The Future is Now Part II: Re/Form~ation at CasildART Contemporary, London W2 –  The art of looking at art, exploring art, walking around art, talking about it, writing about it, none of it ever stops, really needed to get over and check this exhibition out before a hundred others come along and (quite reasonably) peck at us and demand our time. The Future is Now looked like a good show from the advance information posted on line, we needed to get over there, the show had been up in the space for a week or so already.a Friday afternoon jump on the Lizzy line was needed. Brave title, strong statement, it was one of our recommended art shows a couple of weeks back purely on the strength of the upfront publisity, the images on line along with the words offered had us rather curious, here’s how the gallery headlined it, “CasildART Presents The Future is Now Part II: Re/Form~ation: Contemporary Black Artists Explore the Transformative Potential of Materials to confront Past and Present and Imagine the Future”.

The show features the work of Àsìkò, Donald Baugh, Christopher Day, Othello De’Souza-Hartley, Elaine Mullings, Margaret Scott and Theresa Weber, a multi media show and yes the artists brought together here are working across different mediums including painting, sculpture, photography, textiles and glass, the thing that immediately stands out, the thing that is obvious straight away, the thing that binds these artists together, as the gallery themselves point out, the thing is the love of their craft as well as a thorough grasp of the material process and form of bringing an idea into being. And there is an idea running through the whole show, a thread running through the two floors of the modestly sized gallery, from Donald Baugh’s gorgeous wooden vessels that do really demand to be touched (I didn’t, really wanted to) through to Margaret Scott’s powerful layers and textures to the deep blackness of Othello De’Souza-Hartley’s two very striking paintings, on through the entire exhibition…    

Sukai Eccleston, founder and curator at CasildART Contemporary, says of the show, “we celebrate the boundless creativity that arises when artists push the boundaries of what is considered art. This exhibition is a testament to the ingenuity of artists who use materiality to challenge what we think is real, finding beauty in the discarded to forge connections across time and layering the work with new meaning and context. The artists in Re/Form~ation are not just makers; they are storytellers, weaving narratives that bridge the gap between the past and the present, paving the way for us to think about traditional structures and expand the possibilities for a better future now!

CasildART Contemporary (a gallery dedicated to addressing the under-representation of Black artists in fine art institutions, commercial galleries, and museums), is found in the gap between Hyde Park and Paddington, just off the Edgeware Road. Sukai Eccleston launched the gallery with a mission, she says she wants it to be a catalyst for change, she wants to transform the visual landscape in the UK by inserting Black narratives into the culture. Eccleston believes art has the ability to foster connections and initiate conversations about culture and heritage, and through the CasildART programme her aim is to redress the racial and cultural balance within the UK and international contemporary art scene. Bold ambition, but it is through spaces like hers that this will (continue to) happen. We are seeing a more diverse art scene now, we are seeing lots more black faces in Cork Street crowds, we are seeing the work of brilliant artists like Deborah Roberts and Leilah Babirye in major London galleries, we’re seeing artists London-based artists like Yasmin Grant, we need more of course, feels like the balance is shifting in the right direction though and The Future is Now Part II: Re/Form~ation is alive with strong powerful art. As one whole the show really works, as a group show that makes you want to go find out more about the individual artists involved it really works, and as an immediate catalyst in terms of the actual pieces of art on the walls it definitely works. There’s some beautiful art in this show, some powerful art, there’s good conversation to be had about it at the rather friendly gallery, there’s artists to go find out more about. Worth going just for Margaret Scott’s work but I really shouldn’t be cherry picking, the whole thing is strong. A rather strong, rather recommended group show and a healthy body of work    

The exhibition runs until 7th September 2024. CasildART Contemporary is found at 32 Connaught Street, London, W2 2AY, The space is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am until 6pm

As always, click on an image to see the whole thing, or to run the slide show and get a small taste….