GENTRIFICATION KILLS CREATIVITY:

neglected blog... but not through apathy, just busy doing actually rather than writing/talking about doing... Paint alive and going off and things... A collection of reasonably big new pieces coming together for this new show in Kensal Green... that and searching for new space to put events on and pull art together

GENTRIFICATION KILLS CREATIVITY: Spent an interesting couple of days searching out London area live-in art spaces, abandoned hotels, cheap unloved factory spaces that need converting and such (not squats). Found a great space yesterday that could be converted in to 12 or so live-in art-making spaces and a gallery... ...we'll know next week if our proposal for that one goes through although I now hear someone wants for a corporate media company base.

Fed up with the way some galleries treat artists, really enjoying showing other people's work, time to shake it up even more, need alternative spaces.... as excited about the other painters at the next show as I am about my work . Found a great old (closed) railway station that would make for a great gallery/work space but Network Rail are far too tied up in red tape and obstructions to want to make it happen...

Anyone got any interesting gallery space they need running I wonder ?

Anyone interested in these ideas, getting involved in alternative art making/living space and such, there's a core group of artists looking, but space could mean we need/want more.... Had enough of greedy landlords, estate agents and the gentrification of our living / creative spaces

Need more/better creative, bathroom overflowing with new work drying...

MORE NOTIONS OF STREET ART...

NOTIONS OF STREET ART... Went out for milk this morning, found two big canvas beasts waiting for the bin-men, one with a big rip that will require more stitching (as did last week's found canvas) and the other with some kind of unfinished school artwork course work (I know this because a note saying 'course work' so is stapled to it), it looked like decent start, wonder if that's the end of the person's artistic output? Thrown out at the end of their school life... but no, not heading for the dump, saved and now probably heading for a gallery in September once I get to work on it... For this is one of my notions of street art, these abandoned (clearly unfinished) canvas pieces are my personal walls waiting for new layers, walls to be painted on, to be added to , worked over... my radar is tuned, forever on the look out for canvas or frames or... yesterday a flat screen computer monitor found on the street, now out back waiting for paint, the thing is broken, cracked screen, looks great when plugged in ...

The Harvist is in...

Neglecting things a little in blog land, not enough hours.... The adventure at Harvist Gallery is over for now, the three summer shows have now been and gone... three shows, more than fifty artists, it didn't work quite in the collective way we hoped it would, ended up me/us running a gallery and everyone else just sticking their work on the walls (or letting us stick the work on the walLs for them). It was a positive experience, most of it went well, most of it was a pleasure, lots of interaction, lots of interest from people, healthy reaction, some sales... It all got a little in the way of the process of making art... meant for a lot of healthy interaction with other artists... it was good... on to the next thing

THE 100 PAINTINGS SUMMER SHOW...

Today I'm herding artists together, slightly harder than herding cats... 40 plus creative creatures and now with added RUDENESS from Miss Roberts and her Rude Mechanicals....

PATRICK'S HARVIST GALLERY SPACE, 45 CHAMBERLAYNE ROAD, KENSAL RISE, NW10 (travel details via the gallery pages at www.organart.com)

Opennig night party/view Thursday 22nd July from 6.30pm onwards

One Hundred paintings on the gallery walls for ten days.. One hundred vibrant pieces of art and all on sale at a price of one hundred pounds. One hundred times one hundred... We're carefully selecting the art right now, there will be no more than four pieces of art per artist s...o you can expect lots of vibrant variety from both established and emerging art makers from London and beyond. Expect a variety of styles, contradictions, paint, print, pop art, street art, fine art, illustration, things that don't fit anywhere...

The show opens on the evening of Thursday July 22nd and will run in the gallery space until August 1st. Expect an opening night party with live entertainment in the cafe area while the art will be on view in the rooms of the basement gallery... Come meet the artists, come socialise, network. come make use of this space we Organ team have bee nworking with all summer...

We have a live performance, the tearoom area on the opening night, MISS ROBERTS AND HER RUDE MECHANICALS will perform a one off set. This wil lnot be a ful lband performance, it wil lbe Miss Roberts and some of the Rude Mechanicals with Rude Mechanicals songs, words, poetry, spoken word and visual peformance.

MISS ROBERTS AND HER RUDE MECHANICALS will perform a musical set at 8pm. DJ MARVIN will keep the evening flowing with his dance vibes until we kick you a lout al lyou all decided to leave....

Expect to always find 100 pieces on show, as pieces are bought new ones will replace them, ever evolving, ever exciting, always 100 paintings/pieces on the wall ...

There's a Facebook event page if you like that sort of thing

THE ART OF ARTISTS DOING IT ALL THEMSELVES..

ARTISTS INVOLVED INCLUDE

TAHIRA BEGUM
MARIA BRESONALLO
ALEXANDRA CARULA
BOUDICCA COLLINS
MARK COVERDALE
RUTH EGGINGTON
MICHELLE EVANS
GRIMES & JONES
EMMA HARVEY
GURDISH HAUGSDAL
JESSICA HILLS
PATRICK HOBBS
ANGIE HOGAN
EMILY JACKSON
EMMA KNOWLES
CHRIS KONING
HEATHER LENNOX
EM LOCKREN
SUSANA LOPEZ FERNADEZ
LOUIS MICHAEL aka MASAI
MIMI
BEN OAKLEY
ELIZABETH OSBOURNE
LULU PARENT
VIJAY PATEL
ASHLEY REAKS
SOPHIE REDPATH
ROB REED
CARRIE REICHARDT
MISS ROBERTS
JAY DEE SCOTT
NAOMI SHAW
MARIA SLOVAKOVA
CLAUDIA STOCK
INES SZAMREY
DIXIE TURNER
IAN WALKER
CLAIRE WARD-THORNTON
DAVID WILLIS
SEAN WORRALL

paint what you need to get by in life...

Must stop this cut'n paste social media cross referencing, things are getting rather messy around here, almost as messy as it is under the Westway right now... Do like being under the Westway though, lot of history there...

So how was yesterday?

Oh yes, sun, high winds, rain, hot sun again, drawing, people watching, pop stars, sports stars, silly questions, "hey dude do you know Banksy?" good questions, "are they leaves or hearts?" old friends, new friends, good people, good art, Carrie's truck, real Notting Hill people, the place has so much soul if you scratch the surface a little, paintings sold, paintings shared... really good to meet you yesterday, thanks for coming down... The paintings of the cup of coffee and the sandwich sold rather quickly when they came out of the bag around mid day, the cup of coffee painting exchanged for a cup of coffee bought by a lady from New York, the sandwich painting by a couple who thought it was an excellent idea and said they would come back next week and that I should paint something else for them to go buy in exchange... Now what should it be...? A whole new aspect to the what is affordable art question... paint what you need to get by in life... Some fruit? New boots?

Carrie's ceramic tile covered truck stole the day again, always the star where ever it goes

The ongoing what is affordable art question? what price a cup of coffee?

Social media cross reference number 457

Sean Worrall The ongoing what is affordable art question takes me to Portobello Road once more this Saturday. 10am until 5pm I shall once more be under the Westway over here in (hopefully Sunny) West London.... this time as part of the new Portobello Art and Design market (under the Westway where the Mutate shows were) and hopefully selling some very very reasonably priced art.

No free art on the streets (or in your trees) this week, well I might leave a piece or two somewhere on the way there, or maybe on the way back home from the market... you shall know me by the trail of art... come have a look, come say hello, the photos of the market are on the Love Portobello Facebook page...

I shall report back to you fellow artists and designers next week and tell you if the thing be any good or not, looks good in the photos and under the Westway is always good... land of THe Clash, Hawkvibes, Crash and such...

Come down, say hello, come see.. expect art on cardboard, on vinyl on canvas and more, expect prices to start at... oh let me see, maybe we'll have some 1p pieces, yes why not... maybe some pay whatever you want pieces... expect affordable art. Maybe I'll paint a cup of coffee and and some food and the price will be that you go get me a cup of coffee and the piece is your in exchange...

Don't know who else has a stall there this week but the photos on the Love Portobello Facebook page look interesting...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-Portobello/134663166549655?v=info

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138759786142345&ref=mf

And two more penny pieces were left virtually..

And two more penny pieces were left virtually.....

Sean Worrall For those who can't find pieces on the street there's always the ongoing virtual leaving on the street 1p ebay experiment that so far has seen art posted out to Newcastle, Liverpool, South London, this week two pieces put up, one piece on blue 7" vinyl (a never played slice of old Dream City Film Club/Rhatigan vinyl thi...s time and the other on one of those pieces of thick card that was once a flatscreen TV box.... Each piece there with an opeing bid price of 1p

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHERRY-LEAFHEART-Mixed-media-STREET-ART-SEAN-W-/140425672642?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_art_Paintings_GL&hash=item20b205b7c2

CHERRY LEAFHEART Mixed media STREET ART - SEAN W.

cgi.ebay.co.uk

Find CHERRY LEAFHEART Mixed media STREET ART - SEAN W. in Art, Artists Self-Representing , Paintings , Other Paintings category on eBay.co.uk.

Sean Worrall

the other one looks like this....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEAFHEART-CARD-Mixed-media-STREET-ART-SEAN-W-/120594041594?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_art_Paintings_GL&hash=item1c13f70afa

2 hours ago · ·

Sean Worrall

what is affordable art?

about an hour ago · ·

And then on Saturday art was left in a tree...

And then on Saturday art was left in a tree in London NW10, up above a summer street party... and Facebook said....

Sean Worrall today I shall leave three new paintings in a tree in College Road, NW10....

Yesterday at 11:10 · Comment

Ian Skinner

That is a splendid idea.

Yesterday at 12:47 · ·

Sean Worrall

always look to the trees... leafhearts? Leaves or hearts?

Yesterday at 12:54 · ·

Jamie Malone

Hehe that's a nice thing to offer the trees : ) and the people should they look up

22 hours ago · ·

Dewi Evans

I used to live near there...

21 hours ago · ·

Meryl Barton

‎...Just a Shame It's not Our Own C L Uper Bangor....Dream on X

18 hours ago · ·

Sean Worrall

Now that would be good, College Road, Bangor... one day... still have a booming Welsh voice in my head telling me things like I'm not looking or that drawing is 90% looking, 10% doing.... One painting still up in the tree, the highest one I left...

17 hours ago · ·

Sean Worrall

Update, saw someone walk past the studio window this morning with the third painting from the tree on the corner (up early on a Sunday morning painting here), I like this leaving pieces where I can see them... wonder who he was? Today is Resonance FM day, I shall leave three paintings on the Southbank on the way to the to the studio (on air at 9pm... See more with a bag load of Organgrining and some music and what have you - www.resonancefm.com or 104.4FM in London, haven't been on for almost a month... Organ break as it were, a whole three weeks without listening to any new music, for the last 20 odd years I've scribbled at least one review of something new every day, there's a mountian of new CDs here to catch up with..)

6 hours ago · ·

Jamie Malone

as i say : ) very nice idea.you must have many paintings? http://miracletelepathy.blogspot.com/

5 hours ago · ·

Sean Worrall

yes I paint a new piece most days, I treat my pieces like walls, ever evolving, fresh marks over old marks, no work is ever quite complete, there's always room for some new "graffiti" marks or some extra leaf growth.. .Some pieces are worked on for months, some for hours, some are almost instant - spray paint and screen print, stencil and drip, ... See moreresist work, doesn't take too long to make a satisfying mark and some art just needs to be left on the street to in a tree or outside a gallery, some art needs to be painted on a real wall or an old abandoned car or...

5 hours ago · ·

Jamie Malone

thats great : ) and i really like your work, i live in north london, so when i am out and about i will keep my eyes and ears out for a piece

5 hours ago · ·

So it went something like this last Wednesday...

So it went something like this last Wednesday... art was left, vinyl was left, people picked it up, people werer seen with it under their arms, talking to each other about it... the council saw it all as litter... the elite West London galleries who seem to think art has to have a designer label attached didnt like the spae invasion too much... and the Facebook talk went like this....

Sean Worrall

come on then Mr/Ms Sxissor, come join us, reclaim the streets...

07 July at 14:49 · ·

Reuben Thompson

you still have gog/magog singles? I still lived with my mum when i bought that...

07 July at 17:57 · ·

Sean Worrall

Oh yes, still a few, as with most small record labels, not every release sells out, or you fall to the temptation of repressing one too many times... everything is a potential canvas though... Wonder if those left out last night found a home, most seem to have gone when we retraced our steps later in the evening,,, did they find a loving home or a council roadsweeping bin?

Thursday at 08:54 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

Gonna try and get involved next month! To short notice!

Thursday at 10:53 · ·

Sean Worrall

did you find one of the pieces last night then? Saw a few tucked under people's arms, overheard some interesting conversations... fun being invisible...

Thursday at 14:16 · ·

Monica Nelson

Much better to be a fly on the wall letting everybody find their own interpretations rather than robbing them of that by explaining WHAT it means. Same goes for songs

Friday at 05:03 · ·

Sean Worrall

Flies indeed, spies they are, this morning a delightfully colourful phonecall from the Kensington And Chelsea council explaining how they do like ot encourage art but that there is a place for it. Seems someone had made a complaint about someone littering the streets with big pieces of cardboard, we had an interesting conversation about litter ... See morebeing nothing but litter and this being a "friendly off the record warning" to say that if it happens again they have an idea about who what and where and that further action will have to be taken... they declined the invite to come talk on the radio show...

Friday at 11:16 · ·

Grebo Gray

typical!!

Friday at 13:58 · ·

Monica Nelson

‎"Encourage art but that there is a place for it"????!!!!! That is when my entire school life went downhill -in the 3rd grade- because there was a 'place' (and conforming standards) regarding art KEEP LITTERING THE STREETS WITH ART FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Thrown away chewing gum wrappers no one minds but art is objected to?

Friday at 18:47 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

There is rubbish on the street already, the very same pieces of art in question are painted/sprayed on to pieces of cardboard that, if i have my facts correct, started life after their initial use as rubbish/litter/garbage whatever you wanna call it! So really your not littering but just brightening up the litter that is already there, thus ... See moremaintaining the same amount of litter on the streets, but hold on, cos making them look good and then people taking them home, that's recycling and that is a good thing! No bad can come of this venture! Keep it up and I'm gonna join in!

Friday at 19:41 · ·

Sean Worrall

Well yes, that is true, the pieces were painting on cardboard found on the street, giant cardboard boxes that once contained flat screen TVs... found them in Brent though, so technically the litter has been moved from one borough to another

Friday at 20:11 · ·

Sean Worrall

actually all but one of my big canvas pieces from this year have been painted on canvas found on the street, litter as it were - bring me you unwanted canvas, your unfinished paintings, your nice thick slabs of flatscreen cardboard, nevermind Michael Landis, i am your artbin...

Friday at 20:26 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

john landis is a film director, who is michael? his brother? shifting litter from one borough to a next isn't a crime. think of all those awful bands playing in different boroughs/cities/countries, they're shifting rubbish all over the place. no one stops them. cardboard for canvas, perfect! will used old cardboard to send cd's in, recycling is what we're doing! thats a good thing mr and mrs council!!

Friday at 21:36 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

‎*we used old cardboard....*

Friday at 21:37 · ·

Sean Worrall

you cardboard was on a gallery wall last week...

Friday at 23:14 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

is it still there?

Yesterday at 00:22 · ·

Sean Worrall

no, there's still xome big canvas pieces but all the cardboard was removed at the end of my show last week..

Yesterday at 01:48 · ·

Doubledge Scissor

even more gutted that i missed it now! next time

Yesterday at 02:36 · ·

23s and FIRST WEDNESDAYS PAINTING DROP, A SET OF WORKS IN PROGRESS...

Sticky fingered Montana drips on those found pieces of TV box cardboard and the ever evolving Red Italian High Heels... Work in progress in the sticky heat of North West London, started last night, finishing today, dropped on the streets of West London and FIRST WEDNESDAYS (links in previous blogs if you feel you need to know) tonight from 6pm onwards...

23 pieces of cardboard recycling and art on the street, the art of leaving art on the street... and a whole lot of recycled Gog Magog 7" black vinyl.... 23, everything is 23... we'll be catching the 23 bus from the top of Ladbrook Grove, we'll maybe even leave the first of he 23 pieces on the 23 bus... all will have an e.mail on the back, I really want to hear about the adventures these pieces of art get themselves involved in...

100 PAINTERS SUMMER SHOW

So today, as well as dealing with high heels, skirts that aren't ironed and preparing pieces for the First Wednesday painting drop tomorrow (and having another look at Elisabeth Osbourne's rather fine show of paintings at the Dissenter's Chapel gallery space in Kensal Green), I've been pulling together the 100 PAINTINGS SUMMER SHOW. Probably the last show of the summer at the gallery space we've been working with. The idea is simple, one hundred paintings pulled together by me, no more than four pieces per artist and all on the wall of the gallery to be enjoyed and explore for ten days... i suspect this will be the last show we put on in the Patrick'd Harvist space for now, it has been fun but I never really intended to run a gallery sapce mysELF, I was looking for a collective of people to come together rather than me doing it all.... we shall see, it certainly has been an experience and pulling this show together is proving to be more than interesting.... good collection of work, artistist coming together, diverse collection... including some of Elisabeth's boxing paintings...

"Where will the paintings be?"

"Where will the paintings be?"

"What time will you be doing it?"

"Can I arrange to have one?"

Just some of the questions since I mentioned the drop of 23 paintings that will happen sometime this Wednesday evening around West London somewhere near the events associated with the First Wednesdays.

What is First Wednesdays? West London's attempt to do what East London does so well with First Thursdays - West London's version seems to be more about over-priced designer shops, expensive restaurants and rather elitist upmarket galleries that the likes of us aren't really that welcome in... well that's the vibe we got last month (besides the friendly people and the excellent art to be found in the small EastWest gallery where the excellent Cathy Fenwick, Eight Horseman of The Apocalypse was on).

First Wednesdays announces itself as a "sister" event to East London's far more artist friendly, do it yourself, "we're all in this together" (to borrow a quote from one recent Portobello resident) attitude... but hey if First Wednesdays really want to be as interesting and inclusive, as inviting, something a little more that just glossy life-style magazines and a free glass of champagne then I guess that's kind of up to us West London art makers and do'ers and such... The organisers of First Wednesdays tell us they want it to be inclusive, they want it to be for everyone... I guess that's an open invite and you can't moan about things if you don't contribute, get involved and add something, the First Wednesdays people got something going, let's al lget involved and make it something for everyone, the fancy restaurants, the high-price designer shops and the high-line galleries don't have to have it all to themselves do they?

So yes, a drop of 23 paintings (and maybe some more hand painted vinyl pieces) around West London somewhere sometime on early Wednesday evening - under the Westway, Portobello Road, who knows where....

WORLD CUP TVs, FIRST WEDNESDAY, ART ON THE STREET, UNDER THE WESTWAY......

Maria Slovakova's work next to three of my canvas pieces in the gallery space down in the basement at Patrick's Harvist. Great space this. last photo of the show... Time to get back out on the street. 50 new pieces in preparation this weekend... World Cup fall out and the great flatscreen TV buy-fest in anticipation of the feast of flowing football... Lots of great cardboard out on the street, strong thick cardboard that once was wrapped around all the hope invested in flatscreen TVs and Engerland, all that nice thick double strength cardboard waiting to be picked up and painted on.... fresh cardboard all sliced up now, 50 pieces of strong thick TV-wrapping card, now all covered in paint and waiting for new layers, new leaf growth. All will be ready for a West London street drop on Wednesday evening (early evening), time to shake up the frustrating designer label politeness that is West London First Wednesday just a little with some art on the street... under the Westway, along Ladbrook Grove, Portobello. Wednesday night, under the Westway, deep in Clash land where Hawks once took off past the fourth day of a five day marathon... time to move like a parallelogram..

end of show...

Well now, that was the solo show at the gallery space underneath Patrick's Harvist cafe. Thanks to everyone who took the time to come have a look, thanks to everyone who took part, who went hunting for the art left on the street everyday of the show, vinyl hanging from trees in the park, painted cardboard on street corners (sometimes question if all that distracts from the big canvas pieces?)

Some of the work will stay in the gallery, some will be taken down (and a few pieces delivered to the buyers, thank you very much...), so if you haven't been to the gallery space yet there's lots to see in there still both in terms of my work and work from others including JUSTIN BAILEY, ROBIN CLARE, DAVID DIPRÉ, GURDISH HAUGSDAL, BEN OAKLEY, CARRIE REICHARDT, MARIA SLOVAKOVA, TWINKLE TROUGHTON and more...

STREET ART PART 2....

Today's five pieces of art were a recycled 12" dance remix of the first Poloroid single (released on ORG back '94 or '95) and left outside Graceland's Cafe in Kensal Rise, alongside a cardboard piece left on the windscreen of one of the Indian Karma Cabs that live in the street here in NW10. Another piece was left on the window of the lock up shop by Kensal Rise railway station (the lock up shop I really want to rent and turn in to some kind of art space). A fourth piece was left by the street sign on the corner of Mostyn Gardens and a fifth outside the flower shop on the pavement just over the road from the gallery on Chamberlayne Road (on the border of Queens Park and Kensal Green).
All five pieces have contact details on the back (alongside flyers for the current show at Patrick's Harvist) , all five had gone when I went down to the gallery this afternoon. So far I've heard from a girl called Jane asking about the vinyl piece and had it been lost? Could she keep it?

More tomorrow? Maybe a canvas piece? Or maybe leave some more out tonight?