collection of 100 of which will be on display alongside a new exhibition book that includes the entire collection. The witty and spontaneous nature of the work captures these impressions and the characters of these fleeting encounters on the streets of Hackney”.

“People I’ve Seen Outside The Rio runs from June 13th to June 30th, 2024. “Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the vibrancy of Dalston captured through the unique vision of Real Hackney Dave”, and there they go with the V word again, three and you’re out, no Victory Gin for you! The Gallery is found just down the road from Rio. Opening hours: Wednesday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm, Sunday: 11am – 5pm.  BSMT Space is found in a shop-like space at 529 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AR.

4: All I Ever Wanted Was Everything a Secret Salon group show at Safehouse 2, Peckham –  The latest artist-led Secret Salon show, curated, as it always is with Secret Salon shows, by painter Andree Adley, an exhibition called All I Ever Wanted Was Everything, a short sharp group show featuring a whole load of what we’re promised will be painterly punk rock attitude in the beautifully distressed art space that is Peckham Safehouse.  

Artists featured: Andree Adley, Michael Coles, Emma Harvey, Lizard Lizard, Holy Matrimony, Timothy Midnight, Amelie Midnight, Henri Parnell, Suzie Pindar, Sean Worrall, Adrian Zeqjaa plus a number of special guests “that we’ll keep to ourselves for now” True to Victorian style, this house has two large rooms downstairs and three large open rooms upstairs. Gloomy and gorgeous upon entry, almost all of the ground floor windows are bricked up, then upstairs there’s plenty of natural light. 

The gloriously distressed Peckham Safehouse 2 is found at 137 Copeland Road, Peckham, London SE15 3SN The show takes place on Saturday and Sunday June 15th and 16th, Midday until 6pm on both days, with an evening opening or a private view (that’s open to everyone)  or whatever you want to call it from 6pm until 8.30pm, “bring your own drinks, we’ll provide the art, the music and the other things….” (Yeah, you’re indeed right more DIY trumper blowing)

5: Gloria Carlos, Enveloped at MOCA London, Peckham – 16th June until 20th July 2024 – Back to Peckham again, two birds with one slice of bread in peck peck Peckham – “Gloria Carlos leaves her figurative as well as actual fingerprints all over the sculptures she makes and MOCA London is excited to present her new solo show at the exhibition space”. 

“Her larger works are made from metal, plaster, and found objects while her jewellery pieces can be made from silver, gold, brass and hand beaten iron. She can weld and use a forge and anvil and is known for hand beating the works into creation. Her jewellery work has found its way into Hollywood and can be seen in the Mama Mia 2 movie around the neck of no less an icon that Cher, and on the hands and wrists of Daenerys Targaryen in the Game of Thrones television series. Her aesthetic is timeless or rather one that would not look out of place in many other previous times.

Carlos’ larger sculpture have an organic feel to them, they often look a bit like they might be living creatures, startled for a moment, stopped, so that they can assess the situation and the viewer. They seem to look back at us. She often mixes odd materials as in Envelope, where pink painted clay is pierced by a huge rusty nail she found in the Thames, or has the clay slowly surrounded enveloped the nail? It is hard to say, and the tension between the two elements is what holds our attention.

The newest works she plans to exhibit at MOCA London take these concepts further. She says that “I work with plaster and found materials and objects. I love the versatility and immediacy of plaster, of applying it directly with my hands, its tactile and textural nature. My use and choice of objects is done with intention and purpose and becomes an integral part of the shaping of the piece as a whole.”

In one of the new works a white plaster form curls in on itself while sitting onto a green metal industrial lamp shade. In another work a shiny silver shaped form envelops an antique base, which flares out. It looks like it might be a candle holder or the base of some Victorian lamp, and the silver form compliments and completes it. It also looks like its biomorphic neck has been snapped in two. It has the sad feel of a dead animal. In another work a black painted plaster object also tucks it head and long neck into a found object. Here it laces itself into the handle of a beaten-up aluminium colander. This object looks like it is alive and might carefully pull its head out and fly off, yet I wonder what it means to Carlos, what void does it either fill or allude to”.

MOCA London is at 113 Bellenden Road, Peckham, London, SE15 4QY. The space is open Thursdays and Fridays, 1pm until 5pm or Saturday, midday until 4pm.  Enveloped runs from 16th June until 20th July 2024, there is als oan opening event from 2 to 4pm on Saturday 16th that you could take in before head to Safehouse and the Secret Salon show we just mentioned up there.

And while we’re here…

Cultivate presents Mixtape No.7 – Mixtape No.7 is still open, the latest Cultivate online group show, 43 artists and over 250 piece of art to explore, here’s the link, the show is hosted here on the Organ website, we’ll let the art do the talking – Cultivate presents Mixtape No.7 – an online art exhibition…

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