Bermondsey Project

Painting Experience – a strange place in one’s practice

Cleo — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:58:55 +0000

A Talk by the artist Rebecca Meanly

Wednesday 19th June 6.30pm

Dissembling #2 – 2012 Hybrid Painting – 2013

A strange place in one’s practice – an odd in-between place – a transition – an impossible to ignore experience – the impact on one’s practice
Working from one’s own experience – is this self-indulgence or self-analysis, reality or authentic life experience?
Painting as a place which absorbs all of these domains, forms hybrids, finds a voice
From a place slightly dumbfounded by the inability to articulate an experience too great – to seek to manifest such experience in painting – through painting
To try to describe, to try to solve
Work becomes a vehicle with which to communicate or attempt to – Isn’t that what it’s supposed to do?
Not abstraction versus representation BUT how can the two polar opposites fold into one another to form another kind of entity?
And how can the artist navigate this space – to seek to find – to interpret, to fathom, to understand, to try to solve

A very honest consideration of how a life-threatening experience can affect ones’ practice
Rebecca Meanley will discuss the impact serious illness has had on her practice, with a close analytical look at the last year in painting

http://caterinalewis.com

http://arttalksandtea.blogspot.co.uk

Bermondsey Project - Bermondsey Project is a partnership project between Crisis the national Charity for homeless people and Bow Arts; working with artists to make better communities. The gallery is at the heart of a new creative hub comprising over 120 artists studios, sculpture workshop, training and workshop centre and other creative industries. The 7000 sq ft gallery space is dedicated to providing an exciting and eclectic programme that showcases established artists alongside new talent.

First Seven

Taidgh — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:15:00 +0000

The First Seven are a group of young artists selected by India Dickinson for their diverse range in painting.

This exhibition showcases the works of seven artists, who although paint in varying styles are all exciting new talents.

These artists include: Ned Armstrong, Phoebe Collings-James, Thom Hobson, Lauren Keeley, Tristan Pigott, Jack Prendergast and Isobel Wood.

It is clear that many of the artists draw from their surroundings as a source of inspiration. These familiar encounters shown in the work is the unifying feature of this exhibition.

Ned Armstrong’s paintings combine abstract shapes and text as a satirical comment on this surroundings.
Phoebe Collings-James’ work is simultaneously erotic and disturbing while drawing from images from the Internet and Youtube. A personal and provocative yet stark dialogue is created with Phoebes work.
Thom Hobson is an artist who is inspired and energised by his surroundings, everything is a statement of being, and a comment about the world around him.
Tristan Pigott’s paintings are simple explorations of human characteristics, depicted and enhanced with the use of proportion and surreal ideas. His interest in how people perform in every day life informs his work. Tristan’s painting also shows a relation to photography, keeping a distance from photographic realism. This division displays a detachment from realism, creating space and leaving the viewer a chance to connect with the work.
Jack’s work stems from his experiences and memories of travelling in North America. Its about the characters that he met, the places he went and the things imagined along the way.
Isobel’s work focuses on the domestic. She explores the relationships between different foods and the erotic connotations they may hold. By altering these mundane images she creates a humorous comment on contemporary living.

The exhibition will run over five days and is open to everyone. Admission: Free

Website: www.indiadickinson.com/First-Seven

Lambeth College – The Interview

Cleo — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:36:38 +0000

The Interview An exhibition by Lambeth College L3 BTEC Extended Diploma Art students in collaboration with the Health Inequalities Research Network (HERON) at King’s College London and Faces in Focus, an advice, information, support and counselling service for young people in Southwark and Lambeth. The Interview is an exhibition of work inspired and made in response to a series of dialogues that took place between HERON facilitators and young people who have been using services at Faces in Focus. HERON facilitators asked these young people to describe their personal experiences of unfair treatment and discrimination and anonymised text from the dialogues was presented to students at Lambeth College to inspire their artwork. The students also incorporated their own personal experiences to create additional layers of narrative. The end result has been to produce a series of maquettes, photographs and ‘mood’ walls that re-imagine spaces in which these dialogues took place. From this, they developed further images and animated projections interpreting the events taking place in the dialogues. During the opening event there will be a one-off performance of Slipped-awaySlipped-aways. A performance by Lambeth College L3 BTEC Extended Diploma Performing Arts, Acting and Dance students in collaboration with HERON and Faces in Focus. Performance: 06 June 7pm Venue: Bermondsey Project, 46 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SF www.bermondseyproject.com Slipped-aways is a performance exploration of the same dialogues collected by HERON. The performance particularly concerns issues of anonymity, disappearance, redaction, and physical and psychological pain that manifests from experiences of unfair treatment and discrimination. Two different course groups are involved in the project and they have been studying mime and butoh respectively and their performance work will be presented in those mediums. As such the performance is non-verbal and heavily stylised. The actors mimic the interview process itself, exhuming autobiographical memories through mime; the dancers constructed highly impressionistic butoh vignettes inspired by the above listed issues.

London South Bank University – Beginnings

Taidgh — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:44:13 +0000

The students of BA Digital Photography and BA Digital Media Arts at London South Bank University are pleased to invite you to private viewing for their Final Degree Show: Beginnings.

A celebration of three years of artistic development, this exhibition showcases the final pieces of photographic and digital art work produced by a group of talented individuals. The work that can be seen highlights a wide variety of styles and content, as well as various methods of production and display, that only a degree show could present. The heightened efforts that have been put in to creating the work here, as well as throughout the three years of the course, can clearly be seen in the standard of pieces that adorn this space.

Lending a name to the exhibition has been equally as important to the students as producing the work itself. Stating that this event is a “final degree show” asserts connotations that do not seem to fit with the attitude of the exhibitors. This is not the final work that shall be created. Nor is this an end. It is more the Beginnings of what lies ahead.

London Seizure

Cleo — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:07:12 +0000

A two-part Screening Series curated by Carmen Billows

Mike Stubbs Cultural Quarter

London, as with many other urban centres, functions as an ‘island of desire’ in commonplace perception, advertising freedoms in lifestyle and self-fulfilment. But, the urban dweller must compensate for these luxuries with certain sacrifices. On the one hand seduced by the allure of the urban multitude, he has to on the other hand accept the city’s pace and, often passively, a role in its systems of mediation, surveillance and control.

The origins of a certain ‘urban DISease’ very often lie beyond grasp but are instead sensed as underlying and immaterial threats to the status quo. Adaptation, or a healthy sense of disregard is needed in order to adjust to an environment of constant shifts in social politics; here is it easy to unknowingly submit to the powers at play.

London Seizure, a two-part screening programme of artists’ moving image works suggests to take a step back from this hypnotic swirl.

The artists featured in part 1, Urban DISease, use processes of close observation and contemplation to engage with their immediate surroundings. They share an interest in capturing instances of disruption in everyday social or political life and give a voice to a general sense of discomfort.

The artists featured in part 2, Extension of the Zone of Operation, take an extra interest in current housing politics and regeneration processes that endanger interpersonal links and nurture isolation and individualism.

Contextualised within institutions in twoLondonboroughs currently strongly affected by regeneration processes, this two-part project aims to trigger an exchange of voices from a Southwark to a Hackney Wick context.

Part 1: Thursday, 23 May 2013, 6.30 – 8.30pm

Urban DISease

John Smith, TheBlackTower, 24 min., 1985-87.

Piotr Krzymowski, The shape of things to come, 6,20 min., 2012.

Alexander Costello, All you need to know right now (1), 8,27 min., 2001.

Claire Hope, Boy Nature, 1,30 min, 2009.

Emily Richardson, Block, 13 min, 2009.

Mike Stubbs, Cultural Quarter, 10 min, 2003.

Steven Ball, No-Way Street, 1 min, 2007.

Hector Castells, Film, (2012), 7.13 min, 2012.

Matthias Kispert, The Funeral of Baroness Thatcher, 4,09, 2013.

Followed by a Q&A with the artists and curator

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A FREE EVENT

Location:
Bermondsey Project
WillowWalk
LondonSE1 5SF

http://bermondseyproject.com/

http://arttalksandtea.blogspot.co.uk/

Part 2: dates and location TBC: a detailed programme will be announced shortly.

Thijs groot Wassink: ‘On collaboration, supposedly dumb questions and how these have been applied in the production of artist books’

ntalalla — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:45:41 +0000

Why collaborate at all?… One big reason is to restrict one’s own freedom… There’s a joy and relief in being limited, restrained. For starters, to let someone else make half the decisions, or some big part of them, absolves one of the need to explore endless possibilities. The result is fewer agonizing decisions … and sometimes, faster results. (David Byrne: Journal 03.15.10)

WassinkLundgren is a meeting of two creatively mischievous minds: Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren. As their conjoined name suggests, the pair work as a single, two-headed creative entity, looking at the world around them through the medium of photography, while simultaneously playing around with ideas of creativity and collaboration through that same medium. Each of their projects, to differing degrees, takes them on a tightrope walk of discovery where chance, accident and uncertainty often seem as important as the pursuit of a single governing idea”.
Sean O’Hagan 2013

Gallery information

Bermondsey Project 46 Willow Walk London SE1 5SF United Kingdom
Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 1-6pm or by appointment. Admission: Free.
Getting Here: Elephant & Castle, London Bridge or Borough tube stations: Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, National Rail 6 minute walk to Bermondsey Project Space.
Parking is available.
This exhibition is suitable for children aged 11 and upwards.
Bus 100 from Waterloo, 42 and 78 from Shoreditch.

Hossein Khosrojerdi

ntalalla — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:12:58 +0000

Khosrojerdi has exhibited in many museums and has received numerous prizes and accolades, including the Grand Prize of the Sharjah Biennial in 2001. This exhibition will be accompanied by a workshop programme involving members of Crisis Skylight Bermondsey. We are pleased to host Hossein Khosrojerdi’s first major show for 5 year in which Khosrojerdi will also be participating in a workshop programme involving members of Crisis Skylight Bermondsey, linking together both his and Crisis’ preoccupation with social engagement and how political decisions can negatively affect the society of the future.

A constant and recurring engagement with the medium of painting, its limits, evolution and distinguished language characterizes Hossein Khosrojerdi’s practice. From socially and ideologically informed works during the early years of revolution and war, when he became a prominent artist, to his later digital figurative works which highlight a poetic criticism of the withdrawal of the revolution dream, he remained loyal to the idea of a socially engaged art.

Hossein Khosrojerdi’s new body of works testifies how investigation (research) and transformation are still the main drives for his practice. This time, it is the inner gaze that contemplates the act of painting. All produced after his immigration to the UK, this series of works deconstructs artistic attitudes, which gave birth to various masterpieces of Western art. He anatomizes these masterpieces and random banal images to their most fundamental formal elements and towards the refinement of their emotional essence.

What is sticking here is the underlined presence of painting in all these digital works. Most of them resemble the texture of the brush stroke on canvas and the tradition of abstract and minimal painting.

In order to discover one true relationship in creating a painting, it is necessary to sacrifice a thousand surface appearances without being able to actually visualize or examine them. By using digital devices, the artist is able to materialize the possibilities of appearances and to acknowledge, emphasis, and intertwine the element of chance and arbitrary alterations in the process of image making. Through this process, he proposes possibilities of overcoming this particular limitation of painting.

The resulting artworks assert nothing definite, and avoid making a specific point. He creates a pictorial space that encourages audience’s engagement in creating meanings and interpretations; a sensitive passage between the subjective space of the artist and its audience.

Hossein Khosrojerdi’s practice has witnessed resistance, transition, suspense, and transformation. His rejection of an artificially maintained consistency of style has been a conscious conceptual act that allowed him to investigate freely the basic principles of paintings and to convey the everlasting presence of change and alteration.

∞ Time and Process

Rachael — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:58:13 +0000

Exhibition Dates: 18 – 24 April 2013

Private View: Thursday 18 April, 6-9pm

An exhibition of 10 emerging artists exploring the theme of Time and Process entitled ∞ (Infinity). The breadth of the works exhibited corresponds to the vastness of these two topics, and the presence they possess in the work of contemporary artists as a whole. The works form a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional collection with diverse, but cohesive concerns. The artists open up the debates that surround Time and Process providing evidence that there is more that can be said, more compelling expressions to be made, about these artistic notions.

Many of the works visually and conceptually play off each other. One asks a question, that another is ready to answer. Contemporary abstract painters, Josh Brown, Tom Costello and Steven Gee explore the expression of line as: a streak of colour on top of another that journeys across the canvas, which has a bodily weight attributed to it (Gee); as paint dragged by a fine-tooth comb defining geometric structures (Brown), and as stripes warped across elasticated material, stretched over a canvas (Costello.) The tension present in Costello’s strained material, is echoed in many of the sculptural works exhibited, reflecting a character of instability and impermanence which suggests a potential for the viewer to witness the artwork changing its state.

Carlota Simo’s mixed metal sculptures are ready-mades formed of found pieces that are precariously balanced and welded into place, while Beatriz Acevedo’s silicon sculptures are physically malleable and are impressionable in the context of their environment. Pia-Jaie Carpenters’ piece plays with weight and the line. It captivates and defines the space it is in, exploring both her own and the material’s limitations. Iona Inglesby’s drawing machine creates and erases a circle in the same stroke, suspending the process of constructing a complete form whilst remaining constantly in motion; and Steve Gee’s painter’s troughs are dehydrated paintings – aluminium trays filled with an acrylic and water mix - which over a course of 16 days evaporate.

Josh Berry’s poignant pressed flowers photographed over light boxes suggest a symbol of vanitas in perfect stillness, preserving its life, or perhaps, elongating its death? While, Grace Hosken also toys with time, recognising its demand to be well used in her minimalist monochrome installations. Finally Miguel Ivorra’s photographic series - The Dama de Elche collection - documents the hand of the artist, which playfully dresses and undresses a sculptural bust, and alludes to - like many in the exhibition - the collective impact of time, that is: an evolving history, in which the artists participate.

As a whole, the artworks work with the industrial, but deal in the delicate; praise, test and question the authenticity and strength of medium, and display and analyse the role of process. Conceptually they ask how does a contemporary artist leave his or her mark on history; by what medium, to what effect, and how long will that mark endure?

This exhibition includes artworks by: Beatriz Acevedo, Josh Berry, Joshua Brown, Pia-Jaie Carpenter, Tom Costello, Steven Gee, Grace Hosken, Iona Inglesby, Miguel Ivorra and Carlota Simo.

Gallery information

Bermondsey Project 46 Willow Walk London SE1 5SF United Kingdom
Gallery Opening Hours: Daily 12-6pm. Admission: Free.
Getting Here: Elephant & Castle, London Bridge or Borough tube stations: Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, National Rail 6 minute walk to Bermondsey Project Space.
Parking is available.
This exhibition is suitable for children aged 11 and upwards.
Bus 100 from Waterloo, 42 and 78 from Shoreditch.

Tahera Aziz: [re]locate

Cleo — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:19:56 +0000

‘never [to] take the tedious task of waiting for a bus for granted.’

Exhibition Dates: 19 April – 12 May 2013
Private View: Thursday 18 April, 6-9pm

An art installation based on the ‘Stephen Lawrence’ murder case looks to challenge audiences 20 years on through sound.

[re]locate is a sound installation by London-based artist Tahera Aziz, responding to the tragic events surrounding the racially motivated murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence near a bus stop in southeast London in 1993.

Taking the notion of the daily routine of waiting at the bus stop as its starting point, the artwork explores the disruption of the everyday to foreground the murder once again, highlighting detailed elements that have particular resonance. The work examines the processes involved with struggling to preserve the memory of the case, which has had a deep impact in public life, whilst offering new insights.

Utilising transcripts from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report to build up a picture of what happened, Aziz worked with a group of actors to develop the dialogue, a field-recording artist and sound engineer to experiment with simultaneous multi-channel recording and audio compositional techniques, and a computer programmer to introduce elements of responsiveness into sonic environment.

Motivated by a desire to explore the potential of sound and documentary practices to re- examine events associated with the Lawrence case, Aziz has developed this thought- provoking and poignant installation in which the audience is encouraged to generate their own mental images of events. This unique approach offers a mechanism for deepening audience engagement with the complex and multi-layered narratives associated with the murder. Twenty years on, [re]locate compels the audience to reconsider evolving definitions of contemporary urban experience.

[re]locate has been produced with funding from the Arts Council of England and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (research and development), in partnership with London South Bank University and PVA MediaLab.

Tahera Aziz has had a longstanding creative and political interest in identity, migration and racism. Over years she has produced photo-based and installation work that explores how wider socio-political issues or events can impact on the individual to shape their experiences, and their sense of self and belonging.

The artwork was previewed at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (London), and has been exhibited at Axis Arts Centre (formerly Alsager Arts Centre), East Street Arts’ Union 105 (Leeds), New Art Exchange (Nottingham), and the Santorini Biennale of Arts.

[re]locate: Talks and Events

Developed with curator Alexa Jeanne Kusber to further engage with topics and issues surrounding the case.

Wednesday 24 April – 6.30pm
On Screen – Artist’s Choice
Tahera Aziz selects a film for screening that resonates with contemporary urban experience and issues raised by the artwork and the Lawrence case.

Friday 26 April – 6pm to 8pm
Meet the Artist – South London Arts Map, Last Fridays
Tahera Aziz will be welcoming visitors to the exhibition.

Wednesday 1 May — 6.30pm
Artist In Conversation: Expanding the Documentary Form Outside the Field of Vision

Wednesday 8 May — 6.30pm
Panel Discussion: Artistic Practices – Utilising the Substance of Real Life

All events are FREE and open to the public. Booking is not essential, but welcomed as spaces are limited. Please email: hello@alexakusber.com

Gallery information

Bermondsey Project 46 Willow Walk London SE1 5SF United Kingdom
Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 1-6pm or by appointment. Admission: Free.
Getting Here: Elephant & Castle, London Bridge or Borough tube stations: Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, National Rail 6 minute walk to Bermondsey Project Space.
Parking is available.
This exhibition is suitable for children aged 11 and upwards.
Bus 100 from Waterloo, 42 and 78 from Shoreditch.
For press inquiries, please contact Tahera Aziz at relocate.info@gmail.com
For general and programming inquiries, please contact Alexa Jeanne Kusber at hello@alexakusber.com

Ljós: Paintings and Drawings by Daisy Millner and Rhiannon Inman-Simpson

Rachael — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:15:25 +0000

Rhiannon and Daisy both spent time in Iceland last year taking part in residencies. Rhiannon went in winter and stayed at Hafnarborg Centre for Culture and Fine Art in Hafnarfjörður, a fishing town on the outskirts of Reykjavik. Daisy was there in the summer, staying at Lithus, in the small fishing village of Olafsfjordur in North Iceland. Much of their time in Iceland was spent travelling and walking. The strangeness and vastness of the landscape struck them most; otherwordly forms, intense colour and light, lava formations and brightly coloured geothermal pools. Ljós, the title for the exhibition, is the Icelandic word for light. Though using different mediums, Rhiannon painting and Daisy drawing, these recent works show their specific experiences of Icelandic light. Whilst Rhiannon witnessed the extremes of winter, long hours of darkness and bursts of light, Daisy found herself in continuous daylight, with colours and shapes heightened to unnatural degrees.

www.daisymillner.com

www.rhiannoninmansimpson.com

Gallery information

Bermondsey Project 46 Willow Walk London SE1 5SF United Kingdom

Gallery Opening Hours: Daily 11am-6pm. Admission: Free.

Getting Here: Elephant & Castle, London Bridge or Borough tube stations: Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, National Rail 6 minute walk to Bermondsey Project Space.

Parking is available.

This exhibition is suitable for children aged 11 and upwards.

Bus 100 from Waterloo, 42 and 78 from Shoreditch.