A couple of art exploring things kind of worth a mention before it really is too late, it almost is already. More of that current (or was it constant?) search for whatever is next. Last weekend was mostly disappointing in terms of art galleries and shows (yet again), hasn’t that been said a number of times recently? The afternoon started at the rather mysterious and very rarely open secret that is Grey Gallery, scene of that recent rather good Carol Robertson and Trevor Sutton show – Carol Robertson and Trevor Sutton, Heaven Earth and Human Beings at The Grey Gallery, Hackney, East London. This is a beautiful show, beautiful use of colour, crisp, precise, almost graceful. Pieces and relationships that are warm rather than the cold thing geometrical painting can sometimes be – over in the strange lands by the railway arches between Hackney’s Mare Street and the playgrounds of London Fields. it isn’t that clear if this is Grey Gallery’s home or if they’re nomadic and just pop up here from time to time? Most of the year the space seems to be hidden behind graffiti cover roller blinds or full of motorbikes, it is a rather pleasant little semi-formal kind of white walled art space when it is in use and well, right now, there’s an exhibition called Terra Firma featuring Isabella Dyson and Chris Dyson and…

“The title of this exhibition, Terra Firma, denotes substance: dry land, solid ground. In these uncertain times, the works of Isabella Dyson and Chris Dyson convey stability in landscapes and still life paintings, and in buildings that endure. London-based artist, Isabella Dyson and her father, architect Chris Dyson, explore the shared ideals of their disciplines in this collaborative exhibition. Their works reflect a similar pursuit of serenity and visual enjoyment, in different ways expressing form, beauty, light, emotion and craft. Isabella’s paintings capture imagined landscapes inspired by Suffolk’s coastlines and big skies, while Chris’s drawings reflect a way of thinking about space, and committing places, forms and ideas to memory through a sketch. At Grey Gallery, they present a curated selection of recent paintings and drawings that highlight how art and architecture intertwine – and in the process, offer new perspectives on the work of each….” 

It is the paintings in Terra Firma that delight, there are bits of architecture should you feel like dancing around them, models and such, Chris Dyson is busy explaining things to a couple of rather engaged visitors, it really is paintings that are holding my attention. And yes, it would be reasonable to say Isabella Dyson’s paintings are no great revolution, they’re no great challenge in the great big scheme of it all, they are rather wonderful though, they are that visual enjoyment talked of, yes the light, yes the emotion, the space, the imagination and well, just really really (really) enjoyable paintings and sometimes that’s more than enough, well worth a visit and yes, it does all work as an exhibition…

A quick walk through Broadway Market, well no, this is Saturday and the sun is out, a slow walk from London Fields through the annoyance of Broadway Market’s beard growers to sanctuary of Haggerston Park and for that already documented second look at that Break The Glass exhibition – Break The Glass with Jemima Burrill, Charles Emerson and Julia Maddison, three intriguing artists sharing more than just an art space…

And then on to a second attempt to see the then current exhibition at the look at us aren’t we so damn cool Maximilian Wolfgang Gallery over on the edges of Arnold Circus in Shoreditch. Tried to see the Anthropocene group show on the previous Saturday; a five artist show focusing in some kind of way on human ecology and environmental impact, something that comes into my own art practice rather a lot so naturally I want to see it. The show should have been open on that previous Saturday afternoon according to the Gallery website only it wasn’t, all locked up and no sign of life, oh well, these things happen, there’s probably a reasonable reason although when it happens again in the middle of a second Saturday afternoon, it is more than annoying. It has happened before with this space and once with this show was kind of forgivable, but twice? Well, if you’re not going to bother keeping the hours you say you are on the website, then say sorry can’t be open this weekend on your social media or something, if you’ve had to close for thirty minutes then put a sign on the damn door to say you’ll be back so those of us who have made the effort know to come back in thirty minutes, don’t just leave people hanging! This isn’t the first time and well it is probably is the last time I shall bother, there’s only so many times you can try with a gallery. Actually there was going to be some kind of debate at the space on the Saturday morning about art and environmental impact, I had been invited and then subsequently told I was only welcome if I wasn’t going to ask any awkward questions, and well if they want nothing but yes men and women and no awkward questions at their debate then well, why bother holding it? Hey, I know, more than most I know how tough it is running a gallery, sitting there for hour after hour – been there, done that – never ever closed and went off though, not even on the worst of black dog days, stayed there in the cold and the rain until the time it said on the website, stuck there for the allotted time whatever. To be closed in the middle of the afternoon two Saturdays running when your website says you’re open and they when asked about it later, to deny it, and claim you were there and you were open, well…. Never did get to see that show, other than a glimpse through the window, Anthropocene has ended now, something new opened last Thursday, I haven’t bothered trying to see it (this not being open when they say they will be seems to happen rather a lot with the new breed of galleries, to busy on social media to actuall be open maybe?)

The only real reason to come out was for a second look at Break The Glass and to check out what was the promise of something maybe interesting in terms of Anthropocene at Max’s place and no, we’re not in Kansas any more, and hey, may as well walk another five minutes down the road for the first weekend of the just opened Ken Kiff show at Hales Gallery…    

“Hales is delighted to announce The National Gallery Project, a solo exhibition by Ken Kiff (b. 1935, Dagenham, Essex — d. 2001, London, UK) — a major British artist known for his visionary and distinct practice. Kiff’s first show at the gallery centres on works directly connected to his time as Associate Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London, between 1991-1993. He was the second artist to hold the position, following Paula Rego. Primarily a painter, Kiff pursued the formal qualities of painting — of shape, line, texture, transparency and colour. His practice was driven by an exploration of the material and emotional properties of colour, viewing colour as image, and image as colour. Kiff would work on many pieces over years at a time – this process is exemplified by The Sequence, which spanned decades and 200 works, a ‘continuous flux’ of image and form which resembles a long episodic dream: allowing thoughts and imagery to spill over into the next work, creating reoccurring themes and symbolic motifs”.

And well, we are mostly about the right here and right now, the art being made today and the artists mostly doing it themselves, this is a very worthy exhibition, an interesting rewarding exhibition, and yes, one well worth visiting and spending time with (yes you can rely on their opening hours!). This is clearly a deeply personal rather intense collection of work, it isn’t really what we’re doing here with Organ though, we are mostly about the artists working right now, the painters of now, the bands, the artist-led galleries (not that there are too many these days). Read more about the rewarding show on the Hales website, always worth dropping in on their rather relaxing space opposite the hell of the East London version of Boxpark. These Ken Kiff pieces are I guess, now to be seen as historic works, pieces that strengthened the artist’s modernist ideals and no, not going to get dragged into the writing about it, not today, here’s another #43SecondFilm….

Onward to the oft visited almost always deserted Studio 1.1, I assume there’s someone hanging around in the back room or something, it is rare to see a human in there, Rosie West has a solo show on in the space at the moment, lots of rabbits, fairy tale painting? Childhood? “Childhood or more potently adolescence, the dangerous margin between wild imagining and adult responsibility. Running away to the circus when you’re only ten and running away from home when you’re five years older are very different things. This is where Rosie West’s disturbing vision lies (experienced or fabricated, there’s a taint of corruption while still talking in fairy tales). Looking back and finding not all was sweetness and light. Not everything was as it seemed at the time.”, although was that what I got from the peace and quiet of the show, an English vision grown from repression? ” The animals are the key: they can be soft and endearing or they can frighten us rigid”, although they don’t really, not in here on the peaceful sunny Spring afternoon, not on these white walls, is Alice’s White Rabbit baring ferocious teeth? Filling in the blanks As West herself says ‘Some people feel shame, alienation, and vulnerability when taking fright or disgust from situations that others find normal or even hilarious. From found images, I wanted to depict the anxious child, some of those situations and the juxtaposition of discomfort and delight’ and well that information mostly comes from reading the gallery statement after seeing the art rather than from the art itself. The paintings themselves kind of keep themselves to themselves, nice paintings of rabbits? Childhood memories? Safer places or maybe, thinking back, maybe not? Intriguing images? Strange? Disturbing? Why?  The exhibition is called Shades of Sweetness, which maybe kind of plays with the ideas of the show and what it may or may not be about…

Over to Nina Bonnici‘s Ripe Until We’re Rotten which is on until 26th April at Jealous, more of a sales room than a gallery really, the red frames unite things nicely but this is more like cartoon flavoured illustration than anything, it is really doing much for me, we’ll polite leave you with the words of the gallery and head off in search of more – “Nina Bonnici weaves a meandering path through her strange and seemingly unconnected interests and obsessions, from cartoons, car boot sales and 90’s R&B, to European Master Paintings and Americana. The unifying themes that arise from the often unconventional subject matter are ones of lust, femininity, desperation, sexuality, beauty and pain…” Off to Pure Evil’s rebranded Bunny Contemporary, which to date has featured little more than walls full of Pure Evil’s own work which once again is the case this week. Drop in at Haricot Gallery as we head back towards Hackney where Ross Head has a solo show at the moment, a one time Slade School of Fine Art student with a list of awards for the gallery to list so who are we to say we’ll politely leave that one with you as well? It hasn’t been the best day in terms of gallery exploring. It was mostly about needing another look at Break The Glass and wanting to see the exhibition Maximilian Wolfgang gallery, a gallery that seems to talk it far more than walk it, the Rosie West show asked a few questions, Ken Kiff was good and yes, I like Pure Evil, so far his rebranded space is kind of feeling like more of the same and well – ORGAN THING: The Pure Evil pop art factory rolls on at East London’s rebranded Bunny Contemporary… I am wonder what the point of all this writing about art is actually about now? What the point is? Has the point been passed now? Are we done with it all? Time to move on or is it still contact to switch the other? (sw)      

The Grey Gallery on this occasion is found at 4 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB. The Gallery is only open on weekends, midday until 5pm Saturday and Sunday (or by appointment. The show runs 27th April 2025.

Hales Gallery is in The Tea Building, 7 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, London, E1 6LA. The entrance is on the main street directly over the road from Boxpart rather than in the Tea Building. The Ken Kiff show runs until 25th May 2025. Hales is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11am until 6pm. Previous Hales Gallery coverage

Studio 1.1 is the last gallery standing on Redchurch Street, the full address is 57a Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DJ. Rosie West’s show is on until 27th April 2025. Current opening hours Thursdays to Sundays 12 – 5pm. Previous Studio 1.1 coverage

Haricot Gallery is at 2 Blackall Street, London, United Kingdom EC2A 4AD, the space is open Wedmesday to Saturday, midday until 6pm (5pm on a Saturday) – Previous Haricot coverage

Previously – ORGAN THING: The constant search for whatever is next. Last weekend was mostly disappointing in terms of art galleries and shows, there was a sneak preview of the Michael Crowther show that opens later this week at Benjamin Rhodes Gallery though…

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