On Feeling – a group show at The Approach, East London, July 2024 – Do like popping into The Approach on any given working afternoon, it is such a civilised gallery and you pretty much know, even if it is a rather establishment kind of place, that there’s going to be something (politely) interesting and now and again, every one in a while, something very rewarding – recent shows from Adelaide Cioni and Sam Windett come to mind, those Anna Glantz paintings at the end of last year, the time Jack Lavender turned the place black, those delicious Phillip Allen pieces back in 2019. Right now there’s a group show occupying both the main space and the small annex, a show called On Feeling, “an exhibition about emotion and subjectivity” curated by artist Peter Davies. The show features eleven emerging artists who live or have studied in London, they are Okiki Akinfe, Nour Jaouda, Anderson Borba, Lara Shahnavaz, Mohammed Z. Rahman, Alex Margo Arden, Gal Schindler, Kentaro Okumura, Areena Ang, Ruoru Mou and Lowena Hearn 

“This is a special time for contemporary art in London. I have never known it to be so exciting. I am moved and inspired by the work of the artists in this show and want to celebrate it and their achievements. My fascination with emerging art grew out of teaching in an art school, then following the careers of graduating students” – Peter Davies. 

As someone who’s probably seen the inside of more London galleries (of all shapes and sizes) than most in this century (and quite a few in the previous century), I can’t really  say I agree with Peter Davies in terms of the current state of things, quite the opposite actually. True, there are some exciting artists around at the moment, but then there always has been if you put in the time and effort and go and actually look for them, and yes, true there is a more diverse London contemporary art scene now, that surely has to be a very good thing, on the whole though, is it really a “special time”? Really? Are you sure? From what I’m seeing and experiencing out there, things are feeling rather tame at the moment, rather polite, disconcertingly conservative, it feels rather like the establishment has a thumb on it all once more and the only artists really getting a look in are those who obey the rules and conform to the establishment’s rather restrained blueprint. Peter Davies argues that “the vision and ambition of the community involved in the emerging gallery scene is creating a powerful sense of possibility. The only comparable thing I know was the Young British Art (YBA) era in the early to mid 1990s”, he goes on to say that “Now however the community of artists is more friendly, supportive, inclusive, diverse and international. I love the galleries that have opened”. They may be more friendly to you Peter but that’s certainly not what a lot of us are finding and I don’t know where Peter has been over the last twenty or so years? Safely hiding in some kind of art school bubble maybe? Has he just being going the one or two new spaces the establishment approve of? There a disturbing lack in terms of possibilities right now, these are not good times, that statement of Peter’s made me rather angry.  

When we opened Cultivate in East London’s Vyner Street back in late 2011, a street a stones-throw away from The Approach here in East London, there was something like fifteen or so galleries, art spaces and crucially, artist-led spaces operating on a street that really was alive with possibilities in terms of art, artists and especially artists doing it ourselves, as well as people wanting to engage in art. The crowds were massive on a First Thursday, it was busy most of the time, it really was exciting, so much fresh blood flowing in in terms of both artists and audiences, it really was exciting. The street’s final gallery closed earlier this summer (ironically on the same weekend as whatever that annoyingly self-congratulating London Gallery Weekend thing that was hyping itself up in a most ridiculous manner actually was), the same story can be reported from the once vitally exciting now almost gallery-free Redchurch Street and Herald Street now is just those rather conservative Establishment new builds on Three Colt Lane (along with the rather hit or miss Herald Street Gallery itself) where once all kinds of things were going on on that street.  Peckham looked exciting for a time, there is still Safehouse if artists can afford it, there’s been some good shows there recently but Peckham is fading now, Deptford has become rather conformist and lost a lot of that defiant spirit it once had, Hackney Wick as far as pro-active artist-led contemporary art goes is a shadow of a once thriving former self of ten or so years ago. As working artists most of us are finding it far from “special” right now and the gatekeepers that are out there are far from friendly! Finding realistic spaces to show work in is getting tougher and tougher, finding spaces and curators that will even engage is! The spaces that are there are more and more obtuse and more unfriendly that they ever were (and they’ve never were that friendly), if you’re a young artist from a working class background and you don’t have the finance then heaven help you, I’d hate to starting out now!

These are tough times, Peter Davies says the community of artists is more friendly, supportive, inclusive, diverse and international now – well yes, as I’ve said already, in terms of the diversity certainly but no way in terms of being more friendly or more supportive, outside the establishment’s little bubble, things are far from friendly and that bubble feels more closed now than it ever was. Sure, the rich kids who are able to pay the art school fees and the excessive hire prices or the rents are putting frankly not very interesting shows, mostly very unfriendly shows and yes, there is new breed of younger middle class by-the-book gatekeepers running often hostile new galleries that really are conforming and obeying and thus have the establishment’s approval – an establishment that’s feeling just a little smug about it all right now. Let’s politely say Peter Davies sees things a little differently to most of us pro-active artists who are out here trying to exist in an increasingly closed and far more conservative London contemporary art scene. The empty spaces and affordable rents are all gone and with it most of the possibilities, as an artist, as a working-class curator, as someone who goes to lots and lots of art shows, I’ve never known it feel less exciting, I’ve never known it to be so under the establishment’s thumb, so conservative, so polite, so unexciting, and that concerns me.     

Is it really a “special time”? Yes there are exciting art shows and events happening all over town, yes there are exciting artists emerging, but there always has been, and yes there is more diversity, that has to be a strong strong positive, I just feel that, whatever Peter Davies might say, the contemporary art scene in London right now, overall, is nowhere near as strong or exciting or inviting as it was even ten years ago, even five years ago. The gallery scene is nowhere near as healthy or engaging, the doors to most of the spaces now operating are firmly shut to most of us and in some cases in a very hostile manner. It seems that unless you went to the right art school and you’re not thirty yet, you may as well forget about even politely pushing the door open and getting even the slightest of toes in and that never ever was the case, not until recently. The YBAs for all their faults, at least were a challenge, they were at least a kick up the arse of it all, but they had a playground, they had the empty spaces, they had building owners given them space so they didn’t get squatted, they all seems like a million years ago now. This 2024, thirty or so years on from he YBAs and the establishment have locked everything down again now and they’re feeling smug about it. Those in control are congratulating themselves (like Peter Davies is with his statement about the show he’s just curated) and on the whole, the London art establishment along with their their approved small group of rich kid new breed gatekeepers are showing increasingly conservative art, even if it is from a more diverse set of artists. yes, there possibly is more personal emotion in the best of what we’re seeing, more expression, more openness in the art being made, it is on the whole rather politely safe though and I’m sorry to say all this, I’m sorry to be all down on things, I wish I could agree with Peter Davies, I wish his words hadn’t angered me, he’s had me chewing them over again and again for the last week to a point where I’ve almost not painted and in a way I wish I hadn’t made the mistake of reading his words, I wish I’d just written about the show without Peter’s words and even if these artists he has gathered together haven’t shown in this particular space before it does all still feel very (very) unwelcoming, all very closed shop, locked down, all very insular and in need of a good kick up the arse again, things are feeling very unfriendly at the moment.

           
“As an artist I have been involved with The Approach since it started. For me, this exhibition is in dialogue with the gallery’s history and I want – with sensitivity – to welcome artists who haven’t shown here.  Amongst my fellow students when I was at Goldsmiths talking about emotion was frowned upon, self-expression seemed embarrassing and subjectivity had to be rhetorised. This is at odds with my experience of talking to students in the last 20 years. For younger artists that I know, subjectivity and especially lived experience seem so important to them and I have had many conversations with people in this exhibition about how an artwork has made them feel.’ – Peter Davies

Oh look,I do like going to the Approach, it isn’t far from my paint splattered bunker here in Hackney, I do go there rather a lot and it usually is worth it. I like the space, true, they’re not that friendly or engaging, a hello or a smile is a rare thing but I don’t want to be down on the Approach. On Feeling isn’t a bad show, far from it, actually I left the space feeling reasonably upbeat about it all (until I read those words back here later that day). Hey, I had had the place pretty much to myself for for a good forty-five minutes or so, Thursday afternoon sun pouring in, just me and the art in the almost silence of what is a rather good space to explore and quietly engage and internally react to the paintings on the wall, the pieces on the floor. Okay, so the show wasn’t making me jump around or anything, it wasn’t making me punch the air and silently yell yes, I wasn’t feeling the need to rush home and start frantically banging out words on the keyboard telling everyone they need to go (something I am known to do now and again, hey, I’m usually the one being accused of being too positive about an art exhibition), it did feel like a decent show though, I rather liked the movement and the energy of Areena Ang‘s big piece, really liked the emotion in that mix of charcoal and paint as well as the scale, like the positivity in the marks, the sense of the artist’s movement, need to see more from Areena. Kind of liked the Lara Shahnavaz painting that could so easily have been overshadowed by the larger pieces but, partly because of the rather good hang, never is. Lara’s piece is called A Premonition, it is kind of intriguing, clearly a painter to watch out for. And I really enjoyed walking around or just standing looking at (or through or underneath) Nour Jaouda‘s Where the fig tree cannot be fenced piece, loved the dyed fabric and bits of pigment on canvas that’s draped on or in the steel, the cement and the ceramic, really enjoyed walking around that piece, really enjoyed sitting behind it, being pulled into it, an exciting engaging piece, this is a good show. Didn’t like everything in the exhibition but then when did anyone ever like everything in a group show? I though one or two of the pieces were the usual (fresh out of) art school bulshit, but then most of us produced little more than bulshit when we were art students didn’t we? Some might say some of us still do! I liked the show, I liked the hang, I like the conversations between the pieces, especially in.the big room. Over in the Annex Anderson Borba‘s Selfie was amusing, although was it amusing before I discovered the tittle of the piece? It was an intriguing piece from the off, kind of stood out in the smaller space. Hey, I liked the show, it didn’t massively move me, I didn’t find it particular emotional as a whole, I kind of made a mental note to watch out for a name or two and I would have just come back to the studio and written a politely upbeat positive piece about a decent enough group show that was well worth your time but then I read the curators self-celebrating text and the smugness of it all, it (seriously) annoyed me, the complacency, the utter nerve, and well, all is not as healthy as Peter Davies says it is with London’s Contemporary Art Scene right now, if you’re not part of the increasingly closed little comfort bubble then far from it! On Feeling is a decent group show though (sw)              

The Approach is found on the first floor above the pub, 47 Approach Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9LY, Access to the gallery via The Approach Tavern pub, there’s a brown door at the end of the left side of the bar that the staff may or may not feel like pointing out to you. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday (although some places say Tuesday) 12–6pm or by appointment. On Feeling goes on until August 3rd 2024

Previous coverage of things at The Approach

As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show.