One review, By EL
There were a few last minute hanging choices, clashes at the cash n carry and significant lack of walls, but by 6pm we were pretty much all set for the show (bar some major lighting, but who turns up at 6 anyway..?)
The turn out was amazing, from the beginning I had a few people approach me and said they'd seen our website advertised and came purposefully to see it, which was probably the biggest compliment considering the sheer amount available at any First Thursday in East London.
On top of that was the hoards of familiar faces, so many unexpected friends from Brighton, or across London (even my Dad who just landed at Heathrow an hour before) and so to say I was overwhelmed with the level of support would be an understatement.
Most importantly the work was amazing, Ben, your print was so powerful, I thought it was really interesting how you still manage to make something so very 'Ben' which previously has involved dancing in a zebra print onesie and slapping around a fish in paint to strobe lights or building a set to some volcanic alien landscape (type thing?!) yet this time you maintained that volume with a 2-d image. Impressive.
Dave, I am sorry that we ended up hanging some drawings the wrong way round.. but I think that initiated many an interesting discussion as to the ownership of artwork. should the work always be the way the artist intended, or does the artist pass on ownership, and with that the ability to do with it what one wants as soon as it is in the hands of the curator/ audience/ public. Maybe by letting people who were totally uninvolved or uninformed of the creation of those drawings hang them helped show you more directly the way that the public views your work? Or maybe it was just really annoying, and you spent the whole time wanting to turn them the right way round.
Either way I thought they looked like a really strong set, and stood really nicely in between Nick and Ben's works.
Georgie, your work was perhaps the biggest change since university, but what you don't get from reproduction (in the photographs before that I saw) that you do get in reality, is the confidence of stroke, and boldness of mark that your work has always had since I have known you. Whether you've moved from figurative drip paintings, to prints, to collage, you always just go for it. In a scale that regardless of what the subject is seems to dominate the space it is in. And moving to black and white as a way to start a fresh since graduating is a really interesting way to focus on composition. Something I could do with...
Nick, bloody smashed it. I think the perspex piece did what you've been trying to do for a while now, in one bold, confident statement. I think the lighting and the shadows were also hugely important, everyone was drawn to it, it was dramatic, aesthetically addictive and bold. A massive testament to what you can do when you are driven, despite graduating and working a full time job along side, exciting things are on their way i know it.
Lastly Jonny and Fionn, I think the fact that people couldn't even get into the room when Jonny began to perform shows the excitement and interest that your collaboration evoked. It was energetic, playful and beautiful. The addition of Sam of drums made it all the more real and I hope that you continue to collaborate. Fionn the costume and powder paint combined seemed a beautiful and natural progression from other works of yours I have loved in the past, executed in a more electric way. It was definitely an interesting play on ancient ritualistic dances/ traditions/ cermonies yet feeling incredibly fresh. Jonny, I thought my mum put it quite nicely, " If e'd only have carried on for two more minutes he'd have us all wiggling with 'im!"
Thanks to everyone for being part of it, I hope this continues to even more exciting things in the new year.
EL