Talking about my artwork on live TV!

It was an honour to be invited to talk about my artwork on live chat show Outside the Box this week. You can view it via the You Tube link below:



The show focused on the challenges faced by artistic communities as a result of rising rents and threat from developers.

It was great to see interviews with several studio organisations including Bow Arts Trust and V22.  I talked about the body of work I have been making in response to the housing crisis, including the estate agent signs I created for Dismaland.

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

Housing crisis protest signs

I started making artwork about the housing crisis in London in 2012.  Since then people have often shared their stories with me, recounting how their lives have been affected by the phenomenal and rapid increase of the cost of rent in the capital.  People are struggling to make ends meet, many are being priced out, whole communities are being marginalised and edged out of London.

For a long time I wasn't sure what to do with the stories, I just collected them.  But eventually I decided that I needed to start incorporating them into the work itself, as a way of documenting and communicating the housing issues that so many people are currently facing.  

For a long time I had been thinking about estate agent signs and how they sprout up like weeds in London.  Because the housing market is strong at the moment, flats and houses sell quickly and can be rented out within a few hours.  However there are signs advertising properties 'For Sale' and 'To Let' littering and intruding every street, their familiar colours and branding becoming a part of our surroundings.  These signs stay outside for months on end even though the houses and flats were let or sold within a few days. 

Each 'For Sale' sign symbolises money and a financial transaction, but each one also tells a human story.  The family who could no longer afford the rent when the landlord increased it by another £600 per month, so were forced to move away and take their kids away from the school where they were settled. The person whose entire monthly income goes into their landlords pocket, yet that landlord won't make any repairs.

So I started making my own versions of the signs, replacing the text with the stories and real experiences that people had shared with me.  They are a bit like protest signs I suppose, and I want them to tell the truth.

Each sign is a unique painting over a 2-3 colour screen print, which was printed directly onto existing found estate agent signs.  I've made 25 of these signs so far and I want to make more, so if you have a story to share please let me know.

This body of work was created for Banksy's Bemusement Park: Dismaland in Weston-Super-Mare.

A selection of these signs will also be on show at The Poor Door, a collective exhibition about the housing crisis, opening at A-side B-side Gallery on 1st October. 

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I did the screen printing at Atom Gallery on Stroud Green Road, with guidance and expertise from master screen printer Mark Perronet (thank you Mark!)

The photographs are by the very talented Lady Ray, you can see more of her work here: lrcphotography.co.uk

Thank you - The Poor Door Exhibition

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted work to be considered for The Poor Door Exhibition at A-side B-side Gallery in October.  Also thanks to everyone who helped to share the info and spread the word.

I was overwhelmed by the response, it's amazing to discover so many artists creating work about the housing crisis and I'm really looking forward to curating the exhibition.

I will be contacting everyone who submitted their work by Friday 19th June to let them know the outcome.  The exhibition will open on Thursday 1st October.

'Two Bed Flat With Terrace - AMAZING! £450 per week'
Oil on Canvas
2014

The Poor Door Exhibition - Seeking Artists!

OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS
The Poor Door

A Collective Exhibition Tackling the Housing Crisis

I am curating an exhibition which will be held at A-side B-side Gallery in October.  I’m currently looking for artists who make work about housing and the home.  Please see below for further information about the show, and details for submitting work if you would like to apply.

'Contemporary, Spacious First Floor Double Room' Tinsel Edwards 2015

“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 seemed 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.

“It is notorious that here in the Ghetto the houses of the poor are greater profit earners than the mansions of the rich.  Not only does the poor worker live like a beast, but he pays proportionately more for it than does the rich man for his spacious comfort.”

Jack London The People of the Abyss

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

Exhibition Details and info on submitting work:

The show will be curated from an open submission, a percentage of sales will raise money for the housing charity Shelter.  If you are making art work about housing and you would like to take part in the exhibition please email jpegs, cv and info to: tinseledwards@hotmail.co.uk

·      Maximum of 6 jpegs labeled with your name and the title of the work

·      CV

·      Some brief info about the work you are submitting and why it relates to the theme of the show.

Deadline to submit artwork: 1^st June

Venue: A-side B-side Gallery, Hackney Downs Studios, E8 2BT

Dates: First two weeks in October – Thursday 1^st – Wednesday 14^th.

Public View: First Thursday

Throughout the week there will also be film screenings, talks and events from several communities, groups and individuals.

Art Against The Housing Crisis

'0 Bed Flat. £285 Per Week'

'Alls Bills Included, Access to Unlimited Fibre Optic Broadband. Room in Shared Flat £500pcm'

'Bargain! Two Bedroom £400 Per Week'

'Contemporary Spacious First Floor Double Room. £575'

'Cool 2 Double Bedroom with Spacious Lounge'

'Double Glazing, Double Bedroom One Bed Flat! £400 Per Week'

'Four Bed Maisonette, £600 Per Week'

'Luxury Double Room in Houseshare. £750 Per Week'

Modern Studio Apartment, Neutral Deco and Laminated Floorboards Throughout. £170 Per Week'

'Nice and bright Double Room in Shared House, Laminate Flooring and Great Look.  £737 Per Month'

'No DSS'

'Stunning Two Bedrooms Apartment £475 Per Week'

A collection of studies from 2014.

Someone suggested that it would be a good idea to think of a hashtag for this project....  All I've come up with so far is #ArtAgainstThe HousingCrisis - it seems a bit long, but I think I will go with that for now.

I've been working on the Housing series for a couple of years now, and I still don't feel that I have a body of work which is ready to exhibit.  I'm still experimenting with different ideas and developing the paintings, and I think it's really important to give myself as much time as it takes.  I've often thought about starting to prepare for a solo exhibition to show all of this work, but I don't want to have the pressure of a deadline, I'm learning so much about painting at the moment, and I need the time to allow the paintings to develop, to make mistakes and throw paintings in the bin if necessary!

I recently had a tutorial with Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley of Zeitgeist Art Projects, they were very supportive and suggested that instead of a solo show perhaps I could curate an exhibition on the theme of the Housing Crisis.

So I'm starting to plan a group exhibition, I'm really looking forward to finding other artists who are responding to what's happening with housing in London at the moment.  The show is provisionally titled 'The Poor Door'.  More info about this coming soon.

2014 Round Up

Somehow it’s February already, but here’s my round up of 2014…

In 2014 I chose not to exhibit very much, and instead focus on developing my work in the studio. 2014 also involved lots of change, leaving A-side B-side Gallery, starting a new part time job with Acme Studios, and my son starting school.

January 

I started the year by working on a commission to paint around the Bar Area in The Star by Hackney Downs Pub. My favourite thing about this was discovering Sign Writers One Shot paints…ooh - they are amazing.

February 

I made the difficult decision to leave A-side B-side gallery, it was a lot of work and I found it wasn’t giving me the time and energy to focus on my own practice.   Catherine Magnani and I held our last exhibition on the 1st floor of Hackney Downs Studios in January, then gave up the lease.  We both continue to share the responsibility of running the studios at A-side B-side, and since then Catherine has re-launched the gallery as a successful solo project in new premises.

March and April

Finally with a bit more time to be in the studio, I focused again on my own painting, spending Spring and early Summer working on small studies for my housing series.

May 

Another commission from the Star pubs! I worked with Interior Designer Lady Ray to illustrate her design concept for the refurbishment of The Jackdaw Pub in Homerton.  And later in the summer, I did the sign writing for the exterior.

 

June

Twinkle Troughton and I joined forces once again, this time we created our very own Revolution themed Launderette for The Art Car Boot Fair.

 

I worked with Jealous Gallery to produce two new editions for my ‘Revolution’ screen print, in neon pink and yellow. These were on sale at The Art Car Boot Fair, and at the Moniker Art Fair in the autumn.

July and August

I finally finished making a brand new website!

Let me know what you think: www.tinseledwards.com

September 

A studio revamp in our space in Homerton, and feeling very excited to be starting a new part time job with Acme Studios.  Acme is a housing association with charitable status, it provides affordable studios for non commercial fine artists.

October

Again I collaborated with interior designer Lady Ray and we formed: ‘R Girls Electric?’ we worked together to create a series of limited edition Light Art pieces.  This project was lots of fun and a nice change, there is a possibility we will make more of these light pieces in the future.  Our first collection was exhibited in Brixton in November.

November  

My painting: ‘Lovely Period Style New Build, £380 per week’ was selected for ZAP Open 2014.  Selected anonymously from 547 entries, I was amongst 22 other artists.  Our work was exhibited in a group show at the Zeitgeist gallery in New Cross.

December

Feeling encouraged and inspired by taking part in the ZAP Open, I spent December planning and preparing for the next phase of works for the Housing Series.  After painting small for most of 2014, I decided it was time to paint big.  Wanting to experiment with different grounds for these paintings, I have started working with old sheets and duvet covers found in charity shops.

2015 will be about continuing to develop my series of paintings which comment on the Housing Crisis in London.  
I am intending to curate a group show on this theme in the Autumn.  I have also just started working with a documentary film maker who is creating a video diary for me, this will document the project as it progresses.  The first entry is being edited now and will be uploaded here soon.