Mon 2nd April: "Apres Ski" by Nicky Carvell at Take Courage

"Apres Ski" by Nicky Carvell is the second exhibition at the Take Courage Gallery, above The Shacklewell Arms.  The white walls have been splashed from top to bottom with her signature neon colours to set off hanging the new psychedelic works and the floor decorated with her glitter vinyl matts.  I saw Nicky's "Life Of Brian" MA show at Royal Academy a few years ago so this show is a great opportunity to catch her latest work which will carry her thru to exhibiting in NYC in July at "3rd Ward Open Call Grand Prize Winner 2011".
Its the last day today so make sure to pop into the gallery if you are in East London > 
Take Courage, The Shacklewell Arms, 71 Shacklewell Lane, E8 2EB

Sun 1st April: Song Dong: Waste Not

What may appear like snaps from one of my prop-house visits is in actual fact "Waste Not" by Song Dong at The Curve, Barbican - the first major exhibition in the UK from the Chinese artist.  The installation of over 10,000 household objects is an accumulation of his own family's collected paraphernalia across five decades.  The method of saving and re-using materials in this way came about from survival at times of political unrest and goes under the term of "wu jin qi yong" - "waste not".  Its quite remarkable to see the patchwork sewn on chair seats and bundles of shreds of fabric amongst seemingly lesser value scraps such as knotted up plastic bags .  The patterns built up from polystyrene packaging  blocks is particularly surprisingly beautiful............. very "The Daily Nice"!  

15 February 2012 - 12 June 2012, The Curve

Sun 1st April: Birthday Treats - Piers Atkinson

Thank you Piers Atkinson for this purple wonder for my birthday!  I love it!  Here is a Polaroid from my birthday party with fellow rainbow Aries gal Verity Keefe, wearing some of my spectrum adornments - it was an accessorised celebration all round!  Another post will be dedicated to Rosy Nicholas's bangles too..........

Sun April 1st - Paolo Roversi at The Wapping Project Bankside

I once had the incredible luck to be on set of a shoot at Paolo Roversi's town house, back in the days of when I assisted set designer Andy Hillman.  I drove a Luton van full of props form London to Paris where we spent the next few days witnessing this modern master at work.  My three main memories are of the dream library of monographs (an entire dedicated room - apparently there are more at home), his retro film posters and the catering (best quiche of my life!).  So its really nice to see this photo of a crew on a similar day (Jane How) and remember the set up - it looks like the daily sit-down lunch must be a standard scenario.  
Paolo Roversi is now represented in the UK by The Wapping Project Bankside and his first solo exhibition at the gallery has just been extended for a month if anyone has missed it.  The space is nestled at the back of the Tate Modern, so it's positioning is well placed for any unsuspecting footfall to chance upon his stonkingly beautiful works.  The majority of shots selected for this series focus on both his work-space and his muse Guinevere, seen in many different guises but all thru his misty dreamy lens.  This vision has found him in perfect company collaborating with Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto in the past, in addition to other greats Yves Saint-Laurent, Christian Dior and Valentino ............ not to mention the prolific Vogue Italia editorial........ of which I got to see in action on a Prada special with Jacob K (see more here).   

Read an interview with the photographer about how the relationship with the gallery came about, over on Dazed   and see the exhibition at The Wapping Project - Bankside (65a Hopton Street, London SE1 until 28th April

Copyright © 2012 The Wapping Project Bankside
Design by Freshly Brewed Pixels

Sat 31st March: Josephine Chime at A-side B-side Gallery

A new permanent gallery has just opened up in Hackney Downs Studios - home to the newest cluster of artists and fashion designers emigrating to Shacklewell Lane.  The space opened on Friday evening with a group show of four Hackney based artists including a WProject contributor Josephine Chime.  Here are some details shots of her mark-making illustration which makes up the larger "Supreme Being" relief.  Head over to TheWProject site to start reading the artist's interviews connected to this year's project and keep an eye out for Josephine's appearing ........


A-side B-side Gallery, 1st Floor, Hackney Downs Studios, 5-9 Amhurst Terrace, E8 2BT

Friday 30th March: Grace Ladoja Studio Visit

                                     

                                     

                                               

Today marks two special occasions - both interrelated and connected.  Firstly its Grace Ladoja's birthday and secondly, its the first day the NIKE+ Fuel Band goes on sale in the UK.  Grace and I went to the launch of the new energy measuring product in New York in January and have both been road-testing our own device ahead of general release.  You can see Grace's black wooden gift box here with her  post-it note apple at her studio which is brimming with all of her photography paraphernalia.  Grace is never without a camera to always catch the moments, times and faces surrounding her - some exposed to film and some uploaded to her Tumblr.  There you will see her snaps from the different exhibitions she's been to recently - as indicated by the flyers on her pinboard  - Jeremy Deller, Yayoi Kusama, TheWProject.  I visited Grace to discuss making a special piece for a musician she is shooting a new video for, so watch this space to find out who it is and the incredible wardrobe coming together for the promo.................. 
If you've been following our NIKE+ Fuel adventure and fancy trying one out for yourself - head down to the  NikeFuel Station at Boxpark, 2-4 Bethnal Green Rd, London, E1 6GY TODAY, where a very limited number of Nike+ FuelBands went on sale at 11am this morning - 1st come, 1st serve ................. and #makeitcount