Here we go again then, on with another Five Art Things thing, on we go and never mind the bliss or the selfies in front of the art or whatever we said last time. 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 as we repeat ourselves. 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

1: Evangeline Armstrong and Diana Olifirova, Stop Time Motion at Bomb Factory, Shoreditch – Opening on Friday 9th May, 6:30 – 8:30pm and then running until 18th May  – Rather keen to see some of Evangeline Armstrong’s movement, and this is a good space in terms of viewing art; “a joint exhibition featuring painting and photography by Evangeline Armstrong and Diana Olifirova. Armstrong’s life-size oil portraits, created in collaboration with Senegalese dancer Moustapha Bassirou Sibr, capture moments of movement and imbalance, turning gesture into memory. Olifirova, using a pinhole camera, creates ghostlike self-portraits that embrace chance and the passing of time. The result is a series of intimate images that invite reflection and surrender. “Running from the 9th to the18th of May at our Shoreditch Gallery Space, Armstrong and Olifirova present contrasting yet connected perspectives on the body in time, revealing how both stillness and movement can capture the fleeting and illuminate what endures”.

The Bomb Factory Shoreditch space is found at 4 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DA. Right over the road junction from Shoreditch Church. The space is open Thurs – Sun, 12-6pm. Running from the 9th to18th May. Opening on Friday 9th May, 6:30 – 8:30pm.

Previously on these pages…

ORGAN THING: Hetty Douglas and Katie Eraser’s Flesh and Time at Bomb Factory’s Shoreditch space, these are paintings alive with raw personality. Oh and a bit of Contour Fatigue at Emalin’s Clerk House space…

ORGAN THING: And on the wet Saturday in East London went, on to the Bomb Factory and Laurence Watchorn, on to Özgür Kar at Emalin’s Clerk’s House space, on to the Conversation with Tricia Gillman, Roger Kite, Sharon Hall and Eva Bosch at Benjamin Rhodes Gallery and…

ORGAN THING: Black Tape and chains shape Marc-Aurele Debut’s rather demanding Cornered exhibition over at Bomb Factory in Holborn, London WC2…

Here come some Barney Bubbles images…

2: Barney Bubbles – The Wild World of Barney Bubbles at Imprint Works – This one doesn’t open until 15th May, it really should be on next week’s list, we’ll give you a bit more warning with this one though, if you’re around and about in London next Thursday 15 May from 6pm, “come along to the launch of ​the new ranges of Barney Bubbles clothing, jewellery, posters and stickers at King’s Cross design studio @imprint.works in association with @needlesandpinsjewelry.” I like the look of the Needles and Pins pieces, find more in their Instagram

“The event will also formally unveil new website barneybubbles.shop – see link in bio – and the new designs will also be available to buy during the evening, which will be sound tracked by Barney Bubbles-related music” so we’ll expect some Hawkwind then. Actually you could make an excellent Barney Bubbles related playlist. “Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy a companion mini-exhibition of rare original artworks and designs, including the one-off cocktail cabinet Barney Bubbles produced as part of a very limited edition of furniture in the early 1980s.

Imprint Works is at 16 Stable Street, London N1C 4DR. No details in terms of how long things go on for, watch this space for details beyond the opening night. The late Barney Bubbles on Instagram

Previously on these pages –

ORGAN THING: A very limited edition Barney Bubbles print release, the classic artwork from Hawkwind’s In Search of Space…

ORGAN THING: The Barney Bubbles Online Shop has opened. The influential artist and designer known for his work with Hawkwind, The Damned, Ian Dury, John Cooper Clarke and more has…

3: Jonathan Lasker, Pictures for Happy Existentialists at Timothy Taylor – On until 8th June 2025. Been meaning to get over to this one, it opened in late April – “Timothy Taylor is pleased to announce Pictures for Happy Existentialists, an exhibition by Jonathan Lasker. Opening 24 April in London, the presentation will feature paintings and drawings dating from 1990 through 2025, offering a curated survey of Lasker’s singular exploration into line, figure, and ground. Over his four-decade career, Lasker has conducted a rigorous examination of painting’s pictorial space. A master colourist, he creates riotously hued canvases that challenge our perception of form and the way we identify subjects in space. He fluidly moves between conscious and subconscious decision-making, generating paintings that invite viewers to engage in a similar dialogue. Though his works possess the energy of spontaneous mark-making, each painting in fact results from a lengthy process in which drawn studies are carefully”

Timothy Taylor Gallery is found at 15 Bolton Street London W1J 8BG. The space is open Tuesday to Friday 10am – 6pm and Saturday 11am – 5pm. The show is on until 8th June 2025

4: Medieval Eyes at James Freeman Gallery – 8th May until 31st May 2025 – a Four artist show featuring Mark Connolly, Joseph Dupré, Carolein Smit and long time old friend of Organ, artist and musician Pinkie Maclure – In an age of illiteracy, the art of the medieval era told the big stories and spoke about the things that really mattered: belief, meaning, and the afterlife as well as the travails of everyday existence. The Renaissance may have relegated medieval visual culture to the demeaningly termed ‘Dark Ages’, but the power of narrative, raw emotion and sincerity remains undeniable and unfaded. Medieval Eyes brings together four contemporary artists who keep this flame alive in their work.

Carolein Smit is a Dutch artist whose ceramic sculptures reference mythology, religious iconography and art history to explore how beauty and horror overlap. Her practice reimagines ancient narrative archetypes and presents them with theatrical overtones to lend them a contemporary sensibility. A large standing Man of Sorrow, a medieval icon historically depicting suffering, is presented here drenched in an overload of bulbous blood droplets such that only his fingers and toes are visible. A skeletal Madonna crouches swathed in a lush russet gown, from which a pair of exquisite shoes poke out. All are exquisitely detailed and jewel-like in their finish so as to make the challenging subjects more alluring. These are contemporary Memento Mori, continuing Western art’s long history of addressing grand themes through precious objects.

Mark Connolly is an Irish artist based in London. His paintings explore grand themes – good and evil and the arc of the hero – and question the validity of such simplified ways of thinking in today’s complex world. His paintings have a naive air but capture just how potent such narratives can be. The allure of the Great Battle appears in figures such as Asmodeus, a king of demons in the legends of Solomon, and a mythological warrior fighting a Kraken. Its persistence in popular culture is echoed in a portrait of a wrestler in a cowboy hat. But it is not just about confrontation: a St Sebastian figure with the text ‘Wounded’ shows the ongoing resonance of deep-rooted iconography, capturing how ancient imagery persists because in essence it speaks of universal experience.

Pinkie Maclure is a Scottish artist re-invigorating the medium of stained glass with allegories of consumerism, digital overload, and our relationship with nature. Her lightboxes are made with both reclaimed and hand-blown glass that she sandblasts, engraves, and paints. ‘Last Chance to Buy’ presents two brides fighting over the last remaining Rafflesia Arnoldii, the largest flower in the world and at severe risk of extinction. Pinkie’s work uses this to create a scene commenting on the corruptive excesses of consumerism. ‘X Ray Eye’ creates a similarly dramatic composition, using shattered glass to represent the confusion of messages in the digital age and the search for truth. The smallest work depicts a Cailleach, a divine hag from Celtic myth, wielding the power of Nature to sweep aside cars as the detritus of a bygone age.

Joseph Dupré is an artist and NHS doctor working in both a GP clinic and busy A+E. His ceramic sculptures have a playful innocence whilst also dealing with serious contemporary themes. In particular is Joseph’s experience as a doctor, often vilified by the right-wing press as ‘lazy’, ‘greedy’ or ‘entitled’ when in fact hey are the unsung heroes of our time. This theme of the hero is expressed through his reliquaries, echoing the elaborate housings for medieval holy relics and bearing the negative labels of ‘Bloody Doctor’ and ‘Just a GP’ as badges of honour rather than insults. Accompany ceramic chargers depict medieval knights, the champions of romantic tales and chansons de geste. As a group his ceramics relate the mythical narrative of the hero to lived experience in contemporary society.

James Freeman Gallery is at 354 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 0PD – the show runs from 8th May until 31st May 2025 . The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am until 6.30pm. The opening evening view is on 8th May, 6.30pm until 8.30pm 

5: Richard Pendry, Into The Overwhelm at Atom Gallery – 10th May until 31st May 2025 with an opening on Friday 9th May, 6pm until 9pm – An exhibition of new large and multi-layered silkscreen prints by Richard Pendry although in truth Atom is more like a North London high street shop hung foot to ceiling in slick mostly urban art flavoured printery than an actually art gallery where the art can live and breathe. Atom is a space that has been supported rather well (and some might say rather thanklessly) on these fractured pages over the years and Richard’s own work is always worth an eye if the art of graphic print making/experimenting be your thing. 

“A recently developed series of large, multi-layered silkscreen prints which aim to capture the experience of living in an increasingly atomised culture.  Semi-transparent photographic, digital and hand drawn elements are layered on top of one another, building depth and creating intrigue, and sometimes disorientation. Seemingly random phrases and textual graffiti feature heavily, often barely legible or printed in reverse, playing with a viewer’s instinctive desire to read, decipher and make sense.  Intentionally maximalist, these prints attempt to reflect the fragmented beauty and confusion of modern daily life”.

Atom Gallery is at 127 Green Lanes, London, N16 9DA. The space is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am until 6pm (5pm on Thursdays). Theshow runs from 10th May until 31st May 2025 with an opening on Friday 9th May, 6pm until 9pm (“Please contact us to make an appointment outside these hours – we’re often here working on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays too”)

We did already mention that Martin Creed show that opens tonight, tonight being Thursday May 8th. He or the gallery don’t really need our support or to be one of this week’s five recommended shows, details via the link if you need to know more… ORGAN PREVIEW: Martin Creed’s Everything Is Going To Be Alright is to inaugurate Camden Arts Projects in a Grade II-listed former Methodist church…

Previously –

1st May 2025 – ORGAN: Five Recommended Art Shows – Zemba Luzamba at Kristin Hjellegjerde, The Four Elements at hARTslane with Cristina Calvache, Hugh Mendes, Louise Reynolds and Harry Pye, Sweet Toof gets Back On Track at Images In Frames, Philip Michael Martin back at JM Gallery, Katy Moran at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery and…

24th April 2025 – ORGAN: Five Recommended Art Shows – Blink’s Room Share 7 at Peckham Safehouse, Ripley Fletcher at Filet, Penge Rooftop Gallery viewing days, Agriel Ness at A Mini Bar in Hackney, Derek Boshier and the Sixties at Gazelli Art House and Steven Appleby’s Dragman as well….

17th April 2025 – ORGAN: Five Recommended Art Shows – Jai Chuhan at The Approach, A Gesture, An Action, Touching at APT Gallery, Future Ritual: Ceremony, a festival of performance at Copeland Gallery, In Black and White at Tower Gallery, Rita Says and the Jerico Orchestra at The Horse Hospital and…

And one last mention of the latest on line Mixtape exhibition that still open (we have no plans to close it) via the link you just passed. The 199th Cultivate art exhbition, show or event. Will there be a 200th?