HUNDRED YEARS GALLERY presents: Editions
Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the Hundred Years Gallery presents ‘HYG Editions’, a collection of never-seen works from 8 artists that have collaborated with the gallery before.
Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the Hundred Years Gallery presents ‘HYG Editions’, a collection of works from 8 familiar faces that have collaborated with the gallery before. The exhibition runs parallel to our programmed exhibition ‘The Decline of Conscience’, a photo series of Nick JS Thompson displaying the inescapable problem of gentrification in London.
For this special occasion, the gallery is treating its visitors with limited edition prints, selected drawings and collage work from artists Yvonne Yiwen Feng, Helen Bermingham, Victoria Kovalenko, Maey Lemley, Nick JS Thompson, Lex Thomas, Jaime Valtierra and Rita Says, as a thank you for their interest in the gallery. They also see this exhibition as an opportunity to show they are extremely grateful towards the artists that have been more than supported for the last 4 years and to encourage new talent to engage with the project.
Helen Bermingham.'Untitled'. Edition of 5. Gicleè print on Hahnemühle paper 22 x 29.5 cm. 2013
If you grown a liking for any of the exhibited artists there will be a more than pleasant surprise awaiting at the gallery. Besides an exciting collection of exclusives as well as never-seen artwork, the Hundred Years Gallery will be hosting ‘Editions’ workshops for community groups and schools, giving possible up-and-coming artists the opportunity to get involved, learn, play and explore all there is to know about the mysteries of art. And here is your extra bonus: the artists showing their work at the exhibition will be your workshop teachers.
The exhibition will be running from November 19th until December 20th. However better go sooner than later, it will be over before you know it and this exciting and fruitful event is one you don’t want to be passing out on.
Editions launches with a private view November 19th 2015
The Decline of Conscience by Nick JS Thompson
The Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson St, London E2 8JD
Late at the Library: Felabration
Celebrating the birthday of Fela Kuti, ‘Late at the Library: Felabration’ is a musical tribute to the pioneer of Jazz, Funk and Afrobeat and praised defender of human rights in Nigeria.
Celebrating the birthday of Fela Kuti, ‘Late at the Library: Felabration’ is a musical tribute to the pioneer of Jazz, Funk and Afrobeat and praised defender of human rights in Nigeria.
Prepare for a night full of rhythmic vibes, as it will be loaded with recognizable hits and new beats from some of the most renowned African musicians in the world.
Starting of with former band members and friends of Kuti, Dele Sosimi who was part of Fela’s band ‘Egypt 80’ will be leading the event with his 16-piece Afrobeat Orchestra. Following up is legendary drummer Tony Allen, who is known as co-creator of Afrobeat.
Carrying on Fela’s legacy at this event are non other than 2FaceIdiba, multimillion selling recording artist and producer who brought life into hip-hop with the hit ‘Afrikan Queen’, Shingai Shoniwa, vocalist and bassist of the insanely popular indie rock band Noissettes, and other brilliant guest vocalists such as: Laura Mvula, Afrikan Boy, Bumi Thomas, Ed Keazor, Terri Walker, Audrey Gbaguidi and The Floacist (Floesis). Plus DJ Koichi and The Trinity College Afrobeat Ensemble.
For the art fans attending the event, there is free access to the British Library’s outstanding new exhibition West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song - dedicated to the power of words and its sociocultural influence on West Africa.
The event will take place on Friday, October 16th in the beautiful atrium of the British Library.
The Girl of Stuff (Tracy Gray) – GET STUFFED
The Girl of Stuff's first photo book/ zine/ box is being launched soon at Parlour Skate Store on Hackney Road, the very location I housed my own exhibition Morella in 2014.
The Girl of Stuff's first photo book/ zine/ box is being launched soon at Parlour Skate Store on Hackney Road, the very location I housed my own exhibition Morella in 2014.
Get Stuffed is a photobook with a difference, the book takes as it's main underlying theme the skateboarding scene it documents, but very few of the photographs depict skateboarding itself, focusing rather upon what happens once the skateboard is put down. Described in the press release as being inspired by the Euro party vibes, lurkers, urban messages, skate rats, London locals, boozing, cruising, winning and losing.
The launch is themed around pizza, and the book is being presented in a hand screen-printed pizza box and with pizza-base(d) puns on stickers.
(Pun intended, sorry).
Free pizza will be distributed and there will be pizza bunting on the walls.
Because why the fuck not.
BM – You are very involved in skateboarding, what is it that attracts you to the subculture and why did you decide to start documenting it?
TGoS – So it all kinda started in around 1997... My first full-time job I was working in a photo lab (all analogue back then, none of this digital stuff) and a year or so before I had made some new friends through the under-age drinking scene that was the 'Ferryman's Tavern' in Maidstone, Kent. That pub sits along the river Medway, but more importantly it was next to the prime skate-spot that is the Law Courts. The new friends I had made would skate all day over the weekends. And for the rest of us that didn't skate, we'd hang out on the brick banks of the Law Courts drinking pints in plastic cups bought from the pub and watch the boys skate. We'd generally end up heading out to our late-night haunt 'Union Bar' after and I'd be armed with my Konica EU Mini camera, taking snaps of our antics and having them all developed, printed and even making enlargements for myself and my friends by the Monday lunchtime. It was a carefree life back then! My passion for photography didn't stop there, it continued through the rest of the nineties and into the new millennium when I went back into full-time education and studied BTEC Foundation in Art & Design (specialising in Photography) and then onto a BA in Photo Media at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD). The good friends I made back then are still in my life today and think it's those friendships that attracted me to skateboarding and their passion for it, rather than the skateboarding itself. I'm not sure if I'd have gravitated towards skateboarding without them. I started (trying!) to skate last year, I think I'm better off behind the camera lens and enjoying the party.
BM – Most of the photographs don’t actually document the act of skateboarding, why did you decide not to focus on it for this show?
TGoS – I've prolifically taken photos for nearly 20 years and as we are all multi-faceted human beings, inspired by many, many things; It seems obvious to include as many things that make up 'me' in my work. I also suppose that my nickname of 'The Girl of Stuff' is a reflection of that too. ;) I like seeing something beautiful, silly or absurd in the every day, mundane things we are surrounded by in our urban landscape. Documenting something that most others would miss or possibly even dismiss.
BM – I’m loving the pizza theme, but what on earth made you come up with that?
TGoS – I have wanted to make a zine of my photography for a while now. But I didn't want to have something constructed in such a way where the recipient wouldn't be able to hang one of the photographs on their wall or pass onto a friend without destroying the zine itself. My mate Tadej Vaukman from 585 Zines ( @585zines ) in Slovenia posted a video clip on Instagram where he had loose 6x4 prints in an old VHS cassette box with a photocopied sleeve which I thought was a seriously genius idea. I didn't want to rip him off, so I started thinking of other ways to package a set of photographs without the use of binding or staples. Living in Peckham, it didn't take very long before I saw a group of school kids outside one of those tacky take-away places eating from these mini pizza boxes. I started looking on eBay for pizza boxes, found a good deal and then made a call to my best friend Stu at Lovenskate to see if he could help me screen-print a design on it. He basically said he'd do it for free. I think he's just stoked to see me get over a decade's worth of happy-snapping finally into something I can share with the world. I have to say, I'm pretty stoked too.
BM – From the looks of the photos, you have had some pretty intense evenings. Describe one which relates to a photo in the show.
TGoS – HaHa! Yeah, there's lots of party photos... I really like the one of Cäptn Clepto in the shower. This was taken a couple of years back when a group our friends from Cleptomanicx in Hamburg came over for Notting Hill Carnival. Cäptn was kinda like the brand's mascot. He's a really rad dude and he'd brought an inflatable pink flamingo with him from Germany, which then became our kind of marker to keep our big group of Brits and Euros together in the madness of Carnival. We ended up going to Lilli's friend's house for an after-party and they happened to have a flamingo shower curtain. It was too good an opportunity to miss. So we snuck off into their bathroom and Cäptn got in the bathtub so we could take pics of him with the inflatable flamingo and the flamingo shower curtain. He didn't stop there, he found someone's wash mitts along the side of the tub and ended up wearing them all evening and into the next morning. Proper jokes!
BM – Have you heard of Macaulay Culkins band The Pizza Underground, and will they be providing the soundtrack?
TGoS – I can't say I've listened to them, but I've seen stuff on the internet about them and not all of it good. I'm gonna have Bryce from Parlour Skate Store on the decks for the evening... But I'm sure he can take requests if you ask him nicely.
BM – Please provide some vegetarian pizza. See you then.
GET STUFFED launches on the 23rd from 8pm and then remains open for the following week.
59 Hackney Road, E2 7NX
URBAN KINGS: A solo exhibition with Gonny Van Hulst
To artistically imbue socio-political themes on an unforgiving medium such as glass is no easy task. But London-based artist Gonny Van Hulst (also known as GonnyGlass) manages just that.
To artistically imbue socio-political themes on an unforgiving medium such as glass is no easy task. But London-based artist Gonny Van Hulst (also known as GonnyGlass) manages just that.
URBAN KINGS elevates the pest to the princely. The vermin to the valiant. The animals native to our concrete, urban environment are paid a royal homage in this exhibition. The Foxes, Rats, Pigeons, Squirrels and Crows – all endemic to the city life – have had to adapt to their industrial surroundings and survive nonetheless. By depicting these crowned creatures in such a light, URBAN KINGS reminds us of our harmonious relationship with nature despite such an adversarial environment, and that we must celebrate all living things, no matter how big or small. These citified animals are enthroned on antique English glass, hot and cold cured photo-fusing prints, paint, lacquer, and hand-forged ironwork all framed in restored late 1800s Victorian timber.
URBAN KINGS by Gonny Van Hulst - 16th to 31st May 2015
PRIVATE VIEW: Friday 15th May 6:30-9pm
9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich, London SE10 9JA
Opening Times: Thursdays –Sundays 11-6pm | Monday –Wednesday by appointment.
What book are you reading now?
Africa Writes, the Royal African Society’s annual festival of books and literature which showcases established and emerging literary talent from Africa and the Diaspora, is back for its fourth year running this summer at the British Library.
As the saying goes there’s a book in everyone of us waiting to jump out. But not everyone could be Oscar Wild. That’s a relief I hear you cry! Here comes support Africa Writes, the Royal African Society’s annual festival of books and literature which showcases established and emerging literary talent from Africa and the Diaspora, is back for its fourth year running this summer (from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th July) at the British Library.
Hannah Pool by Michael Leckie
The 2015 festival guarantees to bring together over 50 novelists, poets, publishers, translators, critics and other thespians in the world of African literature to open up the continent’s fertile literary terrain. The footnotes reads like so: “This year’s festival will once again present a unique opportunity for our audiences to engage with their favourite African writers and books, and to discover new ones through our exciting programme”.
Ben Okri, publisher's photo
The festival would also feature book launches, readings, author appearances, panel discussions, youth and children’s workshops. Amongst this year’s headline draw are Nigerian-born Ben Okri, Booker prize-winning author and one of the most known and respected of African writers. Okri will be discussing his extensive range of literary work of 10 novels, including the Booker winner The Famished Road. And the controversial Journalist, author and commentator Eritrean-born Hannah Pool, hosting an evening of books and inspiration, when a selection of writers and personalities will share with the audience their favourite African books, varying between classics all through to their latest published work?
The festival will feature 13 sessions - both free and paid for. However, two sessions stands out for me: Firstly, “Emergent Discourses on African Literature” (Free); because it deals with homogeneity, how publishers treat African writers as one and the same, ignoring the wide diversity of written and oral literature stemming from the continent and the diaspora. This session will feature presentations by PhD students and other researchers who are exploring different areas of this field of study - from the development of post-colonial literature through to present-day African narratives and the changing landscape of the publishing industry.
The second session that stands out for me is “Meet the Publishers”. A recently published study titled “What Happened” commissioned by the writer development agency “spread the word” to look into diversity in publishing, revealed that Black and Asian authors in Britain are being ‘shoehorned’ by a predominantly white publishing industry into writing fictions that conforms to a stereotypical view of their communities. This session, “Meet the Publishers”, is apt as it is for unpublished writers of African origin to present their work to different publishing houses, to discuss what they look for when considering new work, share the do's and don’ts of pitching and other insider tips, and get professional feedback on the spot.
The organisers maintain that they deem it fit to organise a fourth because last year’s Africa Writes attracted over 1,500 attendees – many of whom had not attended Africa Writes (77%) or visited the British Library (28%) before. And now with over 30 sessions they are hoping for a record breaking attendance for 2015.
Royal African Society, 36 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD
Simon Payne’s NOT AND OR to screen at Close-Up Film Centre
On the 16th April the Close-up Film Centre in Shoreditch will play host to a night of weird and wonderful digital creations by abstract filmmaker Simon Payne.
On the 16th April the Close-up Film Centre in Shoreditch will play host to a night of weird and wonderful digital creations by abstract filmmaker Simon Payne.
Close-Up is committed to supporting and developing the exhibition of independent and experimental cinema, focusing on the cross over between the arts and film culture.
The night is part #4 of their Teaser Screening series of videos. Simon’s film ‘Not And Or,’ will be screened last along with some of his other digital exerts such as, ‘Colour Bars’ and ‘Cut Out.’
The films all turn on the concept of indefinite qualities of images, colour, shapes and sounds from shot to shot or moment-to-moment. Hence, his erratic film making style, which sees Payne subvert the ideas of what we think we see by manipulating time and space.
In ‘Not And Or’, we see black and white quadrilaterals spinning in virtual space that alternate with the same static shapes re-filmed from screen in real space. The second half of the piece is the same as the first, but flipped, reversed and re-filmed again, through successive generations – adding while taking away.
The program includes pieces from 1997 to 2014, from observational films to hard-edge abstraction primarily focused on experimental video, promising to open up your mind to the different dimensions at the interface of digital design.
The screening is a futurist’s call for new autonomous cinema for the modern age, helping to merge the lines between artistic mediums of art and film. The event ultimately calls upon us the viewers to debate the notion of what we consider as art and the question: Can video installations be considered a form of artistic expression in the same way film is?
Expand the realm of art in this rare screening of mind-altering digital videos. Alternatively, invest in a worthy membership at the Close-Up Film Centre that allow committed film enthusiasts to raid their huge archive of experimental and independent films and discount admission on film screenings.