UK ROCK - POSTER EXPLOSION TOUR

presented by The Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company

11 - 23 June 2008

 

UK ROCK - POSTER EXPLOSION TOUR is presented by The Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company. This rock art touring poster troupe, which brings the spirit of Haight Street all the way from San Francisco, will be coming to nhac on their way to Glastonbury exhibiting limited edition hand-printed silk screened rock posters. Creators Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan have journeyed through political comics to working for Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedies), the Detroit Cobras , the cover for the official Joe Strummer biography 'Redemption Song' and new album cover art for Turbonegro.

private view and launch 11th June 6-8pm
closing event & workshop 23rd June

 

 

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Art from contemporary Helsinki by EGS and Jani Tolin

04 April - 09 June 2008

EGS and Jani Tolin are two renowned graffiti writers from Helsinki that have known each other and occasionally worked together for 20 years. Although their credentials in the graffiti world are unquestioned they have both managed to translate their personal history and graffiti backgrounds into successful careers in the mainstream art worlds. Both have shown work in galleries across Scandinavia and both have worked at advertising agencies in Finland with great success.

Northern Lights at the nottinghillartsclub sees them not only collaborate together but also fuse their raw graffiti art with a more mainstream multimedia approach. Alongside aerosol art Northern Lights will use video projection, printed canvases and slide projectors to transform the artsclub and show graffiti art in a new light.

www.alfonshelsinki.com

Northern Lights private view 4th April, 6-8pm

 

presents

Guerilla Shrines by Ernesto Muniz

05 March - 01 April 2008

From the streets of Mexico city via British immigration, Ernesto Muniz came to destroy our morality and religion. The super hero of the Anti - Altar is brought to you by Slaginc Gallery

So, Slaginc muses:

We are the gloomy children of the night. Curses they call us in our homes beneath the ground. We drive from home those who have shed the blood of men.

Where is the place, then, where the killer's flight shall end? A place where happiness is nevermore allowed. Now
the House of Justice has collapsed.

There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls. There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain.

I, disinherited, suffering, heavy with anger shall let loose on the land the vindictive poison dripping deadly out of my heart upon the ground; this from itself shall breed cancer, the leafless, the barren to strike, for the right, their low lands and drag its smear of mortal infection on the ground.

In complete honesty I promise you a place of your own, deep hidden under ground that is yours by right where you shall sit on shining chairs beside the hearth to accept devotions offered by your citizens.

Aeschylus "Oresteia"

Slaginc Gallery is... an overstatement. A home for the artistically dispossesed. It's supreme manifestation being the vagrant with the shiny eyes, sacrificing his life to no purpose, wandering the landscape to smear a trail of blood and dirt. To waste is to be free. www.mxski.com

 

LAURA OLDFIELD FORD

from 03 December 2007 - 04 March 2008


Laura Oldfield Ford will show drawings and writing generated by a psychogeographic drift under the Westway. She will be presenting large format Xeroxed posters derived from pages of her zine Savage Messiah. The artist will also be facilitating a drift around the area using a form of subverted cartography and showing films by the Savage Messiah collective.

Savage Messiah has been going since 2005. In it Laura makes drawings and writing about her 'drifts' around London. The zine uses a strong 70's DIY punk aesthetic and Laura persistently returns to the late 1970's, early 1980's at a point of cultural unravelling. The England conjured up in her work is one of socio political upheaval: squat culture, brutalist architecture, Anarcho punk and sentimental pop tunes. Nostalgia as a form of revenge.

"Elevated on concrete stilts the Westway sweeps over the canal. We are edging towards the old Paddington maintenance depot haunted by the sounds of lost acid house parties and the distant reverberations of 1986

Trapped in a confusion of concrete stanchions, light almost green now, the splintered images of a lost trogladite flash up. He was immersed in those underground chambers, a post human sentry, a feral guardian of the last relics of acid culture. Four years since the last party but he held his plot, pink and black paint spanned the walls in Masonic checkerboard formations. He lived wild in those dank corridors scavenging for food like a Ballardian crash victim.

Terra Incognita, this world is hidden from view, defying panoptican mapping,the A-Z shows the Westway slicing through the Paddington rooftops but notthe Jungian shadowscapes beneath. We traverse the sevice roads where vistasopen up. Caravans, security shacks and plastic chairs are taped together in the smell of frying onions. Paddington Central, a greasy rebranding, who listens?

Voices of these hidden worlds reverberate softly on the planners desk, an undercurrent gently pulsating. The meshes of a crumbling infrastructure and the textures of chaos will undermine this north American banalization."

Excerpt from Savage Messiah Westway Issue.

 

NEIL MONTIER
"In Arcania"

03 October - 29th November 2007

 

‘In Arcania’, is an ongoing series by Neil Montier, which explores the modernist preoccupation with the utopian ideal, and its counterpart the dystopian metropolis.
Neil uses bleak landscapes in the form of abandoned wastelands and mountain regions, to house failed architectural monuments in sepia and grain effect. These built structures act as motifs, and stand ominous in stature against their seemingly timeless backdrops.
The architectural element accentuates a legacy of failed urban planning, which once had its goal of creating a utopian society, and which now, has evolved into a place we relate to as being more Dystopic.

In exploring methods that investigate the dialectic between these two perceived spheres of existence; Neil looks to the landscape as a site to question, the slippage that occurs between desiring these futures and being afraid of them.
In the surgical mechanisms offered by digital montage, he has been able to peel away the cities façade, and reinsert certain elements into a barren and unforgiving horizon. The hidden montage effect that reconstructs, as it does reinterpret the space, is imbued with doubts, failure, and loneliness, and the resulting works have an original, abnormal and deviant appearance.

Drawn to dystopian models as a medium to create a dialogue, Neil’s interests span modernist literature, propaganda, manga animation and dystopian cinema. These are used in combination to comment on societies obsession with premeditating the future, and in helping to create new threads in his enquiries.
Inspired by traditional maps and utopic visualizations, (which charter spatial and social perspectives). Neil embarks on quests to utilise new forms of production that enable us to envision societies, and re-think our relation to urban-planning.

www.neilmontier.com

 

 

INKIE:
"Exposed To The Elements"

First London solo show from legendary Bristol graffiti artist Inkie. Featuring new artworks
private view: Monday 2nd July 6-9pm


Influenced by punk rock album graphics and early New York wild style pioneers such as Dondi, Seen & T-Kid, Inkie started out 1983 alongside 3D of Massive Attack fame, Goldie, The Chrome Angels and Nick Walker.

In 1989 he came 2nd to LA in the World Street Art championships beating off fierce competition from New York and all major European countries. Later that year he hit national headlines, when he was arrested along with 72 other writers as the 'Kingpin' in the UK's largest ever graffiti bust 'Operation Anderson'. His arrest, court case and subsequent acquittal (!) was all documented by BBC2 in the programme 'Drawing The Line'.

In the late 1990s Inkie and fellow Bristolian and collaborator Banksy organised the largest ever UK graffiti event, 'Walls On Fire', which pulled together UK's finest street artists to create 1.4 km painting around Bristol's historic docks. Since moving to London, Inkie has become one of the leading graphic designers in the video game industry as well as continuing to contribute to the UK street art scene.

He was featured in and organised the launch exhibition for the Thames & Hudson book 'Graffiti World' and the LA produced worldwide graffiti film 'Bomb It' that premiered at this years Tribeca Film festival to unanimous critical acclaim. More recently he's produced work for Puma, Xbox, Adidas, Levis, Addict, Lovebox and Latitude Festivals. Inkie has also been an integral part of the Shoreditch based Secret Wars collective, soon to take their infamous street art battles to NYC, Europe and Tokyo.

Exposed To The Elements will run at Notting Hill Arts Club for a month starting on Monday 2nd July with a private view from 6-9pm. The show features new paintings on wood/canvas, prints and a light box installation.

www.inkie.co.uk
www.myspace.com/inkie70

 

ROCK DOG

by Pockets
from Tuesday 5th June 2007

The ultimate example of the Wessex Water Hound. The companion of Merlin and fabled guardian of the Philosophers Stone. A living link to the mysticism and megaliths of the ancients.
Timelessness and transience. Permanent, yet fleetingly equipoise.

Whilst the many claims, for canine levitation, remain unproven, the Wessex Water Hound is undoubtedly as comfortable climbing as it is when, famously, diving to retrieve the eel nets of the Somerset fishermen; with an agility matched only (perhaps) by the chamois.

private view:
Wednesday 13th June, 6-9pm

 

CATASTROPHE

by Psapp
from Thursday 8th March 2007


Psapp are two people who make music together out of anything they like the sound of. Their second album, "The Only Thing I Ever Wanted" was released on Domino Records last Summer. Their music's engaging formula of addictive melodies, electronic frolics and found sounds has been busily winning over hearts and minds both here and abroad.

This exhibition showcases the weird and wonderful album artwork, selected drawings, canvasses and objects by Psapp's leading lady Galia Durant. Prepare for the unexpected...and cats. Lots of cats.

http://www.psapp.net

private view: Thursday 8th March, 6-8pm

 

Hey Man Hattan!

drawings by Chris Dent
from Thursday 2nd November 2006
Hey Man Hattan!
is a series of breathtaking mono-drawings by Chris Dent who recently graduated from Camberwell College of Art with a First Class honours degree in Illustration.

Dent found himself at the top of the World Trade Center only four weeks before 9/11 and these drawings represent his personal view of a city which, despite the devastating events of five years ago, continues to grow, obsess, inspire and baffle. He explores the visual beauty of New York City with an artist's keen eye, balancing emotion and energy within his work, and helping to create a sense of freshness and intrigue for which New York City is known.

These scenes from across Manhattan should make us appreciate what many of us have forgotten; that though it has been easy to 'point the finger' and become anti-American, we should never allow such judgements to blind us to the effect this metropolis has on our society. Dent's work has a magical quality that is somehow symbolic of the mood in New York at Xmas and his use of black-and-white focuses the eye on a city known for its colourful history and above all, its life. Visit Dent's website www.hybridbunny.com to appreciate the scale of his work and breath of his vision.

Hey Man Hattan!
opens Thursday 2nd November 2006
private view 6.00-9.00pm

 

 

opening 24th August

Do you remember the first time? What, where and how? Music has always had the power to evoke a sense of time and place like nothing else, recalling a myriad of references and pinpointing moments and emotions as unique as your personal experience. Now EMI, the world's biggest music publishing house lets you own a part of your music history in a unique project that fuses pop culture with the collectability of modern art.

It's Pop It's Art is a series of limited edition screen prints featuring iconic song lyrics from the past four decades. Drawing on the bold legacy of pop art legends Hockney, Ruscha, Warhol, each canvas echoes the power of the chosen lyrics through striking colours and hand drawn original typography. Produced in collaboration with Airside - www.airside.co.uk - the agency famed for their unique vision and winners of numerous prestigious design awards, the initial collection focuses on four lyrics taken from some of the most infamous bands and acts in living memory, including the legendary 'What's Goin' On' by Marvin Gaye.

Gaye's mesmerising lyrics are the perfect launch of It's Pop It's Art, particularly relevant and poignant for new generations living in a world at war. Of their time and relating to his despair at the Vietnam war, the corrupt politics, drug abuse and discrimination of the age, today they capture the international zeitgeist just as they did when Gaye first released the song in 1971.

With just 300 numbered prints of each lyric in 3 different colourways, each screen print gives you the chance to own a piece of pop history. The screen prints will be released in small numbers throughout the year with only a few on sale at any one time. The initial 4 releases will be followed by further culturally significant lyrics from EMI's 1.3 million strong song library, with collaborations from some of the most innovative designers and graphic artists offering their visual interpretations of the classic song.

The appeal of It's Pop It's Art mirrors the allure of the music itself, taking those memories and making them tangible. Cutting across boundaries with vibrant associations and a synergy of music and art culture.

Background information

It's Pop It's Art screen prints measure 1000 x700mm and are printed on 216-gram astrolight paper. The print production is handled by K2, Damien Hirst and the Serpentine Gallery's printers of choice. The song lyrics are drawn from EMI Music Publishing's world famous music catalogue and reproduced with the permission of the writers. Each limited edition numbered screen print retails for £65. www.itspopitsart.com

 

A Haunted Man

opens 19th June 2006

Private View :
Monday 19th June
6-9 pm

Ghosts of an innocent-until-proven-guilty past popular culture plague A Haunted Man. Only he sees the travesty of what went wrong and how it manifests the visual meltdown that is modern culture.

There she blows! is the call of the iconic imagery pirates that sail the seas of A Haunted Man's punk rock propagandized twisted thoughts. As he pillages subcultures and disputes archaic class systems while doubting anarchy, one question pilots his voyage of discovery; Is consumerism the scourge of modern life?

As you delve into the mental holocaust of mass culture, A Haunted Man compels you to ask yourself, do I give to receive? Then he arouses your affection for advertising and a better life.

A Haunted Man knows only the bewitched between realm of reality and monochrome marauding. Ignorance is bliss, believe A Haunted Man you don't want to see or feel their kiss.

A Haunted Man welcomes you with a cheeky grin and invites you to join him taking the piss out of the piss takers.

A HAUNTED MAN
MONDAY 19TH JUNE 2006
6.00 PM - 9.00 PM PRIVATE VIEW
NOTTING HILL ARTS CLUB
21 NOTTING HILL GATE LONDON W11 3JQ

For more information please contact:

ahauntedman@hotmail.com

 

le poisson et d'autre chose
A joint project by Marcus Palmqvist
and Frode Fjerdingstad
opens 13th March 2006
A

"Le poisson et d'autre chose" deals with the life of a drifter on the streets of Paris. Roaming endlessly and picking up clues on his path, he pretends that nobody knows who he is nor speaks his language. His only goal for this day is to get hold of a goldfish…

From an ironic point of view, "Le poisson et d'autre chose" questions the male archetype in film. Simultaneously, it is a homage to Film Noir and the Nouvelle Vague of the 60's, that often described the lonely man battling against the strong forces of society. Our aimlessly drifting main character is a clear anti-hero. With inspiration from Duane Michaels photo stories, Cindy Sherman and 60's film aesthetics we have created an environment where the notion of freedom from time and space plays an important role. The photo sequences in this project describes a man in perpetual motion, modulating constantly from one stadium to the next, searching for something that may not exist. The images are everyday situations, laden with connotations of mystery.

This project is Frode and Marcus' third collaboration since graduating LCP. The two previous projects have both been well received and exhibited in a number of galleries in London and published in magazines such as The Guardian Weekend Magazine. Edy Poppy and her husband Tamaien have written texts inspired by the images, without any guidelines or limitations, adding a new point of view.

13.03-13.06.2006


Private View:
Monday.13th.March
6-8 pm

The show runs until the 13th June

Marcus Palmqvist was born in Borås, Sweden 1976. He studied photography at London College of Printing and in 2001 founded Beachclub. the Scandinavian monthly art showcase in London. In 2004 Marcus started a Swedish artbased magazine called Amjus. He has been practising his photography full time since 2003 and published work in various international magazines such as Dazed and Confused, Crash, The Guardian, Blowup and Fjords. He has had several exhibitions in London, Paris and Stockholm and lives and works as a free-lance photographer in Paris.

Frode Fjerdingstad was born in Oslo in 1975. He studied photography in Oslo and at the London College of Printing. Frode has exhibited his work at the Notting Hill Arts Club, ICA, Fotogalleriet.
He was part of Diesel New Art exhibition in Oslo 2005 and he was a runner up at the National Autumn exhibition in Oslo 2004.He has also conrtibuted to STÆRK, a DVD wich was part of Creative Review, May issue. The DVD was a production of the Norwegian Embassy in London to promote Norwegian Artists in the U.K. He lives and works as a free-lance photographer in Oslo.

Edy Poppy (pseudonym for Ragnhild Moe), grew up on a farm in Bø in Telemark, Norway, but aged seventeen she moved to Montpellier, France, where she met Tamaien, a writer and filmmaker, with whom she has done numerous collaborations. Together they later moved to London where they lived for seven years, before moving to Norway. Edy Poppy and Tamaien have a collective background in theatre, film and art. Edy Poppy has published short stories, essays and poems in English, American and Norwegian literary and art-magazines. "Anatomy. Monotony", her first novel, won the Gyldendal prize for best contemporary love-story, and was published in 2005 to critical acclaim. It will soon be translated into German, Italian and Finnish.

a

 

DEATH AND THE DEVIL
BY BEATRICE BROWN
19th December 2005 - 13th January 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death And The Devil is the
debut show by artist, film maker and
musician Beatrice Brown which
examines and exposes the inner mind of
Beatrice as she visualises her
monsters / her dark side / her light side.
See one of her captivating paintings
on the cover of the current Babyshamles
single "Their Way" (pictured)

 

STUCK ON ME
curated by Joana Niemeyer (Thomas Manss) and Nadine Fleischer (The Guardian/Observer)
10th October - 17th December 2005

Creatives from the art, design and fashion worlds will be reinventing the pin badge for an exhibition at the artsclub in October.

Put to use as pop memorabilia, political statement and fashion accessory, the pin badge has come a long way over the last century. Styles, shapes and graphics have evolved in pace with new technologies and trends. Over the last year, pin badges have again come into their own as personal statements and a part of their owner's identity.

Stuck On Me is an exhibition curated and put together by Joana Niemeyer (Thomas Manss) and Nadine Fleischer (The Guardian/Observer) that explores the different meanings of badges and takes them to the next level. Artists and designers will give a unique interpretation to the medium with their own badges, while a special essay by Gavin Lucas, the editor of Creative Review will provide the historical frame work.

The list of participants includes Browns, Spin, Experimental Jetset, Park Studio, Peepshow, Dan Holiday, Scrollan, Daniel Eatock, Paulus Dreibholz and Zoo York.

If you don't have a chance to see the exhibition here at the artsclub, you will have another oppotunity to catch the work at Designmai in Berlin 2006.

 


presents
THE SPATTERING UZI
15th August - 2nd October
LE GUN magazine is proud to present "THE SPATTERING UZI", a show of large format limited edition screen prints by 12 of LE GUN's most talented artists

The exhibition coincides with the release of LE GUN 2, the second edition of the art magazine which brings together the work of emerging artists and established practitioners (Sir Peter Blake, Alan Kitching, the Brothers Quay, Sara Fanelli) in an orgy of illustrative and narrative talent.


Produced by recent graduates from the Royal College of Art, the magazine is described by contributor George Melly as "an admirably lively magazine" and by one of its editors Neal Fox as "An orgy of the hand and the heart, dripping with the inner noodlings of bedroom geniuses and the rich ejaculations of pop culture heroes".
The prints on display reflect the nature of the magazine itself; powerful images that ask enigmatic questions, with an emphasis on eccentric storytelling rather than over stylised fashion slavery.
The exhibition launch will be celebrated with a night of ink related debauchery and live music at the Notting Hill Arts Club on August 15th, where prints will be on sale and the artists involved will be on hand to offer you their kindest hospitality.

LE GUN was born in June 2004 and the second issue is on sale at Tate Modern, Magma, The Whitechapel Gallery, Beyond The Valley, The Serpentine, Gosh, Art Words, Tatty Devine, Rough Trade, Red Snapper and other shops throughout London, as well as outlets in Edinburgh, Belfast, Brighton, Paris, Berlin, New York, and Tokyo, and through the website www.legun.co.uk

launch Party - 15th August 2005
Closing Party - 2nd October
Exhibition - 15th August 2005 to 2nd October

Neal Fox: 07960136512
ammunition@legun.co.uk

 

Look At All This Space
I Nearly Left Behind
by Johnny Cole
6th June- 31st July
 

'Johnny Cole has spent the years since leaving the royal college of art in search of a soul. Doctors have at last seen fit to release him into the community. All may be well as long as he continues to take appropriate medication. He was last seen wandering down the Harrow Rd with a DIY tattoo kit. The resulting experiments can clearly be seen on his face and hands. Johnny will consider all reasonable requests for commissions, No time wasters please.'

 

Nevermadeit
by Clare Evans
2nd - 30th May 2005

Clare Evans’ upcoming exhibition at the artsclub sheds light on a scene that most oof us immediately recognise: the world of bands that never made it. Cecilie Nusselein Gravesen takes a closer look: "For my own experience, it was a band called School-cheese: 14-year old Danish kids from hell, roasting all ‘adult fascists’ with our evil kidscore. Our hit was The Urban Flower, and while I empathise with those poor souls who lent their ears to our notorious teen-growling, I still come across trembling elderly punks who can cite whole passages of our lyrics."

This is exactly what Nevermadeit celebrates: bands from your local neighbourhood, college bands, longhaired friends with guitars or squeaking leather-grungers that manage to express our emotional life as precisely as any luminous signed act.

Clare Evans, who is a conceptual artist and a manager of music venues, grew up with The Action Heroes: “They were a school band from Devon that played in all the local venues, and everyone fancied them. I didn’t speak to any of them then but was in awe of the fact that they sung about our chemistry teacher, about living in the country, Umbro jackets and pornography. This was music that took the piss out of the people that took the piss out of us.”

On show will be flyers and band memorabilia from more than 20 artists and treasures such as The Cheaters, The Secrets and The Trespassers, plus a decade worth of London/New York punk photographs by music journalist and Wandango-musician El Gordo.
The idea for the exhibition occurred shortly after the split-up of The Action Heroes, and Evans’ collection of band memorabilia is enthused by a love for the integrity and optimism of the underdogs of the music industry. “In the UK there is so much focus on celebrity as the only mark of having made it. Growing up with bands make you realise that ‘success’ is not always the most important thing to the people that play in them. With the show I am saluting the experience itself as being more important than a commercial triumph.”

Evans has found the participants through ads in the NME, Loot and musicians notice boards. “I feel quite protective over how the bands will be perceived. I make it very clear from the offset that this is a retrospective show and it is not my intention to revive their careers by giving them a second chance. It’s hard promoting things that are not looking to succeed commercially without sounding like you’re being ironic. I’m bored, however, of things having to be ironic for us to feel comfortable enough to admit that we like it.”

The opening night will feature the premiere of Evans’ band-documentary, an interview film without music. “By not having music in the film, I wanted to move the focus away from whether these bands were good or bad musicians, to ultimately allow them to share the message that their playing brings across”. As a conclusion to the film, the interviewees mention the tunes that they most wish they had written. A cover band will be on stage at the NHAC to perform these gems of wishful thinking. As a further treat, a merchandising booth will be offering band badges made by Designer Joanna Niemer, there will be a VIP lounge with free access policy and an Nevermadeit-poster wall commenting on certain sponsored backdrops sported in award ceremonies.

Some of these bands really had it, but were killed at an early stage by record industry bureaucracy. Some were in it for the pleasure, some for the booze. Some of us still find ourselves as members of bands spending our holidays budget-touring as idealist support acts for the big guys. On a UK web forum nominating bands who never released an album, a heartfelt quote reads: “I think everybody should have to have their own band, and there should be just this one big show where everybody in the world played.” In May, at least some of these ‘everybodies’ will get their 15 minutes in the limelight

www.nevermadeit.co.uk

 

EDGE OF THE LINE
by Jessica Albarn
1st of March - 30th April 2005

ABOUT THE WORK

Edge Of The Line explores notions of a state of mind. The portraits of people and nature exhibited here are part of an ongoing series. Jessica is looking at people who create an edge within themselves to communicate within society. She brings in elements suggestive of the people portrayed and the artist's relationship with them and their ideas.

Within this body of work there are also recurring symbols such as insects (symbolising the potential for growth and metamorphosis and the fragility of life) and the skull (the inevitability of death).

Whatever the subject matter, Jessica draws from an emotional reaction, weaving her response into the conceptual space. Through feeling the line in the drawing process, she expresses her fascination with nature, its lines and patterns. In some cases reclaiming from the macabre aspects of nature something beautiful.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Drawing has always been at the centre of Jessica Albarn's work. During her Fine Art Degree at Middlesex University, she also studied sculpture, painting and printmaking. But her love remained drawing and she won the drawing prize for two years running! Jessica is a founding member of the North Bank Gallery, run by a collective of Artists. After becoming pregnant with her first child, she found that children inspired another route of artistic expression. She designed an Interactive Toy for public spaces (hospitals etc.) called' Brainbow'. The prototype was a finalist in the British Female Inventor of the Year Award in 2003. It is currently going through the patent process with the view to being manufactured.
The last 18 months have again seen Jessica focussed on drawing. During this time she wanted to see how far she could push the simplicity of the pencil in executing ideas. In her view, a drawn line is direct; it expresses the emotion and rhythm of the thought, carrying this far better than any other medium.

 

OXFAM PRESENTS:
MAKE TRADE FAIR AND MUSIC4LIFE
with photographs by Greg Williams
6th January to 28th February 2005

   

Antonio Banderas

Thom Yorke

Oxfam's Music4Life Club night and Make Trade Fair Campaign launches a unique celebrity photographic exhibition.

The exhibition, showcasing exclusive photographs from internationally renowned photographer Greg Williams, sees some of the world biggest celebrities being dumped with milk, sugar, and other products to make the point that, across the world, poor farmers are dumped on every day by rich countries and big companies.

Celebrities photographed include Bobby Friction, Michael Stipe, Chris Martin, Jamelia, Youssou N'Dour, Thom Yorke, Nitin Sawhney, Angelique Kidjo, Tamara Rojo, Alanis Morrisette, Colin Firth, Minnie Driver, Finn Brothers, Antonio Banderas and Susanna Bacca.

The launch event on 6th January 05 will give party goers the chance to help raise money and awareness for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign, see some of the world's biggest celebrities as they have never seen them before and dance to the hottest funk, soul, hip hop, eclectic beats and breaks. It features DJ sets from Radio 1's award winning Bobby Friction and Nihal and a live performance from reggae infused performance poet AJA

Date : 06:01:2005
Time : 6pm-2am
Price : Free 6-8pm then £5 if you donate a record on the door or £8 otherwise

For more information on the campaign and Oxfam's work please visit: www.maketradefair.com
For media enquiries please call Raakhi Shah on: 01865 312243 or email: rshah@oxfam.org.uk

 

Michael Stipe


Jamelia

Alanis Morrisette

Music4Life is a new form of club night. It gives partygoers the chance to enjoy famous up-and-coming guest DJs while also contributing to Oxfam's fight against poverty and suffering. Not only do the proceeds of the night support Oxfam's work, the events act as a platform to highlight key issues affecting the world's poorest people. DJs play for free, there is a record fair selling, the pick of the second hand music from Oxfam shops, and people can get in for less when they donate a record or CD on the door.

Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign calls on governments, global institutions and big business to give poor people a chance to work their way out of poverty. You can help. Add your voice to Oxfam's Big Noise petition at www.maketradefair.com. If we all join together and make a big enough noise politicians and corporate bosses will have to listen and make trade fair.

Nitin Sawhney

  

 

 

SAVAGED

CULTURE

A Portrait of London

by Nick McFarlane

4 November - 31 December 04

opens as part of YoYo from 6pm, free till 8pm

Nick McFarlane uses graphic agitation to portray the city of London and its unique social fabric.

Savaged Culture exposes a dysfunctional society where all walks of life converge and collide. Young and old, rich and poor, diverse ethnic groups, the establishment and rebellious subcultures rubbing shoulders to create an underlying tension. Using iconic imagery, confrontational language and urban symbols, the exhibition provides an outsiders view of a city which both alienates and inspires those who live there.

Nick McFarlane has always been interested in the cultural identities of places. That is, the kind of personality or attitude that you can sense from a street, city or country. This is often made from the physical environment and the stories it tells through grafitti, street graphics, urban decay, industry, distribution of wealth and most importantly, people. Their pace of life and relationships reveal much about the collective psyche. As a design student Nick applied this concept to his hometown of Wellington, New Zealands' capital. By studying the city's graffiti for a year he was able to draw conclusions about its people and the interacting sub-cultures. Enabling him to make a statement about its cultural identity. From there, Nick expanded this idea, looking at New Zealand's cultural identity, and said: if a country can have an identity, then part of it could also be described as its alter-ego'. Nick has created artwork to portray this concept. Looking at gangs, goths, punks, transvestite hookers, anarchist book dealers, protestors, junkies, streetkids, anti-heros and the impact they have on society. Moving to London just over two years ago, Nick is now applying these ideas to a new environment. Watching how all walks of life converge and collide. This exhibition is an outsider's view of a city which both alienates and inspires those who live here.

For more information contact Nick McFarlane 0773 6442696

 

Beachclub EXHIBITION on 13.12.04 only
Monday 13.12, 6pm - 1am
free B4 8pm, £5 after

Showcase advertising and subvertising from the Gothenburg cityscape: Gothenburg hosts the Swedish adbusting movement, and is also the home of the most innovative and prized ad agency in the country. This series of photos juxtaposes the work of activist group Reklamsabotage with the ad campaigns for the newspaper GöteborgsPosten, highlighting the lineages between non-sanctioned and sanctioned advertising messages. Advertising innovation and politics are thus intertwined in the city's ongoing debate on the power over public spaces.

Live music will be provided by the Gothenburg Male Lucia Choir, The Travelling End (Sweden), Luger. Plus DJs Joe&Jiros

 

x-mas EXHIBITION on 07.12 only

7th December 2004
6pm - 1am, Free B4 8pm, £5 after

with ska and reggae sounds courtesy of Sweet Memory Sounds

A DISCERNING CHRISTMAS

Christmas is coming, the end of the year is nigh. It's a time for unwanted gifts, domestic violence and Slade. But don't despair, the illustrators and designers from MA Communication Design at Central Saint Martins will brighten your festive mantelpiece.

They have teamed up with such luminaries as Paul Davis, Neasden Control Centre, Build Design, Hort, Spin (the list goes on...) and turned their not inconsiderable talents to producing a range of single-edition Yuletide cards. At once wryly sceptical, rapier-witty, or sentimental like only Christmas can be, the unique designs will be exhibited and auctioned on December 7th at Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate, from 5-8pm.

Bristol's legendary DJ Derek will provide the entertainment for the rest of the evening . A limited edition of printed cards will also be on sale in discerning galleries and bookshops. This being a time for charity and altruism, all proceeds will be donated to the worthy cause of the students' final show. So have a good Christmas, invest in a Central Saint Martins card.

 

Terratag Presents:
PORNOGRAFFITI - The Joy of Text
6 September - 1 November 2004
opening: Monday 6 September, 6pm as part of Sticky Rice, the night of Oriental art, music and culture.
Free before 8 pm, £5 after


Terratag takes the spirit of Japan and fucks it up, twisting Japanese themes into a unique graphic vocabulary. Mutating and originating a truly innovative Anglo-Japanese hybrid.

Until now, graffiti art has been based predominantly in Hip-Hop culture, only using the western alphabet. I have turned my back on both, adding a new dialect to the genre of contemporary graffik art. Pornograffiti is the inspired mix of Porno, Hentai Manga, Wild Style Graffiti, Tagging and Japanese Tattoos.

Paul, the man behind Terratag, is a Japaholic. His addiction started at the age of 16 with the release of Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s ‘Flaunt it’, its sleeve emblazoned with Japanese text and dominated by a giant robot. Once hooked it was all to easy to get sucked in... Japanese comics, magazines, films and pop... The imagination, the style, the imagery blowing his mind. Born in 1970 and brought up in Yorkshire, Paul moved to London in 1989, to study Graphics at Kingston University. Within a few months of leaving University he started Prototype 21. At Prototype 21 he was responsible for the creative output, which included graphic design and illustration contracts and creating the T-shirt brand Prototype 21, the forerunner to Terratag. Most of the contract work was music related and past clients include Andrew Weatherall, Aphex Twin, Global Communication, Orbital, Warp Records and more recently Wagamama, Harvey Nichols and Production IG animation studios in Japan.

Since 2002 Paul has concentrated his efforts on Terratag. This year saw Paul working more on art projects including the creation of canvases, photographic prints and the exhibiting thereof. Paul is also part of the Kraftshop.com collective which is presently exhibiting at Harvey Nichols. Terratag T-shirts and canvases are now available.

For an interview with Paul, check out Super Magazine

For more information contact Paul Nicholson:
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7328 2249
Email: paul@terratag.com / www.terratag.com

 

PRESUMED INNOCENT
Photography by Maren Lindeberg and Haakon Harriss
21 June till 1 September 2004
opening: Monday 21st June, 6pm as part of Beachclub, the night of Scandinavian art, music and culture.
Free before 8 pm, £5 after

'Nature wants children to be children before they are adults' (Rousseau 1762)

Clothes maketh the child. Presumed Innocent explores our fascination with beauty and a world where looks are everything and even playtime has to look good. The exhibition consists of a series of images depicting children as young as four years old. The children are as their faces indicates brand neutral and in a mismatched world they change into little adults on a kindergarten catwalk.

Maren Lindeberg is graduating from Surrey Institute of Art and Design this summer where her work has incorporated art direction, photography and styling. In this work Lindeberg questions the increasing commercialisation of childhood and it's innocence with her 'misfit' portraits.

Haakon Harriss graduated from Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 1999 studying photography. He is now living and working as a freelance photographer in Norway.

All images are available for sale
Print unmounted £150
Print mounted £ 250
Smaller sizes available (limited edition)

 

STICKY RICE and STUDIO 15 " present
Love Me Long Time
3 May - 20 June 2004

Sticky Rice, the much lauded oriental club night has teamed up with Taiwanese Studio 15" to bring a brand new visual art exhibition to the Notting Hill Arts Club. Love Me Long Time showcases work by young London-based artists from all over Asia. Starting on 3 May 2004 and running for six weeks, Love Me Long Time will feature graphics, illustration, video animation and mixed media offerings from more than a dozen artists, many of whom have featured at the regular monthly Sticky Rice club nights over the past year.

The work on show at Love Me Long Time deals with a diverse range of themes, challenging and questioning western conceptions of the Orient, the Orient's conception of itself, the nature of power, crony capitalism and the emerging Asian middle class, among many other things. The exhibition aims to critique entrenched racial stereotypes, asking artists to question the interplay between their own culture and that of their adopted country.

15" is a virtual art studio based in Taiwan that aims to provide free space for artists to exhibit their work. For more information visit 15inches-in.com. For more information on Sticky Rice visit stickyricenight.co.uk Exhibiting artists hail from art and design colleges all over London, including Central Saint Martins, London College of Printing and Chelsea College of Art. Artists' native countries include Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Participating artists:

Ham Lee (Taiwan), Central St. Martins BA Graphic Design student
King To Fung (Hong Kong), London College of Printing MA Typography student
Koo Wan Ting (Hong Kong), Chelsea College of Arts and Design MA Environment Design student
Kosuke Shikata (Japan), Graphic Designer
Leo P.H Chan (Hong Kong), London College of Printing MA Typography student
River Kuo (Taiwan), Fashion art director
Solaris 100 (German), Graphic Designer
Tina Wan (Singapore), Central St. Martins BA Graphic Design Student

 

Mark Wilkinson:
Underground - Twelve Stations
11 March - 23 April 2004
Private view: Monday 11 March 2004, 6-9 pm


Mark Wilkinson's Underground - Twelve Stations is a series of portraits taken on the London Underground over the past two years. Displayed as a series of twelve triptychs, Wilkinson weaves together themes of human emotions displayed by complete strangers encountered on the tube. Humour and sadness, loneliness and romance, exhaustion and exuberance can all be seen in the body language of his subjects, every gesture or expression tells a story that can only be guessed at. Each triptych relates to a single emotion exploring the disparity in how individuals communicate with the world around them.

(Love)

Observing strangers on any one journey on the Underground can be a kind of voyeuristic journey into people's lives. People in transit sitting side by side, but each one immersed in their own private world of thought - so much so, that the photographer often goes unnoticed. Travelling from East to West, North to South through 12 stations, Wilkinson catalogues the character of London in all its rich cultural diversity. We may be separated by race, religion, wealth or social status but in the carriage of an underground train the playing field is levelled.

Mark Wilkinson studied photography at Bournemouth Arts Institute. Since graduating in 2000, he has exhibited at Photofusion, The Royal National Theatre and The Photographers' Gallery. In 2001 he won the Channel 4 Year 1 Photography Competition. Originally from Edinburgh, he began his career as a scientist before taking up photography. He currently lives and works as a freelance photographer in London.
"Photography for me a way of exploring the world in which I live and expressing my feelings about it. A photograph can capture intangible moments expressing emotions that lie under the surface. When exploring a subject or location I work instinctively and find myself returning to recurrent themes. Much in the tradition of Robert Franks The Americans my instinct takes me towards sub-cultures and people living on the fringes of society, be it homeless people, ethnic minorities or extreme dressers. My style is influenced by the great documentary photographers of the past like Franks and Bill Brandt. Freed from the restrictions of the Photo-essay I work in the style of more contemporary practitioners like Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldin, to produce series of images that meander like a stream of visual narrative. As a photographer I look at the human condition and common links that bind us all."

Prints are available from £50. Editions of 15.

 

Dif + Dang: Piece on You
22 January – 9 March 2004





Working as a father and son tag team, Dif + Dang take the art of graffiti from the street and into the Notting Hill Arts Club.

Piece On You is a series of large-scale cut-out sculptures focusing on PEACE. The one word exhibition uses a wide spectrum of global languages to communicate the message of Peace through graffiti art. Each individual cut-out is a collaboration of son Dif’s graffiti designs, blown up and cut out of MDF by father Dang, then spray-painted.

Having first explored the use of sculptural graffiti in Fuji Rock Festival Japan 2003, this exhibition marks their first show in the UK.

 

RYAN DENTON:
Arrival of the Fittest
4th December 2003 to 16th January 2004


We will win again homesick blues, May 2003. Date stamp on post-it-notes with masking tape

 
Ryan Denton's work draws on his experiences as a semi-professional golfer and sportsman by using sport as a metaphor for life. His underlying theme explores the parallels of human competitiveness and the natural instincts of primates. In representing an ape in an office chair, Denton suggests the underlying primal instinct of man in the competitive work place.

Man's constant desire to succeed in a capitalist world is a theme that Denton repeatedly returns to. His use of office stationary, such as post-it-notes, biro, photocopies and date stampers suggests that the commercial world is just another forum for man to compete. The unfinished quality of the work can be interpreted as a protest to the constraints the commercial world has on competitive instincts that Denton depicts as irrefutable.

Ryan Denton studied Fine Art at Central St Martins. Previously London exhibitions include group and solo shows at the Lounge Gallery, Deluxe Gallery and Letherby Gallery, Holborn. He was born and raised in Whitely Bay (Newcastle) and pursued a profession as a semi-professional golfer until he was 20. His experiences and enthusiasm for sport continue to have a strong influence on his work. Denton currently lives and works in Krakow, Poland.

 

SCANDINAVIA -
THE UNKNOWN
A Photographic Exhibition Curated By Beachclub
20 October – December 2003, private view: Mon 20 October 6-9pm

Beachclub has become London’s premier art-collective celebrating the free spirit of Scandinavia through promotion of its music and art. Centered around a monthly club night at the Notting Hill Arts Club, Beachclub showcases the undiscovered photography, design, film and music coming out of Scandinavia.

Scandinavia – The Unknown is an exhibition curated by Beachclub of three photographers exploring the traditions of Scandinavia’s sub-cultures. Each photographer has a different perspective - a Scandinavian sub-culture seen by an outsider; a Scandinavian subculture shot by a Norwegian and a post-Scandinavian culture in America seen by a Swede.

 

THE ARTISTS

 

Norwegian Jørn Tomter’s ongoing series follows a collection of youths in Norway who have just left school after their equivalent to A-levels. For 3 ½ weeks teenagers follow the unique tradition of ‘RUSS’ to celebrate the end of compulsory school. During this time they gather in groups, wear uniform boilersuits and travel from party to party on customised buses. It's a time without inhibitions or regrets, a time for experiments and enjoyment. Tomter is showing pictures from this year's celebration - his first of 5 planned visits. www.tomter.net

 

Swedish