Bloggers for Japan

Katie Antoniou is organising Bloggers for Japan, a sale and silent auction all proceeds of which are going to Japan.  She has had some brilliant donations from all sorts of different people, please go along and spend lots of dosh!

I've donated a couple of things, a 'Year of Private Views' screenprint and an original illustration that I did for Vintage Secret.

Debut Contemporary official pics

The official pics from the Debut Contemporary launch have now been uploaded!  You can see all of them on their Flickr account here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debutcontemporary/

Here is a select few:

Queues in the cold!

me and Twinkle with Zoe Knight

Samir Ceric, Zoe Knight and the Debut Contemporary team

All images are courtesy of Debut Contemporary

She said exhibition

'She Said....a group exhibition celebrating the joy of text'... curated by Cate Halpin.  The show forms part of wisewords celebrating Women's History month.  The private view is on Thursday March 10th at The Outside World Gallery, 44 Redchurch Street, E2, the show runs until Sunday 13th.

I have finally finished my new piece 'I wish...' and the She Said exhibition is the perfect opportunity to showcase it.  

I have been working on this since last November, its good to finally get it finished!  Painted onto found wood, the piece is inspired by all kinds of vintage typography, from circus posters to Victorian flyers.  Its a heartfelt statement about all the things I want my art to be, and perhaps the impossibility of that!

Launch night at Debut Contemporary

The launch night for Debut Contemporary was PACKED!!!  With people queuing all the way down the street!  The show looked really good, there was an eclectic mix of work including painting, photography and sculpture, with each of the 40 or so artists exhibiting one piece each.  It was also really good to meet some of the other artists involved in the project.  The show is up for three months, with the works on rotation, meaning that there will be an opportunity to see a variety of pieces from each artist.

I managed to get a few pics but it was a bit too busy to get good ones of the work!  Luckily there were plenty of proper photographers there documenting everything, I will be posting more pics soon.

Thankyou so much to everyone who came down on Wednesday, if you couldn't make it to the opening, the show is open daily, 82, Westbourne Grove, London W25RT

www.debutcontemporary.com

02072211651

Debut Contemporary

Debut Contemporary is an exciting new initiative launched by the husband and wife duo Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight (who are also responsible for Wolf and Badger, Salon Contemporary and First Wednesdays).

The programme is a unique exhibiting and mentoring opportunity. Designed to launch the careers of emerging artists, a big showcase exhibition at their newly revamped space on Westbourne Grove will open on Wednesday the 2nd March.

This will be followed by a programme of events for the artists, including a series of seminars and talks from curators, critics, collectors and PR companies. Basically lots of very useful stuff....

I was selected for the show from 100s of applications, I am very excited to be taking part! the full list of artists has not been released yet, but I know that Twinkle Troughton also has some pieces in the show, and Chantal Powell too.

If you would like to come to the opening night please RSVP to rsvp@debutcontemporary.com

Hope to see you there! xxx

Pictures of some new work

I have recently had all of my work photographed professionally by the very talented photographer Phil Whitby, he did a brilliant job! I'm really pleased with the results.

This is one of my recent pieces, inspired by a news image of The London Afghanistan conference last year. This is very much a sneak preview as most of my recent work has been under wraps in the last 6 months! Twinkle and I are planning a massive showcase exhibition for later on this year, and everything I have been working on will be unveiled then. We have yet to find the perfect venue, I will keep you posted.

The title of this painting is '9 Years and 89 days, ongoing. Civilian deaths 34,240, Military deaths 2,208'. I decided to paint this because the image intrigued me, the situation struck me as so far removed from the reality and horror of war and death; the group of politicians look like a sea of black suits, surrounded by ornate gold decoration and red flock patterned carpet. This piece is an exploration of the power of an image, simply by translating it into paint it makes a comment on the subject it tackles, but it suggests rather than explains, leaving more space for reflection.

I am also currently experimenting with the way I apply the paint to the canvas, here I have built up a series of glazes, and used thick paint to create rough marks, leaving faces to appear half finished and sketched in. I wanted to use a more expressive style of mark making to deal with a sensitive and emotive subject.

I HAD to make the most of it and also have some pics taken 

of me and Elvi in the studio.

Thankyou to Phil, and to Vicky and Matthew for helping on the shoot.

Gabberdashery and Supermarket Sarah

Twinkle and I have been working with Gabberdashery for nearly a year now, the brainchild of Gabby Young (of Gabby Young and other Animals) and fashion stylist/writer/blogger, (a lady of many talents!) - Katie Antoniou.

Gabberdashery sets out to bring together an eclectic mix of arts, crafts and fashion, all in keeping with Gabby's amazing and quirky style.

Some of mine and Twinkle's paintings and prints are available to buy through Gabberdashery, there are on sale at various events, mainly at Gabby Young's performances. In December Gabberdashery teamed up with Supermarket Sarah to create a wall inspired by Alice in Wonderland:

http://www.supermarketsarah.com/wall.php?wall=52

The wall is still up on the website so have a browse! Some of the products are still available to buy.

There are lots more exciting Gabberdashery adventures in the pipeline for 2011, I will keep you updated!

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