A huge thank you to everyone who came to see The Poor Door Exhibition at A-side B-side Gallery

Thank you to everyone who came to see The Poor Door Exhibition at A-side B-side Gallery, it was a great turn out at the opening night!

For the first two weeks in October, A-side B-side Gallery was filled with the work of 11 artists making work in response to the Housing Crisis.  Lots of people popped in for a chat and to share their stories relating to what is happening.  

London Live came to talk to us at the opening, the exhibition was also reviewed by the talented Louis Staples for Dazed, and featured in the East End Review who described it as 'a mini-Dismaland' !!?

Thanks so much to all the artists who participated:

Alison Berry, Rebecca Byrne, Mikey Georgeson, Mars Gomes, Kin, Lee Maelzer, Reena Makwana, S.P.A.R (Society for the preservation of admirable rubble featuring Brian Guest courtesy of Calum F Kerr), Tom Rizzuto, Julia Russell

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We also held a film night at the gallery and featured: 

Estate, A Reverie (by Fugitive Images)

Better than Spikes

Focus E15 Campaign

Key Money (by Horrible Karate Massacre Films)

If you didn't make it to the show, here are some pictures:

'Help Duvet' by Mars Gomes

'Portals' by Rebecca Byrne

'Yellow Curtain' by Lee Maelzer

'Old Sink' by Julia Russell

'The Lost Estate' by Mikey Georgeson

The S.P.A.R set up... Brian Guest made appearances on a couple of occasions throughout the run of the show.  Visitors to the show made drawings of rubble which you can see displayed here.

'Dead Pigeons and Chandeliers' and 'Terminal Decline' by Kin

'NowHere' by Reena Makwana

'The Tower' by Alison Berry

'Shame on You' by Mars Gomes

'Pricey' and 'We Want Loads of Dosh' 

Two of the signs from my REAL Estate Agent Signs series

'We Want Loads of Dosh' (detail)

Brian Guest of S.P.A.R chats to people about rubble on the opening night

'Priced Out' (by me!)

Being interviewed by London Live

'Help Duvet' (detail) by Mars Gomes

Thanks again to everyone, 'The Poor Door' exhibition is something I had wanted to do for a long time.  Via an open call, it was great to find so many brilliant artists making work and responding in different ways to the housing crisis and rising rents in London.

I would LOVE to continue with this idea and involve more artists in another bigger more ambitious exhibition on this subject in the future.  We shall see!

The exhibition was part of Art Licks Weekend, 'a festival that showcases the work of pioneering young artists, curators, galleries and project spaces in London'.  The show was shortlisted for the Artquest Work Week Prize.

The exhibition also raised money for the charity Shelter

The Poor Door Exhibition

This Thursday 1 October, The Poor Door exhibition opens at A-side B-side Gallery, it's a group show featuring the work of 11 artists, curated from an open call out.

A collective exhibition tackling London’s housing crisis

'Yellow Curtain' by Lee Maelzer

Alison Berry, Rebecca Byrne, Tinsel Edwards, Mikey Georgeson, Mars Gomes, 
Kin, Lee Maelzer, Reena Makwana, S.P.A.R Society for the Preservation of Admirable Rubble (with Brian Guest courtesy of Calum F Kerr), Tom Rizzuto, Julia Russell.

“This Ghetto crowding is not through inclination, but compulsion.”
Jack London The People of the Abyss

It’s 2015 and we are in the midst of a major housing crisis in the capital.  In 1903, Jack London wrote ‘The People of the Abyss’, a book describing the cramped living conditions and experiences of the poor in the East End of London.  Reading the book in 2015, some of it seems strangely familiar.

The extreme poverty experienced by many people in Victorian London is another world and another time, but the soaring rents and escalating house prices that London’s residents are experiencing today are similarly disempowering.

The Poor Door exhibition is an arena for debate and discussion surrounding the housing crisis, an opportunity to challenge the status quo and to campaign for change through visual language including painting, photography, sculpture and performance. The title is inspired by the furore over the development at One Commercial Street in Aldgate, which was built with two separate entrances.  Luxury marble floors, chandeliers and concierge for the wealthy city workers, and a side-alley door for the ‘affordable’ housing tenants.  The Poor Door is a growing trend in new housing developments in London, but this divisive phenomena seems reminiscent of the Victorian era.

“In a civilization frankly materialistic and based upon property, not soul, it is inevitable that property shall be exalted over soul”
Jack London The People of the Abyss

'Help Duvet 1' by Mars Gomes

A-side B-side Gallery
Amhurst Terrace
E8 2BT

Opening night: 1.10.15 6-9pm
Show dates: 1.10.15 - 11.10.15
Gallery opening hours: 12-6pm Weds-Sun
Art Licks Weekend: 2-4 October

#ThePoorDoor exhibition is part of Art Licks Weekend, sponsored by Arts Council England.
The show has been shortlisted for the Artquest Workweek prize.
The exhibition will raise funds for the Housing and Homelessness charity: Shelter