Space In Between

Space In Between (SIB) are a curatorial collective, composed of Hannah Hooks, Laura McFarlane and Ida Champion. Having known each other since their school days, this trio set up SIB in January 2009 as a platform for emerging artists to exhibit their work. Hannah was living in what was a Victorian factory in Lower Clapton and within a month they had self-built a pristine and white exhibition space. The gallery was co-joined to a domestic setting, with the concept being to bring art and dining together and to this end they held successful dinner parties within the space for the artists in the shows. They had three shows in this space before they had to vacate the building. It is from this point that the group started to scout around for interesting disused buildings that they could use for temporary, pop-up exhibitions.

The first space they used was 90 De Beauvoir Road for the exhibition ‘My Kingdom’ in early December 2009. Their curation had to adapt to this new model of exhibiting; their choice of artists became more specific at this point as the work had to be able to respond and form a strong relationship with a given space. Luke Montgomery’s work in ‘My Kingdom’, for example, utilized the unusual situation he encountered of holes in the space floor. He created an underwater system that made fountains up through these holes in the floorboards - up into the exhibiting space and back down below in an ongoing cycle. SIB found this new element of the curatorial process exciting and challenging and the concept became a gallery space for both themselves and for the artists to develop and test new ideas.

Space In Between are a success of the Camden Council’s Pop-Up Shop and regeneration scheme. Their first application was approved just before Christmas 2009, and they were offered the opportunity to exhibit in a disused shop space on Clerkenwell Road in January. The exhibition was ‘Buckminsterfullerene Dream’ and showed the work of Becky Bolton, Louise Chappell, Ben Jeans Houghton and Matt Giraudeau. SIB always have potential shows in mind, and are always on the look out for new spaces to accommodate them. Very recently they hosted ‘Rubber Line’, an exhibition of new work by Nick Roberts and Neil Porter. This again was a space offered to the group by Camden Council.

SIB are a brilliant example of putting ideas into reality. This entire process all started very much as a scattering of abstract ideas that they bravely put in to practice. They started, as most do, exhibiting the work of their peers, with the expectation they would continue to work with a small group of artists, but this has become an ever-growing group. With each exhibition they have learnt what works, and how they envisage the initiative’s continuation. At the moment they are focusing on working with emerging artists, as that is where the focus of their ethos lies. They deliberately collaborate with artists whose work is open to the responsive nature of the unusual exhibition spaces that SIB have to offer.

Hannah, Laura and Ida are very aware that SIB only happens as a team. They know each other’s strengths and have found a working relationship between the three of them that is productive and successful. There is a huge sense of passion and commitment from the team to their work. For the first few exhibitions, Laura was living in Newcastle and commuting up and down the country to work on the exhibitions with Hannah and Ida in London.

There is already plenty in the pipeline for SIB in 2010. Their next exhibition opens later this month, and is being held in an underground, disused air raid shelter in Dalston. Damp, dark and dingy, they are focusing on artists who use light in their work. It is going to be a hugely exciting exhibition space, with all the artists making new work specifically for this show.

For July, the focus shifts slightly to a very exciting new stage in the SIB process – they are opening up their second permanent space in Regent Studios, alongside MOT and Transition Gallery. This branch of the SIB enterprise will give their artists a place to make site specific work in-house, as well as providing another avenue for exhibiting. By having a permanent project space running simultaneously to their off-site projects, SIB can now offer artists the best of both worlds. The artist Maurizio Anzei was the winner of the Vauxhall Collective this year, and Idea Generation have already approached SIB to exhibit his commission in the new space as the first show.

The future for Space In Between, whist ever evolving, is to have a permanent gallery that holds on to the fresh and adaptive approach that they have built so far. It is interesting, that despite not currently having a permanent space, SIB have a very strong identity. Perhaps this is created through the voices of the three curators, and the natural progression the name has gone through. By not having a space, the public does not associate SIB with a location, but with a strong idea that is ever changing and is not defined by an environment. SIB is about taking an abstract idea, and going ahead with it. This is at the heart of Space In Between – whose name describes that space that is never fixed.


Space In Between

Next exhibition: Where Beats This Human Heart
Private View: 18 June, 6-9pm
Exhibition runs: 19 – 23 June2010

the two Jonnys' Project Space

Unsurprisingly, the two Jonnys, is run by two guys called... Jonny Aldous and Jonny JJ Winter. The two Jonnys’ project space sits within the larger initiative set up by the Jonnys: JJ&J HQ Studios in Bethnal green, which consists of seventeen artists’ studios, the Publish & Be Damned Library, the project space and the modest table tennis arena.

The two Jonnys' project space began in May 2009 with a group show, starting the 2010 program the same way this January, although their normal program is based on a series of solo projects. The two Jonnys invite artists to work on a project creating new work for the space, selecting the artists solely through the quality of, and interest they hold, in their work. Beyond this the artists have free reign to produce and show what they please.

The two Jonnys are realistic in admitting that they cannot offer everyone they want to work with a month long show, and so are always trying to think of different ways of working with artists other than by way of a gallery show: commissions, residencies, events… a lot of imagination goes in to the project space. An example of this is their 2010 web project, WACKY BACKY. This idea sprang from the wish to play around with their basic website, as they realised this was an untapped area to utilise. For each month this year, they have asked an artist to create an alternative background for the site. They originally thought this would just be a simple to administer, fun idea, but the artists involved have become increasingly engaged with this web-based process with increasingly bold results. Another example of inviting artists to make work outside of exhibiting, is when they commission the exhibiting artist to invite someone else to create a 2D work/edition to act in place of a flyer for their project - seeing gallery chores as an opportunity to work with someone new, on something new.

There is a swift turnaround of exhibitions at the space to keep things interesting, with the longest lasting five weeks. Rather than decide the entire programme for 2010 at the beginning of the year, the two Jonnys work the year in blocks, so as to be open to any opportunities that inevitably pop up. When they first moved in to the building they worked to their initial one year lease, and so tried to squeeze as much out of their time there as they could, and so from May 2009 to December there was an intense program of ten projects, with a couple of micro-residencies in between. But after a year they are still in the building and hoping to enjoy calming down the pace of the program through 2011.

The next project is by Adam Latham. Latham is interested in collaboration, and so on the opening evening of the exhibition (Friday 11th June), there will be a performance from his performance group The Skinjobs, plus others and a jazz band, all performing in the middle of a group show selected by Latham set amongst a new installation/environment created especially for the show. Following on from Latham will be the work of Alice Walton in July, who creates plinth like structures and 2D collages. This aesthetic sculpture show will be a strong contrast to Latham’s noisy mess, and shows the exploratory, and open nature of the two Jonnys’ programme.

The two Jonnys are also taking things outside London, having been asked to hold an event at Central Reservation in Bristol. Central Reservation is a temporary project space, based for four months in a disused motorcycle warehouse. The two Jonnys are excited to have been asked to participate, and are holding a one day event where they have asked both artists they have worked with before, and ones they are working with in the future to redesign the social framework of the two Jonnys’. These designs will then be executed by the Jonnys in Bristol in the 3 days prior to the event, creating a social structure that they can then leave behind.

The two Jonnys is currently in the strong position of being self-sufficient. By not having to rely on funding, they find themselves wanting to be more ambitious, and always questioning what is the next level? They find that as long as this level of enjoyment and excitement continues, the two Jonnys will too.

the two Jonnys'

Dilston Grove Relaunch

The Dilston Grove space reopens on Thursday after a two year renovation project. I met up with David Allen, one of the artists who runs CGP London and Dilston Grove to have a sneak preview of the space and talk to him about the programme for 2010.

We met at CGP before walking over to Dilston Grove, which seemed fitting as this is the site where it all started. In 1984 the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, fed up with submitting work for exhibitions with open submissions, decided to host their own group exhibition. All with studios in South London, they started scouting around for a space to exhibit and put their hopes on the derelict café next to the lido in Southwark Park. A concrete wreck, the council were happy for them to use it as long as they did it up themselves. After exhibiting in the space for several years, they eventually knocked it down to rebuild what is a pristine, white walled gallery, and so twenty six years on, they are still there. It was during the two years of rebuilding CGP that the Bermondsey group nosed about for another temporary space to use; their gaze rested merely minutes away, on the disused Clare College Mission Church on Dilston Grove.

Except for a brief year when Richard Wentworth used the space as a studio, the church had been derelict since the sixties. First up was a group show, with some big names involved, which put Dilston Grove firmly on the map. From this starting point came other exciting exhibitions such as Ackroyd & Harvey, who grew grass up the interior wall space of the building. Following this was Michael Cross’ Bridge, where the space was flooded and the public had to walk across stepping stones that rose up out of the water as you made your way across. David tells the tale when one art critic fell in to the dark murky water in their new Diesel jeans! I could go on about all the fantastic exhibitions this initially temporary space held, but it is the renovation that I went to find out about.

Whilst David took me over to the site, he explained the changes that have been made to the space and their intentions with these. The rebuild of CGP created a stark, white gallery environment, whereas the concept for Dilston Grove couldn’t be more different. Those who loved the raw, disused quality of the space before can rest assured that the renovators felt the same, and so have gone out of their way to make sure it maintains this raw edge.

Dilston Grove is a listed building, for the wonderful reason that it is a very early example of poured concrete. And so not only did the project need an architect, it also needed a heritage architect – so this is very much a collaboration between the history of the building, and its new function. David points out that the main problem was the roof. Before the renovation they would have to get the buckets out if it looked like it was going to rain. The first chunk of the funding therefore went towards restoring the roof – using as many of the old slates as could be reasonably rescued to keep the look of the place as it had been beforehand.

Those who visited Dilston Grove before its makeover will remember having to scramble round the back of the building by the neighbours’ gardens to get to the entrance. The building is much more accessible now, with disabled access and a reception area, (that had been the blacked-out side room, used for showing films). Now don’t be alarmed, this reception is out to trick you. As you enter through the enormous glass walled entrance and find yourself in a perfectly white plastered room, with under-floor heating and varnished floorboards, your heart may sink – but fret not, they haven’t transformed Dilston Grove in to a modernised white cube. A large unobtrusive heavy door to the right will automatically open for you, inviting you ethereally in to the original space.

A wonderful surprise is how best I would describe this entrance; the Dilston Grove church is undeniably impressive. Large cracks in the walls, old white peeling paint, battered windows, dusty floorboards all within a vast open space - and it is beautiful. There is character good enough to charm the most OCD of gallery-goers. David rushes me round in enthusiasm. All the floorboards have been taken up, the new electrics put in, and the old floorboards put back down – every detail in this renovation has been sensitive to the original personality of this building. With the exception of some very discreet bars to light the roof if needed, there is no gallery lighting as the space will rely on the natural light. The nave is still raised and the balcony above it watches over the builders scaffolding.

The relaunch of Dilston Grove will open with the exhibition, Mémoire by Congolese artist, Sammy Baloji. Photographs documenting the exact place of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination in January 1961 will be projected. Whilst down by the nave, the abstract video, Mémoire wil be shown, which was shot in collaboration with the Congolese performance artist Faustin Linyekula. This building is very apt for the film; shot in derelict Congolese factories and now shown in this once derelict building.

David explains that Dilston Grove will hold three shows a year, but hopes that this will expand if they manage to secure more funding. The exhibitions will focus on work that is site specific; work that plays off the environment of this building and works at its best within it. In between exhibitions, the space will be used to hold artist performances, and considering the dramatic size and atmosphere of Dilston Grove, I think it will lend itself naturally to this.

So on Thursday there is one place I know I will be, and I would recommend you all make your way to. The inspiring and exciting exhibitions Dilston Grove hosted previously to its renovation, can only promise great things for 2010.

CGP & Dilston Grove

Preview and Relaunch: 27 May 2010, 6.30-8.30pm
Exhibition: 2 June – 4 July 2010

The Pigeon Wing

The Pigeon Wing is a gallery space in Deptford, run by three graduates from the St Martins’ Fine Art course. Alastair T. Willey, Isobel Shirley and Sarah Jury opened the space sixteen months ago. I went along to have a look round the gallery and meet the curators.

Just a few minutes from South Bermondsey station, this warehouse building is on the opposite end of town from the usual east end scene. Whilst being mauled by the gallery cat, I sat down with Alastair and Sarah (Isabel being in New York), to discuss the beginnings of the gallery. Alastair and Sarah explained the difficulty in finding studios after they graduated from St Martins in 2008. They wanted to find a location where they would be free to do what they wanted with the space, that was a good size to hold a gallery as well as their studios, and that wasn’t over budget.

‘We saw some really expensive disastrous studio spaces up in Hackney, that kind of made you want to cry when you heard the price. One was about £900 a month – and then we’d still have to get other people in as well to be able to pay that price. That’s a problem, by the time you’ve got it so that you can actually live there, you’ve got a gallery space the size of this table.’

This is a problem that I’m sure many reading this will either have experienced, or appreciate. Sarah agreed with Alastair, ‘It’s difficult to have an open space that’s not going to take all your money away.’ But the trio struck gold with this building – waiting to be renovated into flats, the landlord was happy for them to have it at a reasonable rent if they cleared the top floor… this leads us on to the title of the gallery – The Pigeon Wing. I think you can imagine without me having to create the picture for you, what exactly it was that needed clearing up! With that said, the space was transformed and now offers exhibitors a fantastic large, open and light area.

Once in the building, they did not waste much time getting started. When the worst was cleared up, they started with some film screenings and weekly crits, ‘We opened in the winter! That’s how keen we were to do things – we thought we could do it through the winter – we tried, and we did it, but everyone was all wrapped up in coats.’ They then found a rather unusual way to give themselves a nudge on starting the exhibition programme:

‘To make ourselves do it we created this weird situation, where we had a dinner party – we said everyone who comes, has to be in this exhibition, and during the dinner party everyone is going to write down a name for an exhibition and we’ll put them in a hat and pick out the title for the show during the meal – which we did, which wasn’t the deepest concept – but it was more to make us do it. And we got The Reasoning Show.’

The curators invite people to exhibit in the space, accept proposals and have begun to collaborate with other groups and spaces.

‘When we started, obviously because we studied fine art in London we know a lot of the young artists here, we do show our friends, or friends of friends – but then it’s difficult in London to find someone who isn’t a friend of someone. We generally have an interest in the people that are dealing with the same things as us, so who have just graduated and lacking the opportunities to show work. After graduating I saw a lot of great artists struggling to find a platform to get discussions going over their work. I also saw that artists whose work did not fit to someone's living room were particularly under represented and in reaction to that, it is these projects that we tend to work with. We also want to give the public the opportunity to see works that are otherwise under represented by existing institutions and commercial spaces.’

However, it is not just the London graduates of 2008 that have worked with The Pigeon Wing; the curators have also approached international artists. Despite occasionally working with their peers, Sarah does admit that, ‘there’s a few spaces doing that, and it can become a bit of a fish bowl; so we like to bring in new faces to this, and this is why our international artists are important.’ One of the first exhibitions at the gallery showed work from Chicago based artists:

‘One of the first things we did was go to NEXT Art Fair with a project that Alastair was working on before we moved here. We met a lot of artists when we were out there – we rallied up an intern squad of about 15! – who really helped us out whilst we were out there.’

The Pigeon Wing also holds two studio residencies each year that concludes with an event or exhibition. Last year they invited two groups of artists from Chicago. The residencies give The Pigeon Wing more opportunity to work with international artists, to broaden both their and the artists’ horizons.

‘We give over the space to a couple of artists to create new work in, and at the end of three weeks we clear out the studio with them and hang their newly made work as an exhibition. We are open to any use of the space during these residencies, but that is how it has happened so far. The outcome is a really fresh and exciting show for the artists. The artists are in a new city/country, making work that is heading straight to a new audience. Knowing that, the residency artists really have a brilliant drive to get working in the studio, which is great.’

The current exhibition, 'The decade 2010-20'. The museum as hostage to fortune. is a collaboration with the Birmingham zine, An Endless Supply. This is just the sort of project The Pigeon Wing want to continue,

‘… this is the kind of collaboration we’re interested in - an of exchange of the space with a group that don’t have a space. So we’re really excited about working with other interesting groups and collectives, and the exhibition at the agency has meant that we met some really good people as well, so collaborating is always good.’

The exhibition agency at The Agency sees The Pigeon Wing collaborate with norn projects and MicroPerformance. This is on till the 16th May, which sees a live link from the current show at The Pigeon Wing to the agency show, to explore the idea of being self-reflective – a concept The Pigeon Wing are very interested in and continue to explore.

Their next show opens at the end of June, curated by Sarah and Fabien Tabibian. This exhibition will use films and video work that use samples, and similarly some sculptural works which also use pre-developed objects – so found objects, but more modern materials. Currently confirmed to be exhibiting in this are Stuart Morris and Justin Berry.

Although the long term plans for The Pigeon Wing in this actual building are unpredictable, in that the building will eventually be turned into flats, these curators see this as a long term initiative. Sarah explained that,

‘…until then, it is an amazing opportunity, that we’ll make the most out of. We’re working on getting funding, and that’s looking more positive the longer we carry on – so we hope to keep this going even when we do have to leave the space.’

The Pigeon Wing

Elena Bajo lives and works in New York and Berlin and has spent the last two months as artist in residence at The Woodmill leading up to her first UK solo exhibition, opening at the gallery next week.

As Elena’s work is site-specific, she is used to having to work fast to a very tight time frame. Although unusually for her, she has had two months to prepare at The Woodmill, but she sees this as a positive, if unfamiliar, opportunity. This has given her time to research the history of the building; the findings of this research are central to her work. Elena is not intimidated by scale, having made pieces for outdoors before, such as a 70 metres long x 4 m high sculpture, 'Silent', a sound barrier made out of concrete, steel and plexiglass, recontextualized and placed in the urban context of Madrid, it was awarded the Madrid Abierto Public Art Award, in collaboration with Warren Neidich, Madrid 2004. But The Woodmill gallery space is vast, being the biggest indoor space she has shown in, and so this extra time to adapt her work to it has been appreciated.

Elena received an MA in Fine Art from Central St Martins, but previous to this studied Architecture MA in Spain. Elena decided to study architecture as although she had a strong background in performance art, she sensed that she wanted to find out more about space, and answer the question in her head, ‘what is a space?’ For her, this architecture degree was very much theoretical and she learnt a lot about approaching a subject from a wider perspective. She found that all points of creative interest converged on this course – it is a field in which everything is imbedded. She now finds that she processes information in terms of drawings and plans – which no doubt has influenced her interest in the function and history of the buildings in which she exhibits, often looking at architectural plans.

Elena’s work is very much all encompassing to the space she is working in, using the gallery as a studio and incorporating found objects from the space to create her installations. This way of working inevitably develops a very physical relationship between the artist and the environment. Within her practice she examines the social and political dimensions of everyday spaces. She has found that The Woodmill building has always previously been government owned, and it is these situations of power that she is interested in. Whilst exploring the building, Elena also discovered that it had been used as a bunker during the Cold War, and this bunker still remains beneath the building. Without any access, she asked permission from the local council, but was denied; so despite this building now being used by artists, it is still difficult to function separately from this history of government ownership.

Elena’s work takes on a wide range of forms of expression; exploring performance, installation, sculpture, painting, film, text, writing and participatory events. Her exhibition at The Woodmill will be no exception to this. There will be an ongoing performance throughout the opening evening and exhibition dates. She says we should expect everything from the list to be present in the show.

It was the unique environment and situation at The Woodmill that encouraged Elena to come to London for her residency. She explains how she was fascinated by the concept of a large group of artists occupying a building that would be demolished afterwards, making it entirely a space for these artists to use for their needs. Whilst working in the building, she has enjoyed working alongside others rather than on her own, having the opportunity to communicate ideas and concepts and share ways of working.

Following on from the exhibition opening on Wednesday, there will be several events and activities linked to the exhibition held on the weekend of the 8th May. During this weekend there will be a discussion between Elena Bajo and Tom Trevatt, a series of film screenings, including Guy Debord’s La Société du spectacle (Society of the Spectacle) 1973, and films relevant to the local area such as a Paul Neville’s movie Bermondsey in 1969, and a tour of the area with a local historian. Other events during the exhibiton include a poetry presentation by Barry Schwabsky, reading about his 'Abandoned Poems', work that shares a commonality with Elena’s work in the sense of using 'rejected, abandoned, refused or disused materials'.

For the duration of the exhibition Elena is doing a collaboration Project with P.A.S.T Projects, Paul Sammut and Alexandra Terry. This Project will reactivate the space that they P.A.S.T Projects occupy in The Woodmill building, which was the mail room for the office building. They have invited artists, curators, writers, musicians to contribute to the project by sending them letters by Post, which will then be displayed in the space.

After The Woodmill, Elena has plenty coming up, with a group outdoor show at Sølyst, Copenhagen, Umberto di Marino Gallery in Naples, Thirty Six Dramatic Situations, at LOUIS V. E.S.P., New York and a performance at Torrance Art Museum, LA.


Elena Bajo / The Woodmill / P.A.S.T Projects’ blog

Private View: Wednesday 21 April, 7 – 9.30pm

Thursday to Sunday, 12 – 6pm
21 April – 23 May 2010

JaffaCakes TLV

It seems surprising that there are still areas within the art world that remain untouched, and barriers that remain unchallenged. Israeli art comes in to this - Tel Aviv, despite having a booming tourist industry and attracting visitors for its diverse city life, has an art scene that is yet almost unrecognised. JaffaCakes TLV is a new exhibition in London that is going to start making a few changes as it holds the first group show of Contemporary Tel Aviv Art in the UK, and it opens this week in Hoxton.

It was during Frieze week last year, that the three curators: Yasmine Datnow, Maia Mogensztern and Lara Wolfe started dabbling with the idea of JaffaCakes TLV. Frieze highlighted the problem for them, that there was so little knowledge of Tel Aviv artists despite the US interest in the last couple of years, there is still a very long way to go. This idea started as a small exhibition proposal they expected to turn around in three months and show in a flat. They had no idea of the enormous interest the idea would attract. The support received has taken this idea off the ground, and after nine months of organizing, the exhibition is taking place in a Hoxton gallery as a pop up show with a catalogue.

The starting idea was very abstract – part of the problem for Tel Aviv artists is the lack of access to information, with very little having been written about the art scene and the texts that there are being written in Hebrew. The curators had to do a lot of their own work when researching artists – life was nothing like as simple as picking up a catalogue and flicking through. The publication that will be printed alongside JaffaCakes TLV will therefore act as a resource in English for the future.

The curators are very aware of the big responsibility they have taken on with this exhibition. However, they also recognize that as long as they do the artists justice in the curation, the work will speak for itself. They took three months to research artists, in search of those who are relevant to the now. Most of the artists do not currently have gallery representation, and so this exhibition is really exposing the Tel Aviv art scene right now at this moment in time. By taking the work of these artists out of Tel Aviv and to the UK, they are opening up this art scene to a wider audience, but as a result also taking the focus back to Tel Aviv.

When people consider Israeli art, it is probably inevitable that the majority will decide that the work will be political. Undoubtedly, the political life these artists have grown up in will effect the way they consider themselves and their surroundings, but the new generation is interested in expressing something other than solely politics, the work of these artists is more dimensional.

The exhibition title, JaffaCakes TLV? - Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world and yet, is now at the centre of Israel’s fringe culture – this contradiction suggests the playful nature of Tel Aviv.

The curation of this exhibition was inspired by Etgar Keret – a renowned short story writer and Camera D’Or winner. Keret’s short stories are set in the heart of Tel Aviv – within the streets and lives of ordinary people; throwing this familiarity in to question with moments of irregularity. It is this feeling of Keret’s that the artists in JaffaCakes TLV explore and his unpublished short story, ‘What of this Goldfish would you Wish?’ will be published in English especially for the Jaffa Cakes catalogue, with a short film shown in the exhibition as well.

The JaffaCakes TLV artists are exciting and will undoubtedly catch attention. One to watch; Know Hope. One of the younger artists of the group at 23, this street artist is interested in interventions in the street and site-specific installations in the gallery. Know Hope places cardboard cutouts in urban environments that play with the idea and performance of giving. This artist is not currently represented by a gallery, but the attention around him is growing and there is a definite buzz about his work.

It is clear a lot of work and enthusiasm has gone in to this exhibition, and it is all pointing in the right direction that it will succeed in what it has set out to do. It opens this week with its preview on Thursday evening; you heard about it on Art Licks, but now go see it in Hoxton.


Artists: Maya Attoun, Michal Helfman, Nogah Engler, Know Hope, Yochai Matos, Naama Tsabar and Mika Rottenberg

Jaffa Cakes Website


Preview: 15 April, 6-8pm

Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-6pm, or by appointment
16 April –15 May 2010

Image: Know Hope, Protecring Ourselves From The Times With The Times.

The Sunday Painter

The Sunday Painter has gained substantial success holding exhibitions in unusual places, and now they are opening their own gallery in a permanent space in Peckham. I visited The Sunday Painter to have a nose-about the new building and talk to them about their intentions for the gallery.

The Sunday Painter was formed in 2008 by recent graduates Tom McParland, Will Jarvis and Harry Scoging Beer. Considering its traditionaI definition, I was curious to find out how they had settled on their name, but they explained:

“It's usually used in a fairly negative sense towards hobbyists or unschooled artists but it doesn't hold that association for us now. Whilst in our final year of our degree we were accused of coming across as Sunday Painter's due to an apparent slack approach towards a certain project - this was just before we'd actually formed the idea of the gallery, but it was that remark that gave us the impetus to do something to almost prove him/her wrong. We chose the name as a little dig at the person who originally labeled us so - I think he found it funny...”

The first Sunday Painter exhibition was held in a dilapidated function room of a South London pub. Although this was a good starting point for The Sunday Painter, it was restrictive in terms of access and time. However, Hannah Barry took a great interest in the exhibitions they were producing, and invited them to collaborate last summer at Bold Tendencies III. This collaboration was a brilliant opportunity for The Sunday Painter to experience exhibiting in another unexpected location and to put themselves firmly on the art-map.

During these last two years, The Sunday Painter was always aiming towards having their own permanent gallery space, and last summer they started looking for a place that would give them freedom and independence to curate the exhibitions they want to show. They signed the lease in February and are opening in May – ambition is not a problem with this gallery. It is perhaps unsurprising that the space is in Peckham;

“This is where we've been working for the past 3 or 4 years - we lived and studied in Peckham and it just made sense for us to locate the gallery here. It's not something we feel the need to overstate or dwell upon. I think there are expectations as to what is going to happen here in the future, but that's not something we need to concern ourselves with at the moment.”

The program will focus on exhibiting the work of emerging artists, and the inaugural exhibition will be of new work from artist Stuart Middleton. Being set up as a non-profit gallery, the interest for The Sunday Painter is not to find the ‘hottest up and coming artist’ to then make a profit out of. This gallery is going to show strong and interesting exhibitions with artists they like and that people will get something out of seeing; there is no secret agenda.

“It's been almost 9 months since we started searching for the perfect property, and during that we spent a lot of time looking at some really interesting young (and old) artists and thinking long and hard about what it is we want to do with this gallery - that was a really informative time.”

There will be events running alongside the exhibitions – such as weekly crit. groups and artists’ talks. It would be conceited for this gallery to exist amongst such a character-charged area and not interact with this environment, but The Sunday Painter plan to run an educational program and work on projects with local schools and residents.

With the amount of work they have already done transforming this space, I feel I can say with confidence that the result of these efforts will be a fantastic new gallery and strong addition to the current Peckham art scene. But the completion of building heralds only the beginnings of the program ahead. As The Sunday Painter eloquently conclude:

“It's going to be such a privilege to be in a position to have complete control over the gallery space and the surrounding areas of the building - previous projects haven't allowed us this privilege - it just means we can offer so much more time to the installation of our exhibitions, and we can accommodate some really exciting changes to the actual fabric of the building. We have our studios too that run alongside the gallery space, and its going to be great to be working amongst some brilliant young artists, I hope it will benefit everyone who is here.”


The Sunday Painter