Exhibitions at Westminster Reference Library

All exhibitions are completely FREE to view.

Current exhibition:

Chance - An exhibition of Foster Spragge’s latest works

7 to 24 May  2013

Foster explores the intangible dimensions hidden within everyday life. By drawing attention to these simple experiences and recording finds she gives them a physical manifestation. The pieces include the results of a three-year project collecting over 2,500 coins found in and around London streets. By documenting their location, time and value, she completes the journey and makes their history concrete. 

Also on show will be a series of new works taking as their starting point the recorded data of whether a coin thrown, found or flipped shows Heads or Tails. Each piece remaining true to the recorded data but the criteria for their construction being different.

For the duration of the show Foster will be in the gallery daily creating a single, site-specific piece. This unique work, applied directly to the gallery wall and existing only as long as the show is open, will be based on chance criteria that will be determined whilst the show, and the piece, progress.

Next Exhibition:

But where are the people? Photographs by David Oldman

28 May to 8 June 2013

Many of my photos come from long, multi-day walks. I recently talked to a group of women about my walk the length of the island, from Dungeness to Durness, the talk illustrated by some of my photos. They said all the right things, until one lady hesitantly asked, “But David, where are the people?” Hence the title of this exhibition.

I photograph what interests me, so if I see people doing something interesting, I try to get a photo of them. But while I’m waiting, I see interesting places and things all the time. Silly to miss them!

Previous exhibitions:

Peake of Our Collection

2 - 13 April 2013

Westminster Reference Library believes that direct engagement is a great way to create understanding.  Through open access to our book collections and our art shows we try to provide a simple but powerful way to show everybody, regardless of age and background, the enjoyment and inspiration of art. 

Thanks to the support of Arts Council England, the library was able to capitalise on the Peake family’s generous loan of a small collection of Mervyn Peake’s original works to show in a very special family exhibition.

The exhibition comprises works by Mervyn Peake, his wife Maeve Gilmore and his son Sebastian Peake. The paintings and drawings in this small but exceptional show have never been seen outside the Peake family.

The show will be accompanied by one talk and poetry reading by Mervyn Peake’s surviving son Fabian, on Wednesday 10 April at 6.00pm.

The exhibition includes two workshops led by Mervyn Peake’s grandson’s Lewis, with a focus on illustration techniques.

Peake Family Biographies

Mervyn Peake

Born in China in 1911, Mervyn Peake returned to England in the early 1920s. He is best known for his Gormenghast books. He was also an artist, illustrator, poet and playwright. He published many books and had numerous exhibitions in his lifetime. He was an artist of broad talents, mixing light humour with qualities of grave seriousness. He died in 1968.

Maeve Gilmore

Maeve Gilmore was born in 1918 in London. She was a painter and a writer of short stories. She and Mervyn Peake met at the Westminster School of Art in the mid 1930s. Maeve exhibited her paintings widely and published her stories in anthologies. She was a lifelong supporter of her husband’s work during health and illness. She died in 1983.

Sebastian Peake

The eldest of the children of Mervyn and Maeve, Sebastian was, for many years a wine connoisseur and possessed a huge talent for languages. He also produced several books of poetry.  In his later years, Sebastian generously devoted most of his time to the promotion of his parents' work, bringing it to a wider public.  He died in 2012. 

Fabian Peake

Fabian Peake is an artist, writer and poet working in London. He studied painting at the Royal College of Art and taught at Manchester Metropolitan University for many years. He has exhibited his work in the UK and abroad. He has published poems and writings in pamphlets, magazines, newspapers and on the internet. His poems have a direct connection with his painting, both from a formal and content point of view.

Clover Peake

Clover is a writer and poet, translator and mother. She lives in London. Her work is lyrical yet concise and has been greatly influenced by Imagist poetry. Clover studied Greek and Latin at University College, London.  Translation and the close reading of ancient texts is threaded through her writing. 

Lewis Peake

Lewis Peake graduated in set design for film and TV in 2004 and since then has worked on many productions in commercials, TV dramas and mainstream feature films. As an artist his work incorporates traditional media mixed with digital techniques resulting in visuals belonging to the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Lewis Peake is also a filmmaker and is working on a series of shorts that share a common theme of nightmarish technology.

FREE 

Books Thrown With Great Force

Rachel Tweddell

15 to 27 March 2013

A 2012 photograph of a Greek communist MP throwing a book across the room during parliament is the starting point for Rachel Tweddell’s exhibition. The book contains details of the country’s austerity bill; as he hurls the book, outside the building thousands of protestors confront riot police in violent demonstrations.

This image of disorder is transported to a library in Tweddell’s exhibition, a place where all books are in their proper place and the concept of disorder is defined in wholly different terms. The image forms the template for a new series of photographs, exploring the act of book throwing within the context of the art and design books that are housed in the library, and considering the weightlessness and sense of transportation central to the activity of reading.

Not in View: Julie Rafalski – Solo Exhibition

4 - 23 February 2013

Work-in-Progress

Throughout the show,  Rafalski will be in residence at the library. You’ll find her in the gallery space on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 2.00-7.00pm, working on an additional work-in-progress. There will also be a series of blog posts updating progress on her work.

Sound Piece

On Tuesday 12 February there will be a live sound piece performed by Sone Institute, described by The Wire magazine as “a disorientation which oscillates uneasily between bliss and vertigo.”

This entirely new body of work includes giclée prints and collages. The images in these print pieces are scanned entirely from books in the library archive and constitute a “remixing” of material from the library’s collection, forging new connections by using collage techniques. Most of these images are sourced from books about modernist architecture, portraying the buildings of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Breuer. Several prints show Breuer’s Alcuin Library paired with images of underwater environments; marginal details from each of these different environments are juxtaposed, highlighting the seemingly apparent but not always visible. Several other prints portraying Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye are folded, creating a crease in the image, disturbing the verticals of the building while echoing the diagonal of the villa’s central ramp.

In these works Rafalski invokes the ghosts of the modernist era, inviting them to join her in conversation, even if only one in which communication occurs through book pages.

Aside from the gallery space, there is a work hidden on a shelf within the library, inviting viewers to search for it.

For Every Action there is an Equal and Opposite Reaction

21 January to 2 February

Works by:

• Cornelia Birgersdotter Blom
• Johanna Bolton
• Holly Brearley
• Beverley Calvert
• Evie Highton

The show draws upon the rich history of the Westminster Reference Library. This venue, while a site of academic endeavour, has a richer history as the former residence of Sir Isaac Newton, arguably one of the most important scientists of all time.

In this exhibition, the artists hold a mirror to Newton’s strength of conviction and to the physical laws he formulated. Isaac Newton believed in a universal law that could be applied both to objects on earth and to the heavenly bodies. Taking his experimental spirit as a theme, the artists apply the third law to both the material and the immaterial world, also exploring its impact on thoughts, ideas, culture, politics and art.

This varied application of the Law is reflected in the backgrounds and interests and histories of the artists – while some come from a scientific and academic background others have more socio-political intentions, revealing the widespread implications of Newton’s work. This dynamic and historically reflective show explores the burgeoning field of art and science.

Visit the Action Reaction exhibition blog for a program of events.

London Chinatown Oral History Project - Children's Art Exhibition

14 to 19 January 2013

Puppet show combined with children's art

Children's art workshops

15th January 2 to 3pm and  19 January, 2 to 4pm

Volunteers will show children how to make traditional Chinese origami and paper cuttings.

Free

The London Chinatown Oral History Project is sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

Festive Feathers

From 18 December 2012 to 12 January 2013

Presenting her first solo exhibition, printmaker Anna Casey is showcasing a selection of Monoprints in London’s West End.  Anna’s current body of work examines the characteristic humor of festive birds from pheasant to goose, celebrating their beauty both in life and on the plate.  Prints will be accompanied by serving suggestions and sources, providing a tongue and cheek look at the current trend for public awareness of meat production for the holiday market in the UK.

Website and contact details:

• www.caseprint.co.uk
• anna.casey@gmail.com
• @CaseprintUK
• 07843227514

AARON FACEY'S ART WORK

5-15 December 2012

Aaron Facey is a London based artist who specialises in portrait and figure drawing. He draws inspiration from his surroundings and people around him and mainly uses ball point pens. He uses hatching and cross hatching to shade and tone the things he draws. He also dabbles in creative photography.

These artworks show people coming into contact with a barrier between the inside and the outside. The barrier may represent the threshold between familiar and unfamiliar territory. In a way these people are trying to step out of their comfort zones and into the unknown.

These pieces were drawn using ball point pen and pencil on A2 paper before being scanned and enhanced on computer. They are all giclee prints.

Non celebrity pieces are for sale.

• tel: 07540591201
• email: art@aaronfacey.com
• web: www.aaronfacey.com 

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Margaine-Lacroix and the dresses that shocked Paris

19-30 November 2012

A photographic exhibition researched and curated by Susie Ralph

Private View & Illustrated Talk: Tuesday 20 November, 7.00pm Admission is free, but space is limited.  To book a seat for the talk, please email: rblack1@westminster.gov.uk

In 1908 Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix sent three mannequins to the Longchamp race-course clad in her form-revealing robes-tanagréennes. These corsetless dresses caused a sensation among Paris’ fashionable crowd - a riot according to some newspaper reports. Worn without corsets and slit to the knee on one side over the most transparent of underskirts, their impact on the fashion world was instantaneous and resulted in major press coverage not only in Paris but around the world. In today's parlance the style immediately "went viral". 

Margaine-Lacroix's revolutionary vision had a major impact on the direction which fashion subsequently took, but today her important contribution to the evolution of twentieth century fashion has been forgotten. This exhibition examines her work and the influence she had on style in the years preceding the First World War. It was Margaine-Lacroix’s daring vision that brought to an end the ideal of the rigidly corseted hour-glass figure, and ushered in the new, slim twentieth century silhouette.  

Susie Ralph is a researcher and lecturer who originally studied fashion at Central Saint Martins. She made a career as a fashion designer, specialising in couture. Having completed an MA in the history and theory of fashion she lectured at Chelsea College of Art and Design and currently lectures at Bath Spa University. Her main area of interest is late nineteenth and early twentieth century fashion, particularly the early history of French couture.  Her technical knowledge in the field of design, pattern-cutting and draping informs her in-depth analysis of the fashions and production methods of the past.

Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix is the subject of Susie’s MA thesis and of her continuing research.  Susie is presenting her paper: Inspired by the Antique: Margaine-Lacroix and the Robe-Tanagréenne at the conference: Costume Colloquium III: Past Dress - Future Fashion, Nov,  8-11, 2012 in Florence, Italy http://www.costume-textiles.com/?page_id=276    Margaine-Lacroix on Pinterest.com:  http://pinterest.com/suepov/margaine-lacroix/ 

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I AM. WE ARE. THAT’S ENOUGH. NOW WE HAVE TO START. new Work by Salli Yule-Tsingas

30 October to 17 November 2012

Yule-Tsingas’s first solo exhibition comprises collage and sculptural constructions of reclaimed objects acting as prototypes that reference a simplistic way of experiencing our surroundings. 

Yule-Tsingas’ work is a world of self-perpetuating, complex structures made from mundane everyday objects.  Materials used come from her immediate proximity with exception to the images of petroleum drills, photocopied from an engineering manual that she found in a recycle bin in Saudi Arabia. The physical handling of materials and the gestures are a very important part of Yule-Tsingas’ practice. Sculptures of obsolete supermarket shelves, photocopies of drilling for petroleum exploration, and autonomous-looking component parts, point to a wider attempt by the artist to connect with the world and to reconfigure it. Sellotape,  masking tape, screws and other functional objects, used to put the world in order,  are taken out of context and their initial use is made redundant.

The artist’s baroque approach is intuitive and tactile.  It invites the viewer to explore the world of mundane objects transformed through the notion of the spiral and its significance. ‘Spiral of spirals, circles of circles, everything is decentred: excess is the rule by which linear and perspectivist vision is disrupted, in favour of an instable multi-vision, where you lose your bearings**’. Elements become convoluted when examined by their shape rather than their function, and their habitual use is disrupted. Yule-Tsingas’ approach to handling objects will turn petroleum drill parts into gentle and feminine objects. Layers of sellotape are tightly wrapped around a screw, in a circular embrace and disappear underneath new layers.

"I am. We are. That’s enough. Now we have to start." By using Ernst Bloc’s words from ‘The Spirit of Utopia’, as a title for her exhibition, Yule-Tsingas invites the viewer to explore our surroundings through our senses but also through examination of what objects are and what they represent in the modern world, to disrupt our habitual way of perceiving them.

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Ways of Thinking II

''Multi dimensional thinking in creative visual practice: is this of any value to mainstream education?''

From 1 to 29 October

In association with Norwich University College of the Arts, Westminster Reference Library pleased to host the ‘’ Ways of Thinking 2’’ research exhibition curated by Katherine Hewlett (RCA) and multimedia artist Leon Cole.  This second and final research exhibition in the Ways of Thinking project profiles the work of two visual and aural artists positioning ideas within new spaces in the context of the impact of Dyslexia on learning and creativity in the visual arts.

The exhibition is part of a research study linking education, the arts and social comment.  Visitors to the exhibition are actively encouraged to be part of the research dialogue about ‘’Ways of Thinking2’’  in these contexts.

The private view will take place on Thursday 4 October from 7-9pm

‘I never really know where I am going until I get there’  Leon Cole

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“Discovering the National Gallery”

personal exhibition by Natalie Richy

From September 17 to 29

Artist Natalie Richy introduces her new exhibition “Discovering the National Gallery”. This personal show is inspired by 33 paintings carefully selected from the National Gallery collection.  The result of contemplation and in-depth studies of these paintings created between the 15th and 19th century is presented in a monumental composition that reflects on classical symbolic language used by the Old Masters and enriched with the artist’s personal interpretation in order to unveil the mystery of the story behind the shapes and figures from the canvas.

Entry to the exhibition is free. For further information visit: http://natalierichy.com/

Marta Rocamora: Paintings

from 1 to 15 September

Website: www.rocamora.co.uk

email: info@rocamora.co.uk

Free exhibition

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Instrumental Images :

An Exhibition of pastels and paintings by Nicola Wills

From 13 to 25 August

'Instrumental Images' is an explorative study of the emotional responses one can experience through music.  In this exhibition the artist is portraying her own visual interpretation of the colours and shapes which form in her mind whilst listening to various music genres.

ECLECTIC : An Exhibition of Work by Tony Rodgers

From 30 July to 10 August

This exhibition is called Eclectic because it delivers various works that I have created over a number of years, ranging from abstract art to naturalism.  It includes works painted in oil, watercolour and acrylic, incorporating a range of themes.  As a consequence of the numerous ideas that go around in my mind, I often start on a project, stopping midway to start on something else, only to return to a former project sometimes many years later.

My influences come from various artists, old and new, sometimes consciously, but also I believe subconsciously.  Two cases in point are Rhino (2011) and Giraffe in a Landscape (2011).  With these two paintings, I believe that I was subconsciously influenced by Patrick Caulfield’s (1936-2005) screen prints – many in the Tate collection – of which a number feature images or objects on a plain flat background. 

The abstract works on show I believe are subconsciously influenced by Georges Braque, Picasso and Juan Gris among others.  My work has its own individuality but evokes certain aspects of their individual style, and occasionally perhaps a combination of their styles.  Picasso’s oeuvre was wide and varied.  He incorporated many styles throughout his lifetime, and therefore could be described as producing an eclectic body of work.

Exhibitions and Highlights include:

• 2011 Shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Show
• 2008 16mm Cafe, Soho - Group Display
• 2006 Tate Britain: Drawing from Turner Exhibition - Group Show
• 2003 'Mini Gallery' Exhibition of Etchings - Works displayed at Croydon Technical College, Croydon Library, Mayday Hospital and Fairfield Halls.

For further information: tonetone71@yahoo.co.uk

Website: sites.google.com/site/tonyrodgersart 

Dale Carney - Works on paper

From 16 to 28 July 2012

 

Dale Carney is currently exhibiting at the Whitechapel Gallery’s prestigious London Open and to coincide with his paintings in the show, he will be exhibiting vibrant and intoxicating mixed media works on paper.      

Dale’s paintings are fusions of language; carnivals, cocktails, jungles of colour and form, electric and alive. Fragments feed off and juxtapose with one another, melting and morphing into fantasias of narration, dreamlike vision and coherence.  Others are arresting in their simplicity.

Dale marries abstraction with figuration, subjectivity with objectivity and the cerebral with the sensual to create hallucinatory, poetic, immersive and purgative pieces.

This is the first time Dale has solely shown his works on paper  and the striking exhibition  distils and highlights various strands of his practice that galvanise in his much larger, wild, rich and cathartic canvases.

Automatism, surrealism, primitivism, calligraphy, hieroglyph, pattern, landscape, private symbolism, horror and humour are called on, drawn, dripped, scraped, sculpted, washed and built up in chaos and harmony. 

This small and energising collection of work will be on display in the Westminster Reference Library  July 16th- 18th. The London Open opens to the public July 5th at the Whitechapel Gallery and runs until September 2012.

Read more in the Evening Standard

Shapeless in shape by Xiaojun Charles Zhao

From 3 to 14 July

“The abstract as a being is always around us without us ever noticing it. In my works the abstraction has shapes, colours and locations. I locate these shapes that are actually shapeless into a world which has a place for them.

I think the abstraction has fun there in that place, and it gives my works some meanings which no other images could provide. The relations between the figurative world and shapeless shapes have been built.

These relations tell stories and arouse imaginations. I wish they could act like black holes to suck the viewers, the readers in and enjoy being lost in a mysterious world, perhaps looking for some familiar signposts to guide them along.

The main material I use is paper which is cut, coloured and given some kind of life. I wonder if I could call my works sculptures rather than paintings. But it doesn’t much matter to me because the manipulated paper has already produced meanings out of itself.”

Zhao – July 2012

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Theatre of the Charmed:

An exhibition of watercolour on silk paintings

by Sharon Leahy-Clark

From 19 June to 2 July 2012 

Artist Leahy-Clark’s work plays with language, in particular the point at which language breaks down, anarchy reigns and poetry begins. She uses a variety of materials, all of which are worked in a ‘hands on’ intuitive way. The forms which have evolved from working in this way inhabit a space on the edge of language/reason and are therefore difficult to name or label. Yet, at first glance, there is a familiarity about them and they appear to make sense as possibly animal or human. However, on closer inspection this familiarity is questioned and the forms, marks and images take on a more ‘monstrous’ aspect; less recognisable as something known or familiar, the forms embody an Otherness.

The work in this exhibition includes a series of watercolour on silk paintings (Theatre of the Charmed).

Biography/prizes

Sharon lives and works in London. She graduated from the Royal College of Art (MA Painting) in 2001.  She has exhibited widely across the UK as well as internationally and has a solo show at the Godfrey Pilkington Art Gallery in St Helens in 2013. Former exhibitions include: Collectible Zeitgeist Project Space, London (2012); The Three-Cornered World 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe (solo show, 2011); Re-animate, Oriel Davies, Wales (2010); Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts (2009); The Jerwood Drawing Prize (2008/9); Artsway Open (2008); British Glass Biennale (2008) and a finalist in the Celeste Painting Prize (2007).

HIGHLIGHTS & SHADOWS

The dark sides of the naked human figure watercolour analogue painting to digital inkjet fine art:

A new show by UK artist Errol Lawes

From 6 to 16 June 2012 

“The 2012 new work goes back to when I first started life drawing/painting in 1989 and was searching for a new look while studying the highlights and shadows of the naked human figure using black and white watercolour paints.  I transferred and enlarged these paintings through a fine art inkjet printer, using specialised pigmented inks on specialist paper.  This technique gives the work a fresher look and has an aesthetic quality which is neither like a typical print nor like a painting."

Walking Drawings: The first showing of real-time walking drawings by Foster Spragge

• From Monday 28 May to Saturday 2 June

• Private view: Tuesday 29 May from 6 to 9pm

The first showing of real-time Walking Drawings by Foster Spragge. Foster Spragge is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice encompasses various media. Her subject is often a simple every day experience that at first appears unremarkable but becomes meaningful and important when her attention is turned towards it.

The Walking Drawings arose as Foster looked for appropriate places to install other works. While walking from place to place, over multiple days and often down the same streets, she turned her attention towards the act of walking itself and began by marking every step. This allowed her to build drawings that represent the detail of her daily experience within her environment.

In making these drawings, Foster is also recording the space between the steps she takes and in so doing creates maps of a certain place within a specific time defined by a single activity. These drawings make real the paths, both actual and imagined, that any of us follow as we go about our daily lives.

Foter’s recent works include Ticket Cylinder, an impermanent installation made from half a million train tickets installed at Bethnal Green Library, and Coin Works, a progressive mapping of London in found coins. Her solo shows include “Back to Painting” at 242 Gallery and “Kamikaze Paintings” at The Artist Café. Foster worked for four years with John Latham and has had a three year Artist Residency in Cape Cornwall. Her awards include the “Drawing for All” Prize at Gainsborough’s House and she was a selected finalist for the Rabely Drawing Centre Sketchbook Prize. Foster Spragge lives and works in London, UK.

•  www.fosterspragge.com
• hollywoodwalker.blogspot.co.uk

The Art and Design of Arctic Circle Exhibition

14 to 26 May

 

Arctic Circle is London’s most persistently inventive, progressive, passionate yet delightfully unpretentious concert promoter and producer, and an increasingly vital component of the capital’s 21st century live music culture. With a track record for staging sometimes elaborate, always magical themed events on the stages, in the foyers – sometimes even up in the gods – of London’s major arts centres, Arctic Circle is now a byword for going the extra mile when it comes to presentations of cutting-edge international musicians in some of London’s most atmospheric, characterful venues. The Arctic Circle’s convivial, unassuming ethos is underscored by its infamous penguin-themed visuals and a spirit of child-like wonder.

Through the Eyes of a Penguin: The Art and Design of the Arctic Circle, runs from May 14 to 26 at Westminster Reference Library, London WC2, and showcases the original artwork created for the Arctic Circle by Damian O’Hara and London/Paris-based design collective Pika Pika, including posters, postcards, prints, projections, original draft drawings and all the ephemera in between. Arctic Circle performance photography by Rosie Reed Gold and Diana Jarvis will also be on show.

www.jointhecircle.net  

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See you next tuesday: A brief introduction to pain in five tricky to swallow pieces - A solo show of new work by Johnny Doe

• email: nobodyuknow.mm@gmail.com

Tuesday 1 May to 12 May

Sadly we are all going to pass away...

Depending upon how you reflect on the above and question things in general are the grounds for this show. Each of the five pieces created just as much for my benefit as yours, single work’s having the talent to stand alone, or hold hands with his equal to read as a short story that starts from ‘Taste the Difference’. The conclusion remains open to discussion, though already branded as selfish.  

Believing each work’s content direct enough to escape explanation, ‘Not When, But How’ will live long after the exhibition, oblivious to the suitcase of human breath. Within the acrylic box and surrounding a fresh Savoy cabbage, ten live baby caterpillars will grow until turning into home-grown butterflies, only then allowed their nirvana. A symbolic frenzy made of five that captures seventy years in roughly twelve days.

View it as you will. Beauty is personal. But for me, my glass has always been half empty.

New Work by Tom Pearce

From 16 to 30 April

Tom Pearce is an artist and narrative illustrator who studied design and illustration at Camberwell College of Arts.  He has exhibited his drawings at venues in London, Brighton and Brussels.

This show features a range of work, including detailed atmospheric cityscapes, offbeat cartoon characters and some comic style narrative sequences based on different journeys Tom has made.

• www.thecurrentshow.com
• www.drawingsofthings.com

ennui - New work by UK artist Clive Jackson

From 2 to 14 April 2012

“The title for the exhibition came up in conversation with a friend. It was really chosen for how it sounded, and it somehow seemed to relate to what was happening to me at the time -  the repetitive way I was working, not really trying force the way the pictures looked, although they all seemed similar.

In choosing the pictures for the exhibition I realised that removing some of them from the group for which they were done seemed to make them more significant, when really I thought of them as part of a batch of work.

The display on the walls shows the pictures’ position on the sheet relating to the batch in which they were done. The numbers and letters underneath are for identification as I rarely use titles.”

All pictures are for sale £75 call Clive Jackson - 07923213566

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Figurative Paintings Exhibition by Natalie Richy

From 19 to 31 March 2012

Established London-based figurative fine artist, Natalie Richy is presenting her oil painting exhibition “Secrets of Female Sensuality” in collaboration with Westminster Reference Library, in the heart of London. The spotlight of her exhibition is the female world and its connotation in contemporary society. 

Natalie Richy graduated with a Master's degree from the Latvian Academy of Art, and since graduation has been working in London, creating her figurative art compositions and portraits in oil and graphic. Her main focus of interest in fine art is the inner and outer beauty of human beings. She expresses the complexity and multi-dimensional world of humanity through fine art mediums.

These are her views on the subject: “Every person is a universe of thoughts, emotions, desires and believes. There are no two persons alike and I, as the fine artist would like to surface the depths of the souls of people I paint.”

In oil painting, Natalie works only in traditional techniques. She has learned old oil painting methods developed from the time of Jan van Eyck, and used up until the Impressionist period. By using these conventional painting techniques, Natalie Richy keeps the traditions of the old masters alive. Through practicing and comparing different approaches, she has developed the most suitable method for her artistic goals. With Natalie's accrued painting skills, she can concentrate and experiment on developing her own style.

During the last nine years, Natalie Richy had participated in more than 30 fine art exhibitions around Europe.  Her works are held in private collections in Latvia, UK, USA, France, Russia, Lithuania, Denmark and Switzerland.

Natalie Richy is also a renowned art teacher. She is the co-founder and tutor of the Art.WebArtAcademy.com – the online academy of fine arts. Hundreds of art students from around the world have already graduated from the Web Art Academy and are the proud owners of their Diploma of Excellence. Natalie teaches her students knowledge that is so necessary, yet almost forgotten – knowledge of craftsmanship that will help them progress in their creative careers. By her own example, Natalie Richy is promoting traditional oil painting skills in her exhibition, “Secrets of Female Sensuality” which is a great showcase of her achievements.

Entry to the exhibition is free. For further information visit: http://natalierichy.com/

To receive more information about this exhibition, or to schedule an interview with Natalie Richy, please call on: +44 (0)7955091006 or e-mail: art@natalierichy.com

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An Inventory for Al-Mutanabbi Street: Artists' Books Exhibition and Film Nights

1-17 March 2012

Film nights:

• 1 March  - “A Candle for The Shabandar Cafe”
• 12 March, 7-9pm - “Our Feelings took the Pictures - Open Shutters Iraq”

To book a seat for the free films please email asap: referencelibrarywc2@westminster.gov.uk

Al Mutanabbi Street, named after the 10th century Arab poet Abu’ Tayib al-Mutanabbi, has been known for centuries as the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community.  A winding street lined with booksellers and bookshops, it was an important meeting place for people to hunt for books, debate and share ideas. Scholars, poets, readers, writers and artists often spent their days drinking copious amounts of tea and coffee in the Shabandar Café, which opened in 1917. On March 5, 2007, a car bomb was used to destroy this crowded book market as well as the Shabandar Café. More than thirty people were killed and over a hundred were injured.

The inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street was as diverse as the Iraqi population.   It included literature of Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, history, political theory, popular novels, scholarly works, religious tracts, technical books, poetry, mysteries, even stationery and blank school notebooks could be found on the street as well as children’s books and graphic novels.

The bombers not only destroyed the lives of those who died and their families, they also attacked the concept, which the street represented – of freedom of thought. In response to this attack Beau Beausoleil, a poet and bookseller in California, set up a coalition of poets, writers, readers, artists, booksellers and printers – not just to remember those who died, but also as a response to the cultural implications of the attack on ideas. In this case the attack was in Baghdad but it could have been any street, anywhere.On March 5th  2007, a car bomb destroyed this crowded book market as well as the Shabandar Café.  More than thirty people were killed and over a hundred were injured. The bombers destroyed the lives of those who died and their families but also attacked the concept of freedom of thought. 

The Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, set up by US poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil, sent out an international call for artists' books, asking each artist to produce a series of three books, or three copies of the same, that would reflect the strength and fragility of books as artifacts, and above all the endurance of the ideas within them.

When the 262 responses will be completed in the autumn of 2012, a set of artists' books will be donated to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad. The other two sets will tour in exhibitions throughout the world.

An Inventory for Al-Mutanabbi Street showcases a selection of these books and two outstanding documentaries: Director Imad Ali Abbas’ “A Candle for The Shabandar Cafe” and “Our Feelings Took the Pictures: Open Shutters Iraq” by filmmaker Maysoon Pachachi.

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Kim Wan : Violents (Snapshot)

From altar (boy) to art(ist)

Monday February 6 to Saturday February 25

“The more I do, the less I know, the past falls away ready to be gathered at a later date...”

An exhibitionof of three new key pieces from an ongoing body of work relating to themes of violence and the relationship between religion, art history and the contemporary world.

Kim Wan was brought up in a strict Catholic household, a faith he was later to question and in this exhibition, the artist reflects on classical religious themes, drawing upon personal history to explore issues of belief and identify in a fragmented 21st century. Kim’s obsession with the materiality of paint and what Gilles Deleuze described in relation to Francis Bacon, as the ‘Body, Meat and Spirit’ of the art permeates this new work.  The canvas or found object foregrounds this emotional engagement with paint, where a delicacy of gesture, or sensitivity to a surface can often underlie the overall intensity of the constructed image. For the artist, the ritual or the process of painting, has all the immediacy of a performance , albeit one without a script,

“I can work intensively on a piece for a number of months, or I can complete it in a number of minutes”

Any enquiries: (020) 7641 1300/5250 email: rblack1@westminster.gov.uk Kim Wan +44(0) 7903 128 208 info@kimwanart.com www.kimwanart.com 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO:

Rossella Black, Colin Booth, Dave Meakin and Bob Penn.

SELF PORTRAIT

[Oil on board, 13 x 18 cms]

In this poignant image, the artist is seen, head bowed, his gaze directed away from the viewer. This is the artist presented as a sinner before Christ, lost in self-reflection and penitence, but spiritually strong and surviving through the cathartic or redemptive act of painting.

FLIGHT

[Oil paint, decorator’s caulk, gold enamel on canvas, 150 x 180 cms]

The paint mirrors the flight or ascension of the saints. Flight is a raw, gestural painting in which heavily impastoed gold paint provides an allegorical surface for the figure to be seen ascending in exhultation.

DESCENT

[Oil paint, decorator’s caulk, gold enamel on canvas, 68 x 45 x 35 cms]

The flayed skin of St Bartholomew in Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, is the inspriration for Descent in which a desultory bedroom cabinet supports an oleaginous mound of oil paint mixed with decorator’s caulk. The paint flows over and runs down one corner of the piece, alluding metaphorically to memories, traces of human precence and gesture.

Simon Leahy-Clark – ‘Library’

From Tuesday 24 January  to 4 February 

Westminster Reference Library is pleased to announce a solo show by Simon Leahy-Clark, his first in the UK.

The exhibition will comprise of two areas of the artist’s practice, visually different but linked by materials, process and themes, and also given further associations through the context of the setting.

On one wall, the artist presents a number of his framed newspaper cut-out pieces, whole newspapers that have had all the information carefully cut out, leaving the skeleton to act as the composition. Relating to both drawing and modernist painting, the works are also architectural, the process of editing allowing the internal structure to be revealed.

Acting as counterpoint, the large collage work is made up of the left over cuttings of the other work, scraps of newspaper re-used to re-create an overall image, in this case figures searching an abandoned and dilapidated library.

Simon Leahy-Clark (b. 1973, Cardiff) studied Fine Art at Middlesex University (1996-99). Recent exhibitions include Royal Academy Summer Show (2011), Jerwood Drawing Prize, London and UK tour (2011, 2008), ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Trust, London, (2011, 2010), Crash Open, Charlie Dutton Galley, London (2010) and many more.. In 2005 with British Council funding, he travelled to Japan and held his first solo exhibition at CAS Gallery, Osaka. At the same time, he was included in the 13th Yoshihara Jiro Memorial Exhibition, at Osaka Contemporary Arts Centre, and was awarded the Gutai Group Prize. He held a second solo show at CAS in 2009. He lives and works in London.

All work is for sale, for enquires contact the artist directly at theleahyclarks@yahoo.co.uk 

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

From 6 to 21 January 2012

This is a joint collaborative project by artists Clinton Croson, Angie Bee, Ludmilla Churchill and Nan Zhang, showcasing a vibrant and diverse range of artwork in a variety of styles and media.  Each artist presents their new work under an individual subheading and each section is hung separately to give each its distinct identity.  The artists are united in their focus of interpreting Beauty in their art and they lovingly and passionately present it to the viewer through their own individual visual language.

Sharp eye photography competition exhibition

On display from 15 December 2011 to 2 January 2012

 

The Victoria Business Improvement District’s Sharp Eye Photography Competition attracted over 160 entries from people who live, study or work within the Victoria, Pimlico and Belgravia areas of SW1.

The winning photographs along with a small selection of those of the runner up and finalists feature in an installation on the Victoria Street entrance of Kingsgate House.  Due for demolition in 2012, Kingsgate House provides a temporary public viewing space until the end of January 2012.  In addition to this there is a capsule exhibition at Westminster City Council, City Hall, in the reception area.  The main exhibition of the winning and 30 shortlisted entries will open on Thurs 15 December 6.30, at Westminster Reference Library, when the first prize of £500’s worth of photographic equipment will be awarded to the winner.

A selection will also be in the next issues of  In SW1 Magazine – Jan 2012, published by Victoria Business Improvement District, the main sponsors of this event.

For the competition entrants were asked to consider one of the following themes:

Category 1 - Picturing SW1 

Using Neighbourhoods of Westminster – Victoria, Pimlico and Belgravia as a backdrop to capture portraits of the unexpected or extraordinary individuals in the area or a detail of the urban landscape.  The judges were looking for visual originality, local character and intelligent personal viewpoint,  Our winning entry, taken by Katharyn Boudet, was entered in this category.

Category 2 - Bright Sparks

We were looking for either figurative or abstract subjects that used light as main subject of the picture.  Entries could be about using the contrast between light and dark to say something about a subject.  The picture quality could be made unique by using an unusual light source, or about how light can transform a subject.  The picture entered by our runner up – Hannah Mercieca, was entered in this category.

Thanks to

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Westminster Arts Westminster City Council
• To all our participating photographers!

Portraits from latitude by Alexander Williamson

• From 1 to 10 December 2011
• Private View: 6 December 2011, 6.30-9.30pm

The portraits in this exhibition were taken at Latitude Festival in 2009, with each performer photographed before and after reading to capture the tension and exhilaration of performing poetry to a large audience. Subjects included the Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, in addition to poets Simon Armitage, Laura Dockrill, Paul Farley, Jackie Kay, Kate Tempest and Luke Wright.

Join us for a glass of wine at the private view, where the following poets will perform their poetry from 8pm: Josh Idehen, Tamsin Kendrick, Molly Naylor and John Osborne.

New Artist Fair Finalist Exhibition 2011

Hosted by Leah Michellé

Featuring Mark Powell and Sandra Jordan

• 

  Monday 21 to Wednesday 30 November 2011

• Thursday 24 November Opening Reception and Art Party from 7 to 9pm

After its debut exhibition in September, New Artist Fair wanted to celebrate two of its most talented artists, Mark Powell, the artist who sold the most artworks and, Sandra Jordan, the artist who received the most votes by the public by displaying their work alongside artworks by artist and Co-Founder of NAF Leah Michellé.

Mark Powell’s intimate and intricately detailed drawings of portraits on vintage envelopes hail the rise of photorealism within the arts market. Combining highly skilled craftsmanship with the renewal of an everyday object, Mark’s biro pen drawings are easy to get lost in and reveal the simple truths of humanity.

 

Sandra Jordan’s imaginative yet completely un-manipulated photographs taken whilst traveling the world reveal her intimate connection with and understanding of the landscape around her. Short-listed for Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Sandra captures moments in time that remind the viewers of the spectacular and extraordinary that is nature.

In sharp contrast to the realism of Mark’s intimate drawings and Sandra’s inspiring photographs are Leah Michellé’s captivating abstract paintings. By layering acrylic paints and polyurethane with found and bought papers, Leah’s paintings seek to create a depth and beauty found only in the man-made. As an artist and the Co-Founder of the New Artist Fair, Leah welcomes the opportunity to introduce these artists and host this intimate exhibition at a great location next to the National Gallery.

The New Artist Fair Finalist Exhibition will be held at Westminster Reference Library  21-30 November 2011. Please join us for a glass of wine at the Opening Reception and Thanksgiving Art Party on the 24th of November 2011, 7-9pm.

All artworks will be for sale. 

The Better Angels of Our Nature :

New work by Paul Caton

From 2 to 19 November 2011 

Following the well received 2009 solo exhibition An Internal Bleeding of the Heart, Paul Caton returns with a new series of meticulously worked pencil drawings of idyllic landscapes with a distinct and disturbing modern twist.

 Westminster Reference Library is proud to host The Better Angels of Our Nature, which sees Caton continue his tour of the haunts of his Yorkshire childhood.  From the accurately rendered ruins, follies and churches to the anonymous “everywhere and nowhere” landscapes.  It is perhaps appropriate that one of these pictures found its way into this year’s  Royal Academy Summer show.  And these latest offerings see the artist now somewhat reluctantly, establishing himself with the grand tradition of British landscape art.

“I replaced Hagar and the Angel with the kids next door.  Kids that people overlook and then condemn when something bad happens.  It felt like the right thing to do and it still is.”

Paul Caton studied Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art before completing a Masters degree at Central Saint Martins in 2005.  He has since exhibited with the noted Bearspace gallery and with artists such as Jack & Dinos Chapman and Anya Gallaccio.

Ways of Thinking - Katherine Hewlett 

Multi-dimensional thinking in creative practice:

The impact of Dyslexia on learning and creativity in the visual Arts

Tuesday 4 - Saturday 29 October 2011

• 11-15 October: Katherine Hewlett and Shevonne Bryant
• 18-22 October: Leon Cole
• 24-29 October: Nicholas McArthur

This research exhibition aims to investigate thinking approaches to the process of work conducted by visual and aural artists who are Dyslexic. The purpose is to investigate artists' approach to the process of their creative work through multi-dimensional ways of thinking.

The exhibition ''Ways of Thinking'' is a result of evidence collected through mixed methods by working with artists as part of the research process. The artists within this exhibition are these case study participants!

Mary Thomas –

From Gesture to Pictorial Image Exhibition

Displaying until Thursday 15 September 2011

Three years in the life of artist Mary Thomas.  This exhibition is a reflective glimpse into the visual everyday world she inhabits.

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Is Al Mutanabbi Street,

our street?

Exhibition: 1 to 27 August 2011

Private View and reading with Film Director and Writer Maysoon Pachachi.  Introduction by Dr Gillian Partington Thurs August 25th 7 to 9pm

( To book a seat for the reading on the 25th pls email: rblack1@westminster.gov.uk )

 Al Mutanabbi Street, named after the 10th century Arab poet Abu’ Tayib al-Mutanabbi, has been known for centuries as the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community. A winding street lined with booksellers and bookshops, it was an important meeting place for people to hunt for books, debate and share ideas. Scholars, poets, readers, writers and artists often spent their days drinking copious amounts of tea and coffee in the Shabandar Café, which opened in 1917. On March 5, 2007, a car bomb was used to destroy this crowded book market as well as the Shabandar Café. More than thirty people were killed and over a hundred were injured.

The bombers not only destroyed the lives of those who died and their families, they also attacked the concept, which the street represented – of freedom of thought. In response to this attack Beau Beausoleil, a poet and bookseller in California, set up a coalition of poets, writers, readers, artists, booksellers and printers – not just to remember those who died, but also as a response to the cultural implications of the attack on ideas. In this case the attack was in Baghdad but it could have been any street, anywhere.

The Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition sent out a call to letterpress printers to contribute a personal response to the attack – to produce broadsides which would protest and commemorate the bombing on Al-Mutanabbi Street

These broadsides are now touring the world and, through exhibitions such as this, provoking thought and discussion about the implications of this attack on the idea and expression of freedom.

Dr Gillian Partington - Researches critical theory and contemporary culture, with a particular focus on 'texts and technologies'. Current work explores the impact of new media on narrative forms and reading/writing practices. Published articles discuss the work of media philosopher Friedrich Kittler, and the theorisation of technology and culture.

Maysoon Pachachi - Worked for years as a documentary and fiction film editor in the UK and has taught film directing and editing in Britain and Palestine. She produced and edited ‘Voices from Gaza’, a Channel Four documentary that won a Red Ribbon Award in San Francisco.  In 2004, together with Kasim Abid, another British-based Iraqi filmmaker, she founded the Independent Film and Television College, a film training centre in Baghdad.

Photo: Raya Asee - Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, where she studied textile design and worked as a theatrical costume designer.  She also worked in radio, television, and as a print journalist. In 2007 she was granted asylum in Sweden and is waiting for her 13 year old son, Bashar, to be allowed to join her.

"And the best place in the world is on the back of a running horse’ ‘And the best companion to sit with is a book’ Abu’-Tayib al-Mutanabbi (915-965 CE / 302-352 AH) Access to information is at the root of any participatory democracy. Al-mutanabbi street held not just one bookstore, but many, and that great gathering of books, their physical (the space they occupied) even tactile qualities, made people "think" even before a single purchase was made at the start of any given day."

Beau Beausoleil

For press images or more information contact Salli Yule-Tsingas  syule_tsingas@msn.com 07760207004

 Links/articles

• An Inventory Of Al-Mutanabbi Street - A Call To Book Artists
• Art, Explained: Azar Nafisi urges learning the history of countries in turmoil - Washington Post
  
  

Kindling – (materials for starting a fire, such as twigs, dry wood... a term also for giving birth) :

An Exhibition of original Art work by Nadia Drizi and Frances Walton

Friday 22 to 30 July

Private view – Friday 22 July 6.30 to 8pm

Frances and Nadia share an interest in the creative process and the tensions that exist between the conscious and unconscious, knowing and not knowing, thought and spontaneity.  Both use a variety of materials –looking for an equilibrium between ideas and expression.

BURNING SUMMER : Paintings by Houria Niati

• Exhibition 4 to 11 July

Houria Niati is an Algerian artist who in 1977 moved to London where she studied Fine Art and exhibited widely.  She combines visual art with singing and recently contributed to ‘An Ode to My Sisters", a strong play about Muslim women in the UK, that toured all over the UK. The songs are attributed to the great 9th Century composer, Ziryab Ibn Nafi, who was born in Middle East but forced into exile to Spain.

After the expulsion of the Moors and Jews from Spain in the 14th Century, the classical Arabo-Andalusian musical repertoire accompanied the emigrants to North Africa, where it was handed down by oral tradition.  Nowadays it is performed and taught throughout Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

Though inspired by the songs, Houria’s drawings are not meant to be mere illustrations of them.  ‘I wanted to travel back in time to the 9th century, and tell the story of the Andalous, to express the power of the  lyrics and the impact the wars of the time had on that people…’

In 2003, Houria and Spanish guitarist Miguel Moreno, formed the duet HABIBOUN and performed at the British Museum, NT and at the Royal Academy of Music.  The due combines the passion of flamenco with the poetry of the singing in a magic blend of styles.

One man’s junk is another's treasure

New Paintings by UK artist Stephen Hennessy

20 June to 2 July

'A series of oil paintings telling the story of a young fella wandering around London and beyond.

In this time he's developed an appreciation of the more ordinary aspects of this life. It's easy to get carried away by the rat race and tube strikes of London, but is worth taking a step back and reflecting on the thing's we might miss in our hectic schedules.

This young man has done just that. Creating a visual diary so that one day he can look back and say "Oooohh, those were nice tube seats".'

An Exhibition of work by Dave Brown, political cartoonist of The Independent

30 May – 18 June 2011

The Wreck of the Economy, by Dave Brown

 Dave Brown employs his inimitable draughtsmanship to stunning purpose, poking a paintbrush in the eye of our political leaders, and twisting the palette knife to rib-tickling effect.

Despite staring at the famous Leonardo da Vinci cartoon for hours Dave Brown could never quite get the joke. In fact none of the Old Masters seemed very funny, perhaps their humour, like some of the finer details, had become obscured by the ravages of time. He decided some ‘restoration’ was in order. Just a contemporary face here, a speech bubble there; but the National Gallery seemed unwilling to let him and his brushes loose on their canvasses. So he set about redrawing them from scratch. The result is his long running series Rogues’ Gallery, which appears in The Independent every Saturday.

Here all the hot topics of the day - global conflict, world economic recession, the Coalition government’s cuts - are seen through the eyes of Rembrandt, Titian, Michelangelo, Van Gogh and a host of others.

FLIP THE SCRIPT : A Photographer’s Musical Diary

Monday 9 to 28 May 2011

Kingsley Davis trained as a fine artist at the University of Westminster and Central Saint Martin's School of Art in London where he studied Illustration and explored many areas of visual communication.

Kingsley's two main passions and inspirations are people and music which has led to creating images in various media for exhibitions, commercial and personal work. 

His creative background has extended into traditional and digital photography, allowing the opportunity to capture images spontaneously, then manipulate them to achieve a desired effect.

Kingsley’s first self-published venture ‘Flip the Script, a photographer’s music diary’, published in conjunction with his first solo exhibition at WRF, is a collection of images, quotes and thoughts from, amongst others: Roisin Murphy, Estelle, Omar, Jamiroquai,  Soil & “Pimp” Sessions, De Tropix, N'Dea Davenport, Jonzi D, Erykah Badu, John Legend, Q-Tip, KRS-One, Taylor McFerrin, Afronaught, Kaidi Tatham, IG, Flying Lotus, Lil Louis, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, TY, Wiley, Bashy, Ms Dynamite, Gilles Peterson, Norman & Joey Jay, Pharrell Williams and many more...

Islamic Culture Exhibition

Wednesday 4 to Saturday 7 May 2011

An exhibition curated by Discover Islam (www.discoverislam.co.uk), a London-based educational organisation with the aim to introduce Islam to non-muslims and to promote better understanding of Islam in the community.

Learn more about Islam with Oxford Islamic Studies Online.

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M40 : Work by Michal Tkachenko

From Thursday 14 April to 3 May 2011-04-06

Opening Reception Tuesday 19 April 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Michal Tkachenko is a Canadian visual artist. Based in London Michal received her MA Fine Arts from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Her work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States, Africa and Europe and can be found in a number of collections including Ernst & Young (UK) and The Artists' Special Book Collection at Chelsea College Library in London (UK).

Primarily a painter, past work looks at gluttony and food's relationship to family, community and social pecking order. Michal recently finished re-looking, reflecting and mapping her face, misaligned through a life-threatening accident years ago. Recently returned from living in Africa for a year (Malawi, Liberia, and Morocco) she spent her time documenting the effects of a 14-year civil war through a series of portraits.

Clive Jackson : Paintings

Monday 14 March to 2 April  2011

These new paintings by British artist Clive Jackson appear to reflect a distant past in the history of landscape art yet at the same time they are very much centred in the present moment where the reference is to one’s inner being. One does not only see a pictorial description but also a sense of the artist’s imagination.

Oblivion: New paintings and video work by John Vincent

1 - 21 February 2011

The work in this exhibition is a mixture of the new and the forgotten. Some of the work spans the last 10 years or so with fragments collected and reanimated culminating in a visually arresting set of images that explore the dark side of human nature. Set against a backdrop of war, economic crisis, power and the ubiquitous office space, epic events and the mundane sit side by side, expressed through a dark comedy of characters and situations teetering on the edge of oblivion.

Clementine McGaw - first solo exhibition:

"Human Suffering through Conflict"

10 - 29 January 2011

Clementine McGaw was born in London in 1988 and graduated from Central St Martin's in 2010. Shortly afterwards she won the 'Best Emerging fine Artists' award 2010/11. She lives and works in South East London.

The paintings in this exhibition are influenced by atrocities around the world, in particular war, torture and genocide.  The images pare down the subject of war to a human level where the suffering is personal and unique.  She explores pain in a refreshingly frank, raw yet human way.

Read more on Books & the City.

Sonia Martin - Recent work

24 November 2010 to 7 January 2011

A selection of paintings, prints and drawings by London based artist Sonia Martin. Interior worlds of emotion, thoughts and memories combine with exterior reality, blurring the boundaries between inner and outer experience.

Website: www.soniamartin.co.uk

Cross-Arts and Cross-London present:

Rainbow Colours of 'Same-Sex Kiss' To Brighten London’s Annual Gay Art Festival Special exhibition

8 - 20 November 2010

GFEST – Gaywise FESTival, 'London's LGBT and queer cross - art festival for all', has announced an exciting and ambitious 2010 programme. The festival will take place across London in prestigious venues including The National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Rich Mix, and Cochrane Theatre.

‘Same-Sex Kiss’ is a special visual art exhibition based on an installation in Trafalgar Square by multimedia artist, film-maker and GFEST artistic director Niranjan Kamatkar. The festival visual arts programme can be found on GFEST website:

www.gaywisefestival.org.uk/artsexhibition.php

Body Politic : A Political-Art Exhibition by sculptor Shelley Wilson

12 – 6 November 2010

As an artist Shelley Wilson feels that it is important to mark the historic occasion that an unprecedented 147 MPs stepped down or retired before the 2010 General Election. Documenting what she believes heralds a fundamental change within the British political system, she has created a 3D installation entitled Body Politic to celebrate the careers and achievements of this unique group of MPs against the backdrop of the expenses scandal and the Chilcot enquiry.

Read more and view videos on Books & the City.

Body Politic’s installation consists of 147 ceramic busts of the Members who left Parliament in 2010. Each of these MPs was invited to take part in the project. Those who accepted the invitation include many former cabinet ministers, deputy speakers and chief whips. All who accepted are represented by sketch busts which Wilson modelled from 3D photographs which she herself took. Some MPs who made major contributions to Parliamentary or national debate sat for more detailed busts. Those MPs who declined the invitation are also represented in the installation, but in a more symbolic fashion.

Body Politic includes written statements penned by the Members themselves alongside their curriculum vitae. The subjects of the statements are varied.

Shelley Wilson is a sculptor and photographer. She is particularly interested in how society’s view of politicians changes. Body Politic is her first political/art project. Her previous collaborative partnerships have been with scientists with topics ranging from Anorexia Nervosa to Conjoined Twins. Working from life, Wilson often manipulates her finished sculptures using photography and dissection in order to reveal how complexities of the mind and body interact.

Website: www.shelleywilson.co.uk

As a Wish, As a Dream - An Exhibition of paintings by Dajiang Kong

6 - 18 September 2010

Dajiang Kong’s paintings combine feeling, intuition and imagination to interpret reality.  His dreamy and poetic images attempt to establish a connection between humankind and nature.

He says: “I try to put my feelings into my paintings.  To share the Love from Heaven with everybody, regardless of method and techniques used.  Just follow the feeling to express a thankful heart."

The Heart of the Race: oral histories of the Black Women’s Movement

20 - 30 September 2010

An exhibition exploring the campaigns and successes of the Black Women’s Movement in the 1970s and 1980s.

Based on the Black Cultural Archives’ ground breaking oral history project, the exhibition documents the often hidden history of grassroots activists and campaigners in their own words.

There will be an exhibition launch on Thursday 23 September from 7.00pm to 9.00pm.

To book a place for the exhibition launch, telephone 020 7641 5250 or email: referencelibrarywc2@westminster.gov.uk

 More of these exhibitions are listed in the events archive