Exhibitions at Westminster Reference Library
Exhibition Space for hire
has an Exhibition Space on its First Floor. This space is available for hire, for further information please contact Rossella Black:
Westminster Reference Library
- Email: rblack1@westminster.gov.uk
- Phone: 020 7641 5250
- Text/mobile: 07940 146681
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All exhibitions are completely FREE to view.
Current exhibition
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.
Future exhibitions
Walking Drawings: The first showing of real-time walking drawings by Foster Spragge
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From Monday 28 May to Saturday 2 June
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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.
"Whilst exploring the City of London I began to walk and draw. To start each drawing, the paper was folded so that only part of it could be seen at one time. for each step a pencil mark was made and for each turn I took the paper was turned as well. I didn't unfold the paper or look at the complete drawing until the walks were finished."
Foster Spragge
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 4 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."
Previous exhibitions
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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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.
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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
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Monday 21 to Wednesday 30 November 2011
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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.
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
Three years in the life of artist Mary Thomas. This exhibition is a reflective glimpse into the visual everyday world she inhabits.
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
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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.
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
Give and Let Live
An exhibition of photographs by Holly Cocker
16 to 28 August 2010 - extended to 2 Sept
Give and Let Live explores the relationship between kidney donors and their recipients and the bond they have.
Holly Cocker bought her first camera aged 10 for a school trip to Paris and became addicted to capturing life in pictures.
Specialising in portraits, editorial and documentary, Holly shoots both film and digital and is based in London.
“I received a kidney from a very kind friend in October 2008. After 5 years on dialysis his selfless act has totally changed my life. “
Holly Cocker
'Performance 1980’ Tomas Georgeson exhibiting
31 July to 14 August
Tomas Georgeson exhibits his new series of paintings influenced by the controversial Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch at Westminster Reference Library as well as two paintings of his uncle, actor Tom Georgeson, which will form the centrepiece of the show.
His uncle has appeared in numerous television productions and films, as well as stage work and has greatly influenced his nephew as an artist.
Tomas’s classic style oil paintings have a twist of modern elements, documenting performance and installation art, manipulating traditions and exposing weaknesses. As memories of the live events fade their significance begins to change until all that is left is a painting, perfect in its antiquity, like the centuries of paintings before it.
Blood, nudity, lighting effects, ultramarine blue, masks, written text and heroic failure all take on ancient significance in painting by default, without the need for irony or cooked up arbitrary mythology.
Georgeson has frequently exhibited in London since his graduation from Central St Martin's in 2006, most notably with 'Contemporary Art Projects' and recently shortlisted for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize.
He was the Royal Society of British Artists' Rome scholar in 2005 and continues to build his reputation as 'One of the most exciting emergent painters in Europe' - Nice Magazine, March 2009.
More of these exhibitions are listed in the events archive
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