NO ORGANGRINDING HERE

ARTIST CALL: IT IS GREEN @ Cultivate, Vyner Street

2012-01-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

AN ARTIST CALL FOR A GROUP SHOW... Please note, ticking the I'm attending button is not enough, you need to read the instructions and contact us directly if you wish to be considered...

IT IS GREEN @ CULTIVATE, VYNER STREET

INITIAL INVITE TO SUBMIT WORK
...
Coming up on Thursday 1st March until March 13th including March First Thursday evening, we have a group show called IT IS GREEN.

We leave the subject and the title open and vague, we are open to all interpretations, we look at the pieces in terms of how we feel it will flow next to the work already accepted and how it will fit on the walls and in the space alongside the other work. We like to create busy exciting shows, walls alive with art for people to explore and artists for viewers to get interested in and go find out more about

We invite artists who wish to take part in the show to interpret the title in any way they wish and to submit images of work in the form of a j.peg,. Submissions via the gallery e.mail address – info@cultivatevynerstreet.com

The show will open on Thursday evening 1st March, that’s March First Thursday (and everything that involves on Vyner Street, London E2). The show will run for two weeks

There will be a charge of £30 to the artist for each piece of work accepted in to the show, this is to help cover our rent and gallery costs for the period the show is on. There is no size restriction, we will consider several smaller pieces as one entry. Cultivate is an artist-run gallery, we share the costs between us, we are open about this, this does not mean we accepting anything and everything, we are picky and we have a reputation to uphold. There is no charge to submit, just a charge for those artists who are actually taking part

There is no deadline for entries, we'll keep the invite open until we have a full show that we are happy with. If the space fills up fast and you don’t get to us in time then sorry, we will close the call and try to update websites but it is sometimes hard to keep a track on where the call has been posted.

The show will be hung on the evening of Wednesday 31st Feb and opens on the evening Thursday 1st March at 6pm. So art will need to be delivered on Wednesday between 1pm and 6pm (or by arrangement)
.
if you wish to submit a piece of work to be considered as part of the show, please send a j.peg of the proposed piece of work(s), the size of piece and details of medium along with links to your website/facebook page or wherever you want us to go to find out more about you and your work. Send to info@cultivatevynerstreet.com

All questions via the e.mail address.

(Sean and the Cultivate team)

www.cultivevynerstreet.com

ARTIST CALL for Numbers @ Cultivate Vyner Street

2012-01-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

Open Submission 'NUMBERS' @ CULTIVATE, Vyner st - May First Thursday

Coming up on Thursday 3rd May until May 15th including May First Thursday evening, we have a group show called 'Numbers' at CULTIVATE, VYNER STREET

We leave the subject and the title open and vague, we are open to all interpretations, we look at the pieces in terms of how we feel it will flow next to the work already accepted and how it will fit on the walls and in the space alongside the other work. We like to create busy exciting shows, walls alive with art for people to explore and artists for viewers to get excited about

We invite artists who wish to take part in the show to interpret the title in any way they wish and to submit images of work in the form of a j.peg. Submissions via the gallery e.mail address – info@cultivatevynerstreet.com

The show will open on Thursday evening 3rd May, that’s May First Thursday (and everything that involves on Vyner Street, London E2). The show will run for two weeks

There will be a charge of £30 to the artist for each piece of work accepted in to the show, this is to help cover our rent and gallery costs for the period the show is on. There is no size restriction, we will consider several smaller pieces as one entry. Cultivate is an artist-run gallery, we share the costs between us, we are open about this, this does not mean we accept anything and everything, we are picky and we have a reputation to uphold. There is no charge to submit, just a charge for those artists who are actually taking part

There is no deadline for entries, we'll keep the invite open until we have a full show that we are happy with. If the space fills up fast and you don’t get to us in time then sorry, we will close the call and try to update websites but it is sometimes hsard ot keep a track on where the call has been posted.

The show will be hung on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May and opens on the evening Thursday 3rd May at 6pm. So art will need to be delivered on Wednesday between 1pm and 6pm (or by arrangement).

if you wish to submit a piece of work to be considered as part of the show, please send a j.peg of the proposed piece of work(s), the size of piece and details of medium along with links to your website/facebook page or wherever you want us to go to find out more about you and your work. Send to info@cultivatevynerstreet.com

www.cultivevynerstreet.com

PRUNING SHOCK....

2012-01-19T03:42:00.001-08:00

Too busy, no time for blogs, paint must fly, Cultivating 24/7... The Art Is For Life show flowed through Christmas and New Year, the Everything Must Go show threw up more questions about what price art and such, I'll blog about it all tomorrow.... Tonight we do some pruning...

PRUNING SHOCK @ Cultivate, Vyner Street - 20^th – 22^nd January 2012.

Pruning Shock is a quick bit of pruning, a last minute weekend show and some recent gardening from ALAN WILSON and SEAN WORRALL

Opening night view, Thursday 19th Jan, 6pm until 9pm and then we run through to Sunday January 22^nd at Cultivate, Vyner Street...

Pruning, cultivate, plant growth... "If you prune a plant back hard the fear is it might die, the upper shoots in shock - the hope is it will be ten times more productive"

Alan Wilson came in to the gallery a few weeks ago, he had his pieces of work in the back of his van with all his gardening tools, We don’t know too much about Alan, I think he likes it that way. An artist, a Scotsman, a gardener, his website does say “ask me anything”, it is tempting not to, tempting just to read his beautiful creativity without really knowing anything in terms of his own intent.

Sean Worrall's current body of paintings explore the notions of new layers reclaiming those things that are left decay, notions of Trillion Green and the Captain's Table, the idea that our cities will eventually be covered and lost in new layers, in the short term as we use them as a street art canvas then as nature paints her leaf-shaped beauty over the mess we make as she makes it her own again. Sean's paintings explore the taking back of old walls, the growing over, the freshness of new leaves, new marks, old surfaces, always growing, new weathered marks over old faded scars, new layers, new leaves, fresh leaves, new growth over old, new shoots, new paint over old, new street art on old city walls, new art over old walls, new leaf layers over old decaying layers, the covering up, the taking back of unloved surfaces, spaces reclaimed both my human hand and nature's growth. Layers,

More details, links and such: www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

AN ANNOUNCEMENT: More cultivation....

2012-01-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

AN ANNOUNCEMENT: So, as you know, the six month project that is "Cultivate, Vyner Street" is/was set to come to an end on March 7th. We planned to end it all with a violently beautiful splash of explosive colour at the start of March and leave in a blaze of paint-splattered contradiction. However, we can now announce that we shall carry on for the summer and until we tire of Vyner Street (or Vyner Street tires of us).

We started this Cultivate project back in September, we've had some great shows and some really positive reaction, we've just about survived, frayed fingernails and money worries, but we've got this far on our own terms. We've had some great support from fellow artists and from people who get what we're trying to do, times are tough and it is a constant fight for survival, but today we are pleased to announce that we carry on with the Cultivate project, for the foreseeable future, down Vyner Street... Right then, Black show almost sorted, vinyl show coming up for Record Store day in April, lots of ideas and shows to put in place...

Everything must go on... No sleep 'till....

Are you with us?

ARTIST CALL for Black at Cultivate...

2012-01-09T03:53:00.000-08:00

Busy pulling together a rather black group show for February today, well actually, the call went out a few weeks ago and space is filling up fast. We are being picky though, it does have to be right for the feel of our room at Cultivate and is does have to flow as a whole with the rest of the work in the space. Here's the call...

ARTIST CALL... "BLACK" February First Thursday @ Cultivate Vyner Street

A call to invite artists who would like to be part of ...a group show called BLACK. Black will happen at Cultivate Vyner street during the first two weeks of February. The show will open on First Thursday February 2nd and run until February 14th

We shall say no more than the subject is BLACK, you can interpret that in any way you wish, it is deliberately deliciously vague and open to all kinds of colourful possibilities.

Artists, creatives, makers, do'ers, blackhearts and everyone who want to be involved, all you have ot do is simply submit a j.peg of any piece you wish to be considered for the Black show, along with a link ot your website, Facebook page or somewhere we can find out more about you. We have no other criteria other than "Black", we'll pick our way carefully through all the submissions, we'll say a positive "yes" to those pieces/people we feel fit the space and fit in with what we've already gathered, we'll reply with a polite "no" to the things we don't think quite right this time (and await your angry replies when we do say no - we are picky and it does have to feel right).

We don't charge a submission fee (we really don't hold with that idea), however if we do say yes and invite you to be involved, we will ask you to make a small contribution of £30 to help cover the costs of putting on the show, the gallery rent, publicity and such. We're open and upfront about this, we're artists doing all this ourselves and the contribution is about helping to cover costs and keeping this space open so we can present art on our terms, cultivate things while you get to show some art right in the middle of Vyner Street and First Thursday.

Image submissions, size of piece, medium and website links and a short hello to info@cultivatevynerstreet.com - we don't need any long artist statements or such, just an image of a proposed piece, the size, the medium and a link to a website so we can see a little more about you...

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

"Mister, is that supposed to be an art fing...."

2012-01-02T03:28:00.000-08:00

"Mister, is that supposed to be an art fing that's been left over there or is it just a van that caught fire?" said the gang of ten year old BMX kids who live in the neighbourhood and always come in to Cultivate to ask such good questions (and possibly try and nick my cans of spray paint). That van has been for a couple of days now and no one can resist looking in or kicking it, no one had tagged... it yet, but it is proving to be the most popular piece of 'art' in Vyner street this week.

We'll be open down at Cultivate again today, I know we don't usually open on Mondays, but this is a bank holiday and your last real chance to see the Art Is For Life show and it really was the point that we don't stop for Christmas and art galleries aren't about cheap mince pies and mulled wine and "pop up" gift shops and so many people have been coming down the street looking for art over the last week. Hard to compete with the art in the street this week though and I do rather like the idea that a burnt out van in Vyner street automatically has the local kids thinking it to be an art installation rather than just a burnt out van and that they didn't listen to the cynical 50 something who was passing by and told them not to be silly and that it was "just an insurance job"

HAPPY NEW YEAR, TIME FOR THE JANUARY SALES at CULTIVATE....

2012-01-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

Just sent out a newsletter to the Cultivate mailing list, don's see why we can't post it here as well. Did you enter 2012 in one piece, I did it in with canvas, easel and a party, black paint as the bells rung the new year in, always like to start things in a creative way... here's the newsletter...

HAPPY NEW YEAR, TIME FOR THE JANUARY SALES at CULTIVATE....

First Cultivate Vyner Street newsletter of 2012, happy new year, hope the end of year holidays were good, thanks to everyone who's been along to our Art Is For Life show over the holiday period, we're open this Bank Holiday Monday 2nd Jan then down it all comes to make way for the January Sales and EVERYTHING MUST GO.

Opening night Thursday 5th January 2012, sale runs from... Friday 6th until Sunday 15th January....

Everything must go, a January sale and a gallery wall (and floor) consisting of those pieces us artists need to clear out in order to make room for the space needed for all the fresh creativity that must take place in the new year. A January sale of the things left behind in the gallery after the all the busy shows of 2011, along with the art that needs to be cleared out of various selected artists' studios in order to make way for the things that we are compelled to create in 2012... A sale that, just like every other January sale that's happening around about now in every high street big and small, is about the clearing out those things left, making space ready for the new clothes, the new shoes, the new art, creating the space needed to start it all again in 2012.... Everything must go, what price art anyway? Come grab a bargain in our January sale...

What price art? is the question we've been asking at Cultivate in 2011, the question we were asking with the Stinging Netil last summer, with Free Art Thursday, with the art drops and the painted vinyl left in trees, the painted cardboard left on tube trains, the painted canvas left on canal banks, that and all the questions thrown up by last September's very well received What Price Art show at Cultivate Vyner Street, as well as the end of 2011 Art Is For life show that responded to all the pop up Christmas art shops and their mulled-wine-fuelled sales, all the consumerism and the giant new East London shopping malls piled high with 'stuff' for people to buy buy buy, rush and buy,.start the sales, a time of plenty as all around us the economy crashes... These are times of plenty, make way for more, everything must go...

Everything must go, what price art anyway? Come grab a bargain in our January sale... For two weeks only, art at knock down prices, massive savings, bargains, discounts at Cultivate Vyner Street

We shall have a WHAT PRICE ART? wall, a wall full of art that follows up the 2011 What Price Art? show. A show where once again YOU the buyer will be the ones setting the price and where we the artists will not negotiate, whatever you say in terms of price, will be the price you buy the piece for, be it one penny or one million pounds...

Some ot the January sales, we open this Thursday, What price art anyway?

(artists wishing to join in on the opening nights of during the two weeks, should get in touch via info@cultivate Vyner Street)

Happy New Year

Sean, Emma and the Cultivate team

P.S First Thursday of February sees the opening of a two week group show called Black, artists who want more details and would like to get involved in the show and submit work should get in touch for details...

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

ART IS FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS...

2011-12-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

I don't know, every single gallery space, market stall and 'pop-up' shop seems hell bent of getting us to buy art for Christmas, growinn just a tiny bit tired of all the hard sell...

We had one of the bigger established gallery businesses in our street send one of their staff out with a bucket of paste and a whole load of big flyposters demanding "This Christmas buy art, not crap", only to have the gallery owner on the other side of us take offense at said gallery's flyposting on his wall and tip the bucket of glue over said gallery worker's head... Police were called, posters ripped down, gallery people retired to their galleries to sell their Christmas art and a strange tension echoed down Vyner Street. The poster he paisted on our wall soon had a black leafheart growing on it (well these things do grow rather quickly...). Art isn't just for Christmas though is it? Surely it needs constant love and attention, it needs good light and consideration, art is for life isn't it?

ART IS FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS...

Coming your way on 20th December, a two week group show and events to take us through the holidays, through the now traditional (street art) painting outside day that is boxing day and on through the New Year burning our way straight in to 2012....

Late night opening Christmas party private view (who knows why they're called private views, everyone is welcome), 6pm until at least 9pm on Tuesday December 20th

While everyone else is busy flogging art for Christmas, we're carrying straight on through with a group show, the Cultivate Solstice/Christmas party and more (we didn't say we didn't like Christmas, just all the almost cynical sell sell sell... maybe we'll have a free art Chrismas exchange?)

As you know, our now famous "Art Is For Life" slogan was created by Clarissa Baldwin, Chief Executive, in 1978, sadly it is still as relevant today as it was back then. The longstanding campaign aims to raise awareness of the consequences of treating art as gifts or toys. Every year hundreds of thousands of children plead for the latest fad or top toy on the market, only to discard them a few weeks after Christmas when the novelty wears off. Unfortunately, the same perception is also apparent with art. We are continually seeking to change this.

Art is for life, not just for Christmas.

We could have just closed the doors for three weeks, but that really isn't the Cultivate way, is there anything worse than an empty art gallery with locked door? We considered a number of options, we talked to an artist about painting it all, he talked a good talk but turned out to be a flake... Two days ago we decided that we'd just fill the walls with exciting art, put up another group show and fly in to 2012 with our walls full of inspiring paintings, and invite everyone to come see what we have, join in with our events, just use the time to do creative art-full things rather than sittting around watching bad TV, eating unhealthy food and wondering what people made of that art you bought them for Christmas....

Artists are being invited, entertainment booked, wine mulled and.....something a little more than a pop up Christmas art market in out gallery if you know what I mean... And it might just be our one and only New Year in the street, come celebrate with us....

"What is Cultivate and how did it come about?" An interview..

2011-12-07T04:25:00.001-08:00

Did this e.mail interview a few weeks ago, well someone sent in the questions, I replied, and not a word of response since, who knows what happened there? I'm sure there's some perfectly understandable reason for the lack of response, but rather than let it all go to waste, I'll post the answered here, some of it is already out of date, what with the Something Blue show already over at Cultivate and plans already moving on, but hey, I though the answers gave a little more background with regards to the Cultivate project and what we're trying to do... (that photo there is of the Mia Pfeifer film projected on our front wall on December First Thursday)

Hi Sean,
I really like what Cultivate is all about though so would love to help spread the word via this. Let me know if you think you could answer a few lines on each - if you have time to do it this week we could do it to help promote Something Blue next week, if not we can do it in a couple of weeks time.

What is Cultivate and how did it come about?

Cultivate is essentially just another London gallery space, the full name is Cultivate Vyner Street. I'd like to think we're doing things slightly differently to most galleries, for a start we are essentially a (very) small group of artists doing it ourselves rather than gallery people trying to make money out of artists. Part of the motivation was the frustration with the way artists are currently treated by far too many gallery owners in London, the almost cynical gallery hire prices in any significant area, the commissions, the restrictions, the way gallery people try and control everything for their own ends. We found it a better option financially to rent the space and try and run a gallery for ourselves and our fellow artists than pay the outrageous hire prices others are asking in order for us to put on a even week long show in other spaces in the street (or in Redchurch Street or Brick Lane or any other significant East London art street…) We also felt that most galleries were rather conservative in terms of the number of shows they did put on, that we weren’t being excited by what they were doing, they way they hide behind closed doors and don't seem to welcome people in any friendly kind of way, the way the same shows hang around for ages, we just wanted things to happen a little more on our terms rather than theirs. It isn't by accident that we've chosen to land ourselves right smack bang in the middle of Vyner street and everything that Vyner street stands for in terms of the East London art scene. At the moment we have the space for six months, we may carry on, we may stop, we may take the Cultivate name and ideal somewhere else, it may take another form. Part of this is about understanding the process from the gallery point of view, rather than just moaning about it we thought we'd take in on and see... What is Cultivate? For now Cultivate is a small artist-run gallery space in Vyner Street, East London.

What is the cultivate space working on next?

Well we currently have a two week group show called Something Blue in the gallery, twenty two artists and their rather diverse blue creativity, this is a follow up to the rather well received Red group show we put on a couple of months ago, as well as the Something Borrowed show curated rather beautifully by Twinkle Troughton and Tinsel Edwards last month. Alongside the Something Blue show, we have the first showing of a film called Immersed In My Dream by Mia Pfeifer this coming First Thursday December 1st. The film will be projected, on a loop, on our outside wall for the whole of the evening. We then have an installation work from an artist called Jaye Kim opening on on December 9th, and that is followed by a two day group show from a group of artists called the Meenan Sisters opening on December 12th. The Meenan Sisters are followed by another group show put together by another group of interesting artists, this one is called Add Mixture and opens on December 15th for four days. No intention of slowing down for the holidays, keep watching for details of Christmas and New Year events, we want to fit in a painted vinyl records show at some point, we plan an art show fund raiser called This Is How He Draws A Dog for the start of the year then we kick in with the 3x3 shows in January. The 3x3 shows are three week long shows that will take place in the first three weeks of January, starting on January 6th, we plan three week-long shows where we showcase three artists each week, each artist taking a wall each, three artists each week for three weeks. Then the VV collective take over the space for a week long group show of portraits that opens on Last Thursday... then on to February First Thursday and through to the first week of March and what will possibly be our last week in the space... unless we carry on...

What would you advise someone hoping to catch a glimpse of the art world in East London?

Well I guess First Thursday is the evening when pretty much every space is open, that is a decent starting point, an exciting vibrant night but it does get awfully crowded. First Thursday is as much a social event and a chance to network (and drink the free wine and beer) as much as it is a chance to really explore the art. First Thursday is a good way of seeing what is about and then picking out what you want to go back to have a proper peaceful relaxed look at. Vyner Street is good on the weekends when there's usually about a dozen of the many galleries open, there's galleries and art spaces everywhere in East London (as well as the walls and the streets themselves), there's always something new to find - just went out for a pint of milk and found a one day show going on at Ground Floor Left, hard to avoid art over on this side of town, these are exciting time. Things are always going on, art is everywhere in East London, just keep your eyes peeled. In some ways I think First Thursday is the worst night to go exploring, I much prefer the other Thursdays when there aren't so many crowds and there's still lots to discover and pretty much always a dozen or so galleries having opening late nights. We had a great opening last Thursday at Cultivate, meanwhile Wayward opened a show next door and the Mowlem Street gallery just down the road had an opening (as did Fred, but they do tend to keep themselves at arms length and not want to advertise or have much to do with the likes of us). We do like to publish details of other Vyner Street (and surrounding area) openings, events and such on our Cultivate Facebook page (unlike some galleries, we don't see other events as competition, the more happening the better is the way we see it). Facebook pages are great sources of information as far as art is concerned, vital for art actually, especially when it seems so difficult to get a listing in places like Time Out (we can’t get them or the Whitechapel gallery people to list anything of ours on the official First Thursday website but we do note that this month they’re using a photo of the crowds outside Cultivate to illustrate how busy First Thursday is).

Best way to glimpse East London art? Take a weekend walk along the canal and see what’s gone up on the walls this week, then take a turn by the bridge at the top of Vyner street and come see what we all have to offer in the galleries (big and small, that big black door on the Wilkinson gallery may look unwelcoming and they may look like they don’t actually want the public in their space but the art is always good…)

What's happening this first Thursday?

Well this December First Thursday we have the Something Blue group show on, we open the show is the last week of November - lobster claws, blue apples and all kinds of things... we also have the showing of a new Mia Pfeifer film projected on a rather large scale on the outside of the gallery for three hours on the Evening of First Thursday. January First Thursday (I know there isn't an official First Thursday in January, but we're still there and everyone is welcome) we have the first of the 3x3 shows, but like I just said, it really isn't all about First Thursday, we like to think we have something to offer on every Thursday and not just once a month. Every Thursday, or every weekend or every Friday afternoon or... For instance, two Thursdays ago we had a great event called Free Art Thursday, we had about 30 artists leave about 100 pieces of art on the street outside the gallery, or on the outside walls outside, lots of people came along, the only rule was that they could only take one piece, we staggered the putting out of the art so there was a healthy flow of work all night, we had street artists, yarn bombers, we had amazingly big pieces of complex canvas work... First Thursday, second Thursday, last Thursday, every Thursday. Come see Something Blue…

What price art was one of your first shows and it caused a stir by being a very different way of exhibiting and selling art whilst engaging the viewer. What was the idea?

Yes, What Price Art was one of our early shows, another Thursday night opening and a weekend event. The idea was, in some ways, an attempt to explore the vulnerability of the artist in terms of gallery prices, survival and the harsh reality of money, the simple complicated act of putting a physical price on your creativity. For one weekend we handed over all control to the viewers, the rule was that we could not price, suggest, argue, negotiate oursleves, the viewer (or potential buyer) named the price and that was it. We asked people to respect the idea but yes, someone could have cleared out the gallery straight away for a couple of pounds if they had decided to pay 1p a piece and do just that... Artists were just invited to come and join in, word was spread and the event was open to everyone, even though it was a bit of a last minute thing, we had lots of people taking part both in terms of the artists and the people coming to the gallery. The pricing of art and the selling environment is something that interests me anyway, questioning the price of art is something I’ve been addressing for the last couple of years with art left on the street, art left in other galleries, sold on market stalls alongside fruit and veg, sold via ebay to the highest with opening prices of 1p and such, I’ve organised reasonable priced art fairs in galleries, we did the Stinging Netil earlier this year – an event where we hired a whole East London market for a day, all the stalls and the infrastructure, we had about 40 stalls and about 60 artists selling art – I could go on about these ideas and the notions of a piece of art being of no more or less worth that say a CD or…

So yes, the What Price Art show at Cultivate was met with all kinds of reactions, emotions and responses. Some artists bough serious pieces that they clearly valued lots, others brought what you might consider throwaway pieces, others reacted directly with hand painted dollar bills and such. We had a couple of artists back out when it came to actually putting their work on the walls, they just couldn’t do it, which I think was fair enough, no one was forced to put their art on the walls. Some people wanted to put suggested prices on their art but that really wasn’t the idea, indeed we got asked so many times by people who wanted pieces, to suggest a price or at least hint at something, people coming in to the gallery found it really difficult and some said they found is all rather intimidating to name a price. Quite often people just couldn’t do it, when they did they were very defensive and almost apologising as they named a price . Most pieces did sell for reasonable fair prices, a couple of pieces went for more than expected, one piece sold for 1p, I think that person just wanted to see if I would really let him buy it for 1p, I did. We had people coming in saying they had £20 in their pocket and had come down with the intention of buying one piece. By the end of the weekend we’d sold around thirty pieces and we ended it with maybe too many of my own pieces on the wall to fill in the spaces left by sold art. I was happy to sell my work at whatever price people wanted to pay, if that’s what they thought it was worth then so be it, I sold one big canvas for £5, the canvas itself probably cost me more than that to buy, but fine, the person seemed to really want it and said she honest could only afford five pound, and yes, I am up to my eyes in debt and everyday is about survival both for me as an artist and Cultivate as an art space, but that was fine, she was happy, I was happy. I did find myself getting very angry inside as I sold a big Maria Slovakova piece for £7.50, I was rather shocked to find I wanted to yell at the person buying it, had to walk away and calm down, how could the person stand there and pay so little for beautifully crafted piece of art, it wasn’t a small piece of work, it was pib canvas with hours of work put in to it (I ended up giving Maria one of my pieces I knew she really liked by way of apology even though she was really fine about it and fully understood what we were doing). We had one woman almost in tears as she nervously worked up to paying £20 for a Joanna Rose Tidey print, she said she loved it but that’s all she could afford, she came in again a few weeks later saying she felt guilty and wanted to pay more, I wouldn’t take any more money but we did share an excellent hour talking about art and how intimidating galleries can be and how she liked the relaxed feel of Cultivate, she’s been in several times since on her way home from work or brought in co-workers during her lunch hour, brought me some food in the other day… We’re rather enjoying the adventure so far, What Price Art was one of several highlights, had so many long chats and debates with people over those four days.

And did any reactions surprise you?

My own very angry reaction mostly, an almost violent angry reaction to someone buying a the big Maria Slovakova piece that only just managed to keep to myself. I was surprised by the number of people who couldn’t deal with naming their own price, by how emotional they got, how intimidated some people seemed to be, or confused, one or two got rather angry when I wuld name a price. I wasn’t surprised by a couple of the more corporate galleries in the street who thought we were “devaluing art” and “messing with the rules a little too much” and that “artists should stick to making the art and galleries should stick to business of selling that art for them”. There were some surprising reactions to What Price Art, indeed we’ve had some very interesting reactions and conversation all the way through this Cultivate experience. Vyner Street is an interesting place, all you working artists should come experience the ups and downs, the highs and lows…

What in your opinion are the challenges facing artists and galleries today?

Well there are so many challenges, galleries need to respect artists a little more, artists need to understand what goes in to running a gallery (we’ve certainly learnt a lot), galleries need to think about a bit more unity, a healthy art scene and vibrant clusters of galleries are a good thing, it isn’t about competition, there should be room for everyone. I have to say I’m a little disappointed with the attitudes of some of the other galleries in Vyner Street, a bit more unity would be a good thing (although things are nowhere near as bad here in East London as they were in West London where the attempt to replicate First Thursday with a West London First Wednesday seem to completely fail. We found ourselves virtually pushed out of West London by the small group of galleries who seemed to want to control everything in a very negative way, I found being based in West London and trying to get things going a rather depressing fight, my year in East London has been rather positive in as many ways and West London was negative. I’d say the main challenge is for everyone to pull together and keep things evolving, keep it fresh, vibrant and exciting and not to take any of what we already have here in the East for granted, so easy for people to be cynical about East London and the art scene but I find it positive and exciting. I do fear that good things we do have going on here in East London won’t last though, the creeping signs of gentrification along with rent price hikes and business rate increases forcing people out of their studios and galleries “because of the Olympics that will benefit us all”. Had a very disappointing chat with the owner of the building where Cultivate gallery is housed about how the rent will have to go up “significantly” if we want to carry on, “well you are getting lots of people in, you must be doing well and the Olympics are coming and blah blah…” enjoy these times while you can, we might just be about to become victims of our perceived success. Gentrification is closing down art spaces, we’re all going to be priced out of London soon. In the meantime everyone needs to pull together and keep it all evolving. We’re finding running a gallery to be an exciting thing, we’re really enjoying discovering artists and showing their work, 90% of the experience had been very rewarding so far, but it will be a challenge for us to keep it all going…

Urban Curations, new layers, First Thursday crowd photos and three months in...

2011-11-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

I meant to keep this blog far more active and pass on the experience of the Cultivate gallery experiment and such, never enough hours in the day. We expected it to be a lot of work but it really has become a full on eight day a week affair that sucks up every waking hour. No such thing as time off or a break, a non stop operation of sorting, booking, hanging, looking after, administrating, and the occasional massive ego who really has no idea what goes in to keeping the doors open on a shoestring budget.

We've had the doors open for almost three months now, in fact it will be three months ago tomorrow that we first picked up the keys at 3pm, cleared out all the rubbish, the old beds and everything else, and opened the doors three hours later at 6pm for September First Thursday. So three months have passed and we enjoy our fourth First Thursday evening tomorrow. We're in the second week of our Something Blue group show. new art is being added to our walls for the second week of the blue show, 23 artists and their interpretations of the title. We've had nine events or shows or exhibitions during the first three months of Cultivate and I'm guessing we've shown the work of around 200 artists (rather proud of that fact actually).

I think we can say we've created quite a buzz down Vyner Street, indeed we see the official Whitechapel/TimeOut First Thursday website is currently using a photo of Cultivate and the crowd at our gallery to illustrate how popular their event is. Shame we've not be able to get them to list any of events or even respond to us thus far.. I guess it is all about the little galleries and new spaces feeding new energy in to things like First Thursday and the general East London art scene - went to a great show in a recently opened space in E8 called Ground Floor Left last night and today I've been delivering a piece to the Artefacto Galeria in Netil House here in Hackney ready for the opening of a show called Urban Curations

The big Vins and Eva canvas that has been evolving and evolving and that was last seen in my solo show at Cultivate earlier this month, now has another layer on it and a new Wilfred exploding with colourful leaf noise at the foot of painting The piece will be on show for a month at the Urban Curations exhibition that opens this Saturday evening December 3rd and then runs from December 5th until January 3rd, rather looking forward to the opening on Saturday night , there looked to be some rather good work waiting to be hung when I battled the high winds and delivered my piece earlier today

That big piece is two and a half metres high, don't really get a sense of the size from that photo up there. Rather like working on bigger pieces...

Right then, time to get on with the Something Blue publicity and booking in the next shows and getting us through the Christmas and New Year period with the Cultivate doors still open and art still glowing on the walls...

I wonder what I’ll paint for you tonight...

2011-11-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

I had a good day yesterday, spent most of a very blue sky filled Sunday at the gallery, most of the time painting outside the front door while people came in to see the current Something Blue show we have on. Even the news that the gallery rent is to go up 'significantly', because "you're clearly doing well here and the Olympics is coming and the council is putting up the tax to pay for the Olympics, everything is going up to cover the cost of the Olympics but you'll be OK, you'll make loads of money out of people coming to the Olympics won't you, Vyner Street is really coming to life again, it is going to cost you more money to stay here, it such a good space you have, the rent will have to go up blahblahblah..." We never said we saw it as anything more than a six month experiment anyway.... Landlord needs to remember who it is putting a big slice of that life back in to the street and that the space was empty for months before we took on the challenge...

Anyway, yesterday was good, not even the idiot dishing out the abuse because we won't give him the gallery for three weeks for nothing so he can... nah enough of him. The biggest downside of this gallery experiment so far is the small handful of artists who think they're something big but don't actually seem to have any kind of body of work, who think they're doing you a favour by allowing you the honour of showing their work... Maybe he should go talk about the rent increase with the landlord and explain to Mr Landlord that there should be no rent because said artist deserves everything for nothing because he's an 'important artist" ... We're only just keeping this all alive as it is. Amazing how some people think just by calling themselves an artist they become more important than the rest of humanity and the world owes them a living... Tough thing keeping a gallery open and the walls exciting on a budget of nothing, tried explaining the maths but no, rich boy "art terrorist" thinks he had the right to our walls to do what the hell he wants with no consideration for others ans when we say no it doesn't quite work like that, he can post a load of rubbish about how... nah, enough. Most of the artists involved in the space so far, have been excellent, committed realists who love what they're doing and understand the harsh realities, the spirit and how we're trying to do it just a little differently...

Anyway, yesterday was a good day, not everyday you get to play one of your all time favourite records on the radio with one of the makers of said record sitting opposite you... It was a pleasure to have Gaye Black (AKA Gaye Advert) on the radio show talking is such an excited way about the art show she has curated and well as her musical enthusiasm and current love of black metal. The show, Punk and Beyond is on at the Signal Gallery in East London, loads of people from bands you love with their art, people from Crass, Devo, Subhumans, Husker Du, MC5 and loads more. We'll have a podcast of the interview/radio show up on line later, lots of interesting bits about how the exhibition at Signal came together and such

I met Gaye when she dropped by Cultivate a couple of weeks ago for Free Art Thursday, (with her friend Tina, from a rather good band of times past that we covered in Organ, a band called Suicide Milkshake). Must secretly say I was delighted when Gaye picked up one of the pieces I'd left out for Free Art Thursday. I probably shouldn't say it, don't want to embarrass anyone, but hey, I'm a fan, I loved The Adverts and especially the glories piece of musical energy that is One Chord Wonders (Gary Gilmore's Eyes always hit a spot as well, looking through someone else's cornea and all that, that song ran around my head lots in the eye hospital, sitting there waiting for someone to fall off their motorbike so I could have a piece of their eye they didn't need any more) .

So we got talking about the Punk and Beyond exhibition she was/is curating and what Punk and Beyond was all about (well we talked more about black metal bands...), so we invited her to come talk on our radio show on Resonance FM...

So yesterday was a good day, radio days are always good, and days down at the gallery when so many positive people come in to look and chat and ask and share are good. Great chat with Gaye both on and off air, the excitement of pulling together an art show, the difficulty of herding the artists, of having to trust the Royal Mail, of hanging the show in the right way and how draining it all is... and how exciting it all is... what a buzz showing other people's art is... well when the art and the people making it are worth the effort... sometimes it is just thankless stress..

So yesterday was a good day. Gallery doesn't open on Mondays, today is mostly about sorting out the next shows, doing the book keeping, the publicity, catching up with emails from artists, people interested in the artists, arguing with landlord about penalising the hard work we've put in to making Cultivate work by throwing the rent up over 30% and blaming it all on the Olympics and the fact that Vyner Street has a buzz again... and hopefully finding time to paint

Yesterday was a good day...

I wonder what I’ll paint for you tonight
Something heavy or something light
Something to set your soul alight
I wonder how I’ll answer when you say
‘We don’t like you – go away
Come back when you’ve learnt to....

GETTING READY FOR SOMETHING BLUE...

2011-11-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for tomorrow's open of the Something Blue group show at Cultivate. We're nearly three months in to our Vyner Street experiment.

Today was spent waiting for the twenty one other artists taking part to deliver their pieces. Always good to unwrap the arriving art and see it all in the flesh. Putting together a show based on website images is always a little bit of a risk.

Didn't waste the waiting time, fresh blue flavours of Montana Gold and something blue painted and just maybe ready to go on the gallery wall tomorrow.

Sold three pieces of hand painted seven inch vinyl to the van driver delivering art from one of the other people taking part in Something Blue, I like unexpected things like that...

Something Blue is a show where artists have simply been asked to submit their interpretations of blue. This is a follow up to the rather successful Red show we put on two months ago, as well as Twinkle and Tinsel's Something Borrowed show that the two girls put together at Cultivate for last month's First Thursday....

TO HER, Trillion Green, Elizabeth Soyer and the story behind a painting...

2011-11-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

I sold a piece called To Her at my recent show of paintings. The buyer ask me if I could write down the story behind the piece that I told at the gallery, along with some information about my work. The piece is mixed media on canvas, 60cm x 90cm... (I'm off to deliver it later today...)

SEAN WORRALL - TO HER. - Painting, mixed media on canvas, 2010.

Sean Worrall's current body of paintings explore the notions of new layers reclaiming those things that are left decay, notions of Trillion Green and the Captain's Table, the idea that our cities will eventually be covered and lost in new layers, first in the short term as we use them as a street art canvas then as nature paints her leaf shaped beauty. Sean's paintings explore the taking back of old walls, the growing over, the freshness of new leaves, new marks, old surfaces, always growing, new weathered marks over old faded marks, new layers, new leaves, fresh leaves, new growth over old, new shoots, new paint over old, new street art on old city walls, new art over old walls, layer over layer, the covering up, the taking back of unloved surfaces, spaces reclaimed both my human hand and nature's growth.

New graffiti, nature's leaf graffiti, growing on walls, over old concrete, Kensal Green cometary, grown over, new leaves growing under, new marks on old marks, rain marks, rain drops, new leaves over old leaves, new street art marks obscuring old man-made marks, green shoots, instant shapes of spray paint, red shoes, green rain, Montana Gold, To Her....New leaves, revealing the old, evolving, regenerating, the taking back, plant life, street art, plants as street art, plant shape as pop art, organic graffiti, found things painted on, grown on, green shoots and buds taking back...

TO HER is a painting created in late summer 2010 ahead of a show of work at the Dissenters Chapel, Kensal Green Cemetery. London - a place alive with fresh growth over old, new leaves over old stones... The painting is a celebration of painter Elizabeth Emma Soyer and Alexis Benoist Soyer's monument of worship to her, it is also a celebration of Her, pagan notions of the goddess, of green..

TO HER is also a monument of worship To Her, Painter Elizabeth Emma Soyer (nee Jones), that is to be found in Kensal Green Cemetery...

"Elizabeth Emma Jones was born in London in 1813. In 1836 she married Alexis Benoist Soyer the famous Chef de Cuisine of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London. She died on the 29th of August, 1842, aged twenty-nine. She showed talent from a very young age and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823, at barely ten years old. This highly accomplished artist focused on portraiture and studies of nature. Her works were popularised through engravings and she went on to exhibit at the Paris Salon from 1840-42. Her reputation in France stood higher than even her native country. She was regarded as unusual and precociously gifted. Her works were admired because they were said to have been marked by great vigour and breadth of light and shadow."

Elizabeth Soyer died during child birth in 1842. A "said to be devastated" Alexis Soyer had the grand pedestal tomb erected in 1844. Designed by her husband Alexis, a leading (early celebrity) chef and dietician of the 19th centur. Carved by Pierre Puyenbroeck of Brussels, the monument had a permanent gas powered eternal flame that burnt until the 1930's when apparently someone at the cemetery company worked out they were actually paying the gas bill. The monument fell in to (what some would say was) beautifully natural decay until cleaned and restored by Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery in 2009.

Kensal Green is an inspiring place (especially the overgrown parts), the idea of Trillian (or the Captains Table) and the leaf growth taking back man-made objects in such an organically beautiful way... leaves wrapped around crosses, words on stones weathered away, fading in a way street art on buildings never quite does... layers and layers to visually peel back and explore.. words, shapes, leaves, lives... To Her in so many ways...

FREE ART THURSDAY... PRESS RELEASE

2011-11-16T06:35:00.001-08:00

CULTIVATE VYNER STREET PRESS RELEASE - NOVEMBER 2011

FREE ART THURSDAY...

Free Art Thursday on the street outside of Cultivate, come leave some free art, come get some free art.

Free Art Thursday will happen on Thursday afternoon/evening, November 17th, at, in and around Cultivate Vyner Street.

Cultivate is an artist run space, we've planted our flag right in the middle of the East London establishment art road that in Vyner Steer. This is not an accidental planting, rather than joining in with the continual humming note of artist moan about how they're treated by London galleries, a small group of us thought we'd go on to 'their' patch and do it ourselves. Thought we'd find out first hand about the reality of running a space as a functioning commercial gallery. We've survived two and a half months and a number of rather successful shows so far including the Wahat Prive Art event where buyers set the price, the 22 hours event that saw is take over the place, empty it out of al lthe junk, paint the walls and get a packed group show open for September First Thursday with 22 hours notice...

"Cultivate is fast becoming the First Thursday place to be, right on the corner in the middle on Vyner Street, the recent Red and Something Borrowed shows were a triumph" (Resonance FM)

Cultivate will be open late on Thursday 17th November for the current two week "Sean Worrall - Paintings" show, other galleries in the street have openings/private views on on the night of the 17th, Set Aymot has an interesting looking show at Gallery Twenty One, just over the road from Cultivate), Sean is well known for leaving bits of art on the street, in the trees, on buses, trains - painted pieces of vinyl, canvas pieces. A number of other artists have been joining in outside the door and on the window ledges of Cultivate in recent weeks and so... let's get it a little more organised with the first of what we hope will be several events called FREE ART THURSDAY

This Thursday we'll have art left outside Cultivate (or just inside if the weather is bad) as well as around the street near the gallery. Artists are encouraged to come join in and leave pieces, people will be encouraged to come take a piece (no more than a piece each please, don't grab it all, leave some for others), Sean will be leaving a load of painted pieces of cardboard, canvas, vinyl (records) and such, we'll announce other artists involved as they declare themselves part of the event, we'll start at 5pm and carry on until 9pm or later if we need to (anything left over we'll cleaned up and we'll give away the next day or over the weekend at the gallery).

We have about 20 other artists confirmed now, the list is growing by the hour as the word spreads... watch the websites and facebook pages for updates...

Come join in...

Marina (Cultivate / Organ magazine)
020 3222 5042

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com
http://facebook.com/sean.worrall1

FREE ART THURSDAY

2011-11-16T02:28:00.000-08:00

Free Art Thursday will happen on the street outside of Cultivate, come leave some free art or come get some free art.

Cultivate is a gallery right in the middle of the frontline East London art-filled gallery-laced road that is Vyner Street,(London E2 9HE)

Free Art Thursday will happen on Thursday afternoon/evening, November 17th, at, in and around Cultivate Vyner Street, while my "Sean Worrall - Paintings" show is on and open for a Thursday late night at the gallery (and while other galleries in the street have openings/private views, Set Aymot has an interesting looking show at Gallery Twenty One, just over the road from Cultivate).

We'll have art left outside Cultivate (or just inside if the weather is bad) as well as around the street by the gallery. Artists will be encouraged to come join in and leave leave pieces, people will be encouraged to come take a piece (no more than a piece each please, don't grab it all, leave some for others), I shall be leaving a load of painted pieces of cardboard, vinyl (records) and such, we'll announce other artists involved as they declare themselves part of the event, we'll start at 5pm and carry on until 9pm (anything left over we'll clean up and I'll give away the next day or over the weekend).

Come join in, spread the word and come join in...

Cultivate is an artist-run space, we're trying to shake things up just a little.... come be part of it...

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

East London solo show, November 2011

2011-11-15T16:40:00.000-08:00

Busy times, blog neglected again, solo show already entering the second week down Vyner Street, this Thursday we expand out to the street as well as the filling the gallery walls inside

CALL FOR ARTISTS: LITTLE BENEFITS @ CULTIVATE VYNER STREET, EAST LONDON

2011-10-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR ARTISTS: LITTLE BENEFITS @ CULTIVATE VYNER STREET, EAST LONDON

- if you wish to be considered, and want to be involved then please get in touch...

A benefit show to run from Oct 20th to Oct 30th 2011 We are now entering our second month in the Cultivate gallery space. As you may or may not already know, this is a six month project (that may just evolve to be something longer term if we can survive?). We’re a small group of artists doing it ourselves rather than just accepting the London gallery system and moaning about the way it all works. Cultivate is about trying to do things just a little differently while also trying to understand things from the gallery point of view.

Little Benefits will be our sixth busy show in the excellently situated space right in the middle of one of the busiest art streets in East London. . We’re doing all this gallery running business ourselves, we don’t have any funding or backing. The reality is we have to pay the rent cheque at the end of each month. It will be tough to survive the winter months, it is important that we do survive right in the middle of what has become the establishment of Vyner Street, that we challenge things just a little rather than just accepting the way the galleries run things. So we need you artists and creative creatures to come help us (and while you help us, help yourselves by getting some work on the wall of a gallery that’s right in the middle of one of East London’s busiest art streets).

From the opening Thursday night of Little Benefits on October 20th until October 30th we want the pack our walls with a very busy vibrant exciting group show of smaller affordable pieces of work. We want the work on the walls to be on sale at no more than £100 per piece.

We’re looking for artwork that’s no bigger than 30cm x 40cm – paintings, prints, canvas pieces, drawings - just as long as it something we’re happy to show on our walls (we will be picky, the art has to be right for the space and the space has to be right for the art). There will be a small fee of £10 per piece we hang - this is the benefit element of the show. We won't be taking any commission for any work sold. I do rather think this is a fair and reasonable deal for all involved, little benefits for everyone...

Artists who want to be involved should get in touch with j.pegs of work and such for more details Please send j.pegs, weblinks and thoughts to us via info@cultivatevynerstreet.com

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

Sean

CULTIVATE VYNER STREET AND THE ONGOING STORY OF THE OPENING OF A GALLERY

2011-09-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well this running a gallery space in the middle of what is now, I guess, the East London art establishment, is proving to be very interesting indeed. One month in to the six month project now and we're having a very interesting time, Lots of positive reactions from artists, visitors, art viewers and such, and fair to say just a little touch of hostility from those engaged in the business of art around about us - bigger galleries who tell me there are set ways of doing things, those who seem to make thier living 'advising' artists from their Vyner Street offices and such. I don't know, if it was me on the street and a new gallery had opened and put on four really interesting shows in the first month or exisitance then I might just make te effort to cross the road and have a look and say hello? Let's not start off on a negative note though, so far we've had a very positive very interesting expereince and as we prepare for our fifth show opening and our second First Thursday event, we're feeling rather pleased with how it has all gone..

So yes, we got a little fed up with the way things were going in terms of having to crawl through financial hoops in order to show our work. The outragious prices a big proportion of the decenty placed galleries seem to charge for hire or commission they take. And so rather than just go on moaning about it, we gathered together everything we could and opened our own space right in the middle of it all and set out to try and do it a little more reasonably. Let's try and understand the reality of it all from the gallery people's point of view rather than just constantly complain about it all. Of course we have bills to pay, the landlord wants his rent payment at the start of each month, we have no funding, and we're certainly not rich kids. Trying to exist as artists in this city means we're on first name terms with bailifs and such. This is not a funded self-indulgence, we can't exist if we don't at least break even. We have to run this properly, this has to be a commericial venture

Been frantically good so far, we signed the paper work on a Wednesday afternoon, picked up the keys the next day, Thursday, the first Thursday of the month. We put the word out the nght before and put out a call for artists to come help us get a gallery open and a show sorted out and hung in 22 hours. The call went out at 8pm on Wednesday, the keys were our at 3pm on Thursday, the sapce was cleared, the old beds removed and a quick brush on the walls and such, thankfully the space had already been a gallery, the walls were white enough for a last minute show, so at 3pm a dozen artists started to arrive with paintings and sculptures (we found a plinth on the dump at the end of Vyner Street, clearly the art gods were with us as we rushed to open for First Thursday and everything that that involves in Vyner Street.

First Thursday was a buzz, we felt good about the art we had up, we had a constant flow of people all night, things got rather eventfuloutside our front door what with the unexpected band playing in the van and all the naked men covered in honey and red food colouring... Exciting start

One month is, tired eyes, blistered feet, loads of debate, lots of postive art, the work of around 30 artists hung on the walls so far. A show called What Price Art? where the public have named their prices and we've not had any say, another show Called 22 Hours that documented the opening and hung the work of the artists from that frantic First Thursday in a more considered way. A show called Interim where Steven Rawling invited debate on the process of making/showing art as he worked in the space for ten days.

This coming weekend myself and a painter called Emma Harvery will work in the gallery while our work and the work of others hangs on the wall and people are invited to come in and view/chat/sit... Then we hang our next show on Wednesday and we open again for First Thursday with Red.

I intend to blog about the last month and continue the gallery blog as we go along, lots has been learnt, lots of questions have been thrown up, lots to blog about

WHAT PRICE ART?

2011-09-13T03:32:00.000-07:00

WHAT PRICE ART? A WEEKEND SHOW @ CULTIVATE, VYNER STREET.

Opening night, Thurs 15th Sept, 6pm – 9pm, then 11.30am – 6pm Fri 16th- Sun 18th Sept.

SEAN WORRALL invites YOU to take part in WHAT PRICE ART?
...
An invitation extended to fellow artists to take part and also for those who visit galleries and buy art to take control..

THE SHORT VERSION - A whole laod of art on the gallery walls, buyer sets the price and takes it away, pay as much or as little as you see fit should you wish to buy a piece...

THE LONG VERSION -

My intention is to pack the walls of our recently open Cultivate Vyner Street gallery space with both my own paintings and hopefully the art of other invited artists.

Following on from the 22 Hours show that took just under a day to pull together and that officially opened the new Vyner Street space this week, this new show is being pulled together at the start of this week and will open on the evening of Thursday 15th September. The show runs until 6pm Sunday 18th Sept (at which point we start putting Steven Rawlings’ Interim show in for Monday 19th and his eleven day working residency)

The whole Cutivate Vyner Street project is based a small group of artists questioning how galleries work. We’re doing this by running out own gallery space right in the heart of things in one of the most significant art streets in East London. We don’t have grants or funding for this, we’re as short of money as most any other working artist, we have to make commercial decisions to keep this space alive and financial survival is as much an issue for us in these tough times as it is for any gallery space. Rent must be paid or the doors close. We’ve taken on the gallery for six months, we opened on September First Thursday with 22 hours notice.

WHAT PRICE ART?

What Price Art? is about exactly that - gallery prices, the way things work, the vulnerability of the working artist in terms of survival, in terms of paying the bills, in terms of the way things work with galleries. The show is about the pricing of art, about art in galleries, about leaving art on the street, about street art, about the art dealers, the collectors, the price tag and people’s reactions to that tag, about how people interact with commercial art galleries. Who buys art? What is the point of a commercially run gallery?

The gallery will be full of art for three days, I hope that there will be more than just mine - people can just come and enjoy it, view it, explore it, or if they want to, they can buy it. The buyer sets the price, the gallery and the artist have no say in the pricing process. They buyer states the price, the piece is taken off the wall and the transaction takes place, the buyer takes the piece away and a new piece goes up in place

What’s going to happen? Will artists be brave enough to join me and put their art on the walls and plinths? If they do will it just be their throwaway pieces that they attach little value to? Will it just scribbles on cardboard – perfectly valid if that’s the case – or will it be the big expansive pieces they’d show at other galleries in a ‘conventional’ way with a ‘conventional’ price tag? Things they do attach more value to? What will I do when it comes ot hang? Will any other artists want to take part or will that just want to know what happens? Can it be pulled together in a week anyway?

And what of the viewers, the visitors, the people who come to galleries? Will they be comfortable with setting the price? Will they take away a big piece and pay just a penny? Will they offer ‘normal’ gallery prices? Will they just reject the whole idea, or will they just not want the art on sale anyway? What’s going to happen?

The whole event will be documented, buyers will be given the chance to opt out of the documentation if they wish.

Artists are invited to come be involved. We will, as a gallery, be as picky as we would with any show. We will invite artists we already know to come be involved and allow them to bring whatever they wish, artists we don’t know or haven’t worked with yet can contact us and if we like what we see the invite will be extended for them to bring along anything they wish to include. The gallery will charge a 20% commission on all sales (unless a piece sells for less that 5p). I have no idea what will happen, what price art?

www.cultivatevynerstreet.com

RIGHT SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL

2011-09-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well now, blog neglected again since those piano adventures... Let me see, there's been Red Italian Show paintings at the London Fetish Fair, more art left on walls and streets, more leafgrowth, te big Vins and Eva piece in Vyner Street and we opened a gallery...

Right smack bang in the middle of it all in East London, Vyner Street to be exact. It all happened very quickly. We managed to get the doors open for September First Thursday. We got the keys at 3pm on First Thursday and managed to clear out the gallery, get a show up and open the doors on time at 6pm for First Thursday. Since then there's been no time to sleep...

The gallery space is called CULTIVATE, VYNER STREET. We officially opened on September 8th, right now I'm doing most of the fronting/running of the space. I see it as an ongoing evolving art piece in itself. We followed the First Thursday events with a show about the opening adventure. The show, 22 HOURS officially opened the gallery on the evening of September 8th, that show is replaced this week with a show called WHAT PRICE ART

Lots more in a bit...

PAINTING PIANO'S IN THE CITY OF LONDON SUNSHINE

2011-06-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

Well painting piano was eventful fun, few little problems with officialdom at the start but once the paint started to flow and the leaves started to grow, all went rather well. There's a big set of Facebook pictures here, with work in progress, passing players, piano-playing office workers and more Painted the piano in St Mary Le Bow, right outside the church in a busy square in the heart of the City Of London yesterday, off now to paint one in Ledenhall Market Arcade, a beautiful looking Victorian Arcade once again in the heart of London. That's a photo of yesterday's finished piano after a few hours in the boiling hot sun...

Showing with the Art Shop Collective this weekend

2011-06-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

Showing some more work as a guest of the Art Shop Collective this weekend. I shall be showing (and hopefully selling, even artists have to eat) some small pieces of canvas, painted vinyl and such. This is the last stand for the AAA Gallery/space, the building is being pulled down and replaced by more expensive flats that no one from the area can afford to rent... Come enjoy some art down by the canal in East London...

"AAA Magazine presents Art Shop Collective: the return of the pop-up for the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 25/26th June, 11am until 7pm both days

A collective of around 25 artists specialising in a range of artistic disciplines. Offering for sale an assortment of work suitable for every pocket. In keeping with our ethos of both celebrating and supporting creativity, there will be Live music, Live performance art, .... tea and complete with complimentary food stuffs".

www.arthurandalbert.com

AAA STUDIO
50 ACTON MEWS
(JUST BY THE CANAL OFF KINGSLAND ROAD), Dalston/Shoreditch border in East London, five minute walk from Haggerston Overground train station and not far from Dalston

THE STINGING NETIL – A REASONABLE PRICED ART FAIR

2011-06-24T03:43:00.000-07:00

The Stinging Netil is taking up lots and lots of my time at the moment, just like Organgrinding really!

THE STINGING NETIL – A REASONABLE PRICED ART FAIR, GATHERING & MUSIC EVENT IN EAST LONDON…

THE STINGING NETIL is an artist-run reasonably priced art fair happening in London Fields, London, E8. We’re taking over the already established Netil House Market and create a gathering of artists – fine artists, street artists, print makers, art enthusiasts, collectors, people who just want to come out and enjoy looking at some new exciting – we’ll have traditional market stalls alive with very reasonably priced art, we’ll have live art, food art, a music stage with bands playing all day. An art fair, an art mart - not just an art fair though, a creative gathering, a place to interact, network, be pro-active…

WHERE: It all happens in Netil House car park on Sunday July 10th, just off fashionable Broadway and right by the always busy London Fields park in Hackney, East London, E8. The event will run from 11am until 8pm.

ART: Expect to find 25 or so traditional market stalls, being run by the artists themselves, all packed with very reasonable priced fine art, canvas paintings, prints, street art and more – art and creativity from a whole cross section of vibrant exciting London artists. Each stall taken by an individual artist, a group, a collective or a small London gallery.

MUSIC / PERFORMANCE: Alongside the art stalls, we’ll have a music/performance area with experimental bands, folk flavoured bands, art rock, country anarchy, alternative musical colour and who knows what. We’ll have performance, we’ll have food art, live art, paste-ups and all kinds of interesting things to hear, see, touch and eat…

TIMES: The Art Mart opens at 11.00am, Sunday morning, the first band will play at Midday, and we’ll have music and art flowing until 8pm

TRAVEL: Netil Market is five minutes walk from London Fields overground railway station (12 minutes from Liverpool Street), the area is also very very well served by many buses, for full travel details see the Stinging Netil pages on the Organ site at www.organart.com

just discovered where the pianos are...

2011-06-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

just discovered where the pianos are... I shall be painting two pianos, live painting out on the street, or in this case a rather historic London market hall and an equally historic churchyard The two locations are, Leadenhall Market, EC3 and St-Mary-le-Bow Churchyard, EC2. Two excellent locations. I was invited to be involved a few weeks ago, just got the details through... Recycling old pianos, well pianos that still live as working pianos, but painting on them, right up my street(art)... I shall be painting live on location on 27th, 28th and possibly 29th of June... come along and play while I paint...

http://www.colf.org//exhibitions/Classical-Music-Contemporary-Music-Dance-Street-Arts-Jazz-World-Music/42-Play-Me-Im-Yours.cfm

COLOUR REDUCTIONS...

2011-06-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

A set of four paintings done yesterday, June 4th 2011. Four pieces on 40cm x 50cm canvas with spray paint. Reducing previous pieces to just shapes and markS rather than the previous layers of colours upon colour...

AAA Collective show/art shop goes on this weekend...

2011-06-03T04:37:00.000-07:00

Well now, the morning after the AAA collective First Thursday show. Things were chaotically DIY and the organisation was at times 'interesting', somehow the show all came together almost on time and did rather like the way everyone pulled together and let's do it ourdleves spirit of it. And it was a pleasure sharing an early Summer evening by the canal in East London with some positive pro-active people, some good art and some going ahead and doing it without some gallery owner exploiting things or dictating direction... This nothing new of course, collectives and artists pulling together and doing it themselves, did enjoy dipping a toe or two in the (canal) water with the AAA group though...

The show continues this week end in the gallery space by the Canal in Dalston/shoreditch, Acton Mews, London E8, just off the Kingsland road, by the bridge and the car wash. The gallery/shop is open this Saturday and Sunday, 11am until 7pm. Some of thr artists will be there, I expect people will be painting and such (I will be for some of the time)

Old 78s left on an East London street....

2011-06-02T03:22:00.000-07:00

A whole plie of old 78s, there they were just waiting in the side of the road by the rubbish bin, waiting to me taken home and painted on. Getting them ready for tomorrow's show at AAA Gallery with the Art Shop Collective... June 1st 2011. Fine some on sale, fine others left by the canal. Twelve painted today..

Love the quality of these old 78rpm singles, the labels are works of art on their own. Do wonder who they belonged to, someone's much loved early 1950's collection just left out on the street in East London next to a recycle bin. A big part... of someone's life just left on the pavement. Hope they don't mind me painting on them, better than them being just forgotten about and thrown in ot a landfill of something (the material can't be recycled in any conventional recycling way). They really are beautiful things...

THE ART SHOP COLLECTIVE - FIRST THURSDAY

2011-05-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

I will be showing some work alongside this rather pro-active collective... Down by the canal in East London, down by the canal in E8 (I like painting by the canal). Happening this Thursday as part of East London First Thursday...

AAA Magazine presents Art Shop Collective: A pop-up gallery shop that shall be celebrating this FirstThursday

27 artists specialising in a range of artistic disciplines. Offering for sale an assortment of work suitable for every pocket.

In keeping with our ethos of both celebrating and supporting creativity, there will be Live music, Live performance art... and a fully stocked bar complete with complimentary food stuffs.

AAA Magazine presents Art Shop Collective: A pop-up gallery shop that shall be celebrating this FirstThursday

27 artists specialising in a range of artistic disciplines. Offering for sale an assortment of work suitable for every pocket.

In keeping with our ethos of both celebrating and supporting creativity, there will be Live music, Live performance art, ....and a fully stocked bar complete with complimentary food stuffs.

www.arthurandalbert.com

AAA STUDIO
50 ACTON MEWS
(JUST BY THE CANAL OFF KINGSLAND ROAD)

AAA STUDIO
50 ACTON MEWS
LONDON E8 4EA
(JUST BY THE CANAL OFF KINGSLAND ROAD)

BLACK (LEAF)HEARTED SWIRL BUILDING....

2011-05-26T05:38:00.000-07:00

An effort must be made to blog, two blackhearted pieces from yesterday, one on canvas one of what was once red vinyl and more work on the big 8ft tall canvas that was found left on the street just before Christmas, started painting leaves on it on New years Eve, layers have been building up, still a work in progress, far from finished...

EVA'S SWIRL...

2011-05-25T04:06:00.000-07:00

I know, not keeping the blog flowing, too busy painting (and Organ-grinding). This big 8ft tall canvas was left outside the studio at the start of May, I've talked about people leaving unresolved work here before, people are picking up on the idea...

There's a photo of what it looked like is what before I touched it. and what it looks like now I've added a layer or two of leaf growth and a swirl and such. I do know who left the original piece for me to work on, need to check if the artist wishes to be named before I do...

2011-04-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

THINGS LEFT ON THE FLOOR.... Haven't found a used unwanted abandoned canvas (or records or...) on the street for days now, however this morning there was a nice inspiring pile of pieces deliberately left and waiting outside the studio though... "Paint on these" was the message left... Several good looking pieces painted on some kind of black hardwood floor covering material, and a great big fold up piece of canvas that's just been painted blue... I rather like these small pieces as they are but that really isn't the point of these collaborations, reworkings, remixings, paint-over recycling ideas. As I've said before this is art that others feel is unresolved or unfinished or that they've taken to a logical conclusion and.... these have been left here on purpose, therefore I am obliged to work on them or with them...

the notions of art as object with no real status

2011-03-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

I’d like the notion of buying my paintings and pieces to be like the buying of a CD: it’s cheap, it’s art and hopefully it changes your life (or at least your day, or your week) just a little. Rather like a CD the object has no real status. Something evolved and created for and from the moment (or moments) I painted it, for that moment you enjoyed it. Something with none of the boundaries the coldness of galleries and gallery prices can throw up. This isn’t a comment on how other people do things, just the way I want to enjoy my creative process right now. I don’t object to galleries or having my work in galleries, but I do enjoy the notion of taking the financial status away and the piece of art having no real financial status. Art on market stalls, art left on the street, sold on ebay for 1p. I have been leaving a lot of art on the streets over the last two years, people often complain that they never have a chance to find anything and that the process is a little hit and miss…

Tomorrow, Saturday, I shall once more be painting at my stall on Netil Market, Hackney, London E8 (by London Fields park and just by the railway bridge in the little carpark by Netil House and Mare Street). Pieces of work will be on sale at prices ranging between £1.00 and £30.00. if you think they should be cheaper say so, gave quite a few away last week (will paint for food or cups of coffee though… )

And now I shall go enjoy this glorious weather and paint outside the front of the studio…

12" slice of vinyl, left behind a fence on top of a wall

2011-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

12" slice of vinyl, left behind a fence on top of a wall. March 19th 2011.

Another Wilfred...

2011-03-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

Another Wilfred piece, I do rather like painting Wilfred. This time on one of those 'nice' instant canvas decorations they mass produce and sell at Ikea, the ones that people get board with and throw away after a few months (once they've seen that all their friends have the same picture on their identical Ikea flavoured walls). They throw them away for me to find, paint one and recycle. I do like painting over these unwanted things, bit like the notion of those street artists painting over old walls and other people's pieces while leaving bits of what was there for people to see... And I do like the notion that Mother Nature is the finest of all street artists, growing her new leaves and fresh green things over decaying city walls and old unwanted pieces thrown away, over walls, over thrown away canvas or discarded 80's sounds systems. Wilfred would never be thrown away though, he's an original bit of classic 80's ghetto blaster who saw valiant service at the GLC Hip-Hop jam of the early 80's and gave good service on many painting and busking days back there. He now has a place of honour here in the studio bunker where he is often painted... Here's the latest Wilfred piece...

Time to drag my easel over to the open air of Netil Market

2011-03-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Spring sunshine demands that this coming Saturday I leave the bunker studio and all the paint fumes and drag my easel over to the open air of Netil Market, over here in London E8. I shall set up said easel and paint live and direct next to a stall where you will find some of my smaller canvas pieces and well as bits painted on cardboard, on nice bits of 7" vinyl, in frames. Come say hello, time to carry on with last year's market stall / street corner / phone box / ebay / left field gallery space experiments in affordable art. I like the atmosphere at Netil, expecially when they have live bands and that excellent Chai tea stall in the corner is there...

here are some fresh green leaves and work in progess in the bunker...

http://netilmarket.tumblr.com/

Bronwen Little Eris Davies lovely lovely leaves! 11 hours ago

Sean Worrall

Netil Market is in the carpark next to Netil House, just by London Fields and Broadway Market (Broadway is the fashionable one with the expensice foodm Netil is the alternative friendly creative zone just a tiny bit down the road) with art,... vintage, affordable food, bands, msuic, books, shoes and al lkinds of strange things

Netil Market every Saturday @ 11-25 Westgate St, London Fields, London E8. 11am - 6pm. Just off Mare street, lots of buses to Hackney stop right by it, right by London Fields overground...

Sean Worrall thank you Bronwen, work in progress in the bunker, one of of those giant canvas finds from the street... i do like the idea of art on alernative market stalls rather than the formal eviroment of a gallery, I like the idea of art people can actually afford as well.

Bronwen Little Eris Davies yes it sounds really nice if i was in the area i would definitely mooch along looks like a nice bimbly time to be had! I am in london 9th april perhaps u might be there again!?

Sean Worrall

well if all goes well and all parties are happy then yes, maybe a regular Saturday thing. Now all we need are some cakes with scissors on or soemthing like that.

There's a Netil market facebook page here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...d=276168656857&v=wall

Zoie Mccormack Did someone say cakes with scissors on them ??? Im ya Gal x

one old sketchbook battered and brused and coming to

2011-03-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

one old sketchbook battered and brused and coming to an end and ready to be packed up on the pile on the shelf with all the others. One nice gleaming new untouched book waiting for a month of rides on buses, tube trains, visits to musical establishments...

Glorious day, just dragged a nice new box that once contained a

2011-03-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

Sean Worrall
Glorious day, just dragged a nice new box that once contained a 32" flat screen TV, nce big carboard 'canvas' for today, time to paint it ready for thr weekend's activities... Oh and anyone coming to the Organ gig on Thursday gets in cheaper if they produce a sketchbook at the door and are obviously making use of said sketchbook... in fact you can come in free if you say you read it here. I'll be on the door. Thursday night Organ gig at the Victoria, Dalston, London E8, Lilies On Mars album launch party with DJs and things afterwards

Sean Worrall Here's the event, come and draw people at the gig - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=199613076731051

nothing left outside the studio... well besides these big piece of mirrored card stencils thing

2011-03-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

No canvas finds today, nothing left outside the studio... well besides these big piece of mirrored card stencils thing that someone somewhere has cut a load of heart shapes out of and then whe nthey could cut no more, thrown the rest in the bin... only for the unwanted bits to fall my way where they have helped shaped things on top of last week's found canvas - new layers from recycled bits of throw away art waste

Sean Worrall But there is a canvas this morning, a small A4 size canvas with what looks like the start of a landscape on it and a piece of paper taped to it saying "for Sean".
10 March at 08:10

Monica Nelson Somebody threw out a bookshelf once and I pried the back off of it and it made a wonderful canvas ( and brought a lot of it's own character because of age and use). Doors thrown out during renovations...good to always walk around with a cart if one doesn't have a car....mirrors and glass (maybe a bit chipped) thrown out...everywhere one looks there's something to paint and draw on!11 March at 02:09

Sean Worrall

oh yes there always is soemthing, but I particularly like the idea of working with other people's unresolved unwanted unfinished or abandoned art. working over other people's marks while leaving traces, kind of why street art feels so good,... the bits that are underneath or on top or eaten at by the weather....

There's always doors, pieces of wood, cardboard, got a nice flat screen computer monitor here that has now become a canvas... always something to recycle and paint on (and then leave out again)

11 March at 10:02

The Vins And Eva canvas left outside the studio

2011-03-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Vins And Eva canvas left outside the studio here earlier (see futher down this profile for more details) this week. This is how it looks before I touch it....

Sean Worrall And now about to be worked on as part of the forthcoming show of collaborations

ah, Monday morning, new canvas found, in one of those industrial waste bins right outside my studio... I rather like this one (photo later), the work of VINS AND EVA as in http://ilovetofuckyou.blogspot.com/ - looks like a finished piece, wonder why they left it in the bin outside the studio?

Sean Worrall there was also some very high heel boots left outside the studio door last night... first I shall paint them, then paint on them...

Rip Cruncher Careful Worrall, you might just get what you wish for.

Sean Worrall Now we're on a roll, nice big canvas with a rich red orange and very dark blue pisce with a heart scratched in the oil paint and it all got a little bit wet in the ran outside. no idea who did this one or indeed if it was any more than coincidence that it was outside in that rain today... drying out in the corner of the studio now...

Sean Worrall high heeel shoes, stuffed polecats, old canvas beasts, bring them all here.. I spotted something intresting and picture fram shaped outside Netil House a little while ago... back in a bit...

Sean Worrall A nice big framed embrodery sampler is what I spotted...

Sean Organ there's a great big hexagonal wooden frame outside this morning with "V+E" stenciled on it... looks like an old fashion mirror frame from a bedroom dressing table...

Steven Rawlings Looking good Mr Worrall. Like what you've done. Definately a show (or just a rather nice working method) in the reclaimed cavases. Keep up the good work Sir

Sean Worrall Thank you Mr Rawlings Sir, I do see it as an interesting working method - found thingd recycled or things brought in to be changes, marks that I wouldn't naturally make myself, marks waiting there to be worked with or on or around. I do want to extend all this to a 'show' or 'exhibition' or some kind of interactive thing in a space where people can bring pieces in to be worked on and things evolve through a week as pieces are worked on and people come in and contribute and add marks or thoughts or...

Steven Rawlings Mr W Sir, I think that sounds like a bloody good idea for a show. Love the idea of the pieces evolving during the show.........now all u need to do is find some time between organing, resonancing, painting, giging etc etc. makes me tired just writing it all

Sean Worrall Ha, let me jsut finish this album review and then just need to find the right place to do it all in in terms of a venue/gallery/space, an empty shop I can use for a week or something... Somewhere where people can come in a see the art and also where they can bring their unresolved pieces of work (or anonymously leave work if they prefer) or want to come work on other pieces or... a bit like the art bin last year only we save it all from the bin and give it new life...01 March at 12:52 ·

Steven Rawlings Must be an empty Woolworths somewhere! For a bring not buy 01 March at 13:06

Sean Worrall indeed there must. Actually spent quite a bit of time trying to find an empty shop last year, nightmare with red tape and business rates and such. Need to get on the case again. The place I was seriosuly chasing last year is still standing there empty, Hackney council couldn't talk to me about rates though, mainly becasue they said the shop didn't exist even though it stands there on a main street and I gave them photos of it...01 March at 13:13

Sean Worrall Anyway, not found a canvas today, so far...01 March at 13:15

Steven Rawlings

Was that the one with the big (gallery size) space below?
Shame - could have been a really nice place for collaboration/making/living. Always keeping an eye out South of the river for suitable places for live/work/display - will let you kno...w if find anything. No canvas fairies today then...See more

01 March at 14:11

Sean Worrall

yes, that's the one, we negotiated a great rent for such a stupidly big place but the crucial thing was the business rates, and Hackney Council couldn't talk to us about them because they claimed and still so claim the building does not exi...st! We are talking a mssive space on a main street...

Now what would be very nice, just for once, would be for someone to say, here's some space... spent so much time organising space last year...

no canvas faires yet today, no high heel shoe fairies either, mind you haven't looked outside for an hour or so... hang on, let me go lookSee more

01 March at 14:25

Sean Worrall Well now, this is getting very mysterious, more high heels, this time very high, almost new black ankle boots and this time with a message inside, "paint me"... and right outside the door...01 March at 14:39

Steven Rawlings Now that does sound interesting.......i'll leave you to it. Off to get my hands dirty with some clay (and a camera)01 March at 14:52

Sean Worrall I now find the need to look outside every five minutes...02 March at 18:22

Steven Rawlings and..........anything out there? Shoes, canvases, humans wearing shoes,
messages 02 March at 18:31

The first daffodil out of the studio bunker

2011-03-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

The first daffodil out of the studio bunker darkness that has been the start of 2011, bring on the spring now please (work in progess....)

working on other people's work

2011-02-28T06:35:00.000-08:00

ah, Monday morning, new canvas found, in one of those industrial waste bins right outside my studio... I rather like this one (photo later), the work of VINS AND EVA as in http://ilovetofuckyou.blogspot.com/ - looks like a finished piece, wonder why they left it in the bin outside the studio?

I feel a whole show of pieces of work done on other people's canvases or indeed sculptures or pieces of cardboard that other artists and such have left here. That one up there is a piece that Steven Rawlings brought around. I really liked it as it was, but that wasn't the point of him bringing it here, he would only leave it if I worked on it... so I have...

Anyone feel like dropping off some art and getting involved in this? leave it outside if you want, come knocking on the door if you want..

Contact me here or http://www.facebook.com/sean.worrall1

SPRING! VINYL, BOARDS, CANALS...

2011-02-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

Right then, Spring is here, time to get out and paint up a storm of colour... think I'll go leave some painted vinyl out on the street today, or maybe up in the East London trees (and good to see someone finally got out there erased the New year's eve episode)... here's how things look out front of the bunker door right now, one found piece of board that came in off the street during the winter and now already to go back out now the sunshine is here... You'll find it down by the canal somewhere in E8 not far from London Fields waiting for someone to take it home later today..

And yes I know the blog has been neglected and my website even more so, I don't like the winter, lots of creativity been going on here in the dark bunker though, lots of new things to put up on line and leave on the Spring streets... Whole new website up in the next few days, this time made by someone who knows what she's doing. Lots of new work waiting to be seen. New art shows being booked and...

meanwhile I know there's no Organgrinding here but, this looks good and well here's a link http://www.organart.com/organthing093.html

ROA, ROBOTS>>>>, PHLEGM...

February 24rd 2011

I know we’ve probably gone on about the art of the ever prolific Roa a little too much in recent times here at Organ but he’s at it again and there can’t be too much Roa can there?

gentrification can't actually kill creativity...

2011-02-01T01:45:00.000-08:00

of course gentrification can't actually kill creativity, you just stay one step ahead of it. I hadn't forgotten I had a blog, just took a step back from the internet for the winter while I paint away in our new bunker studio and new green shoots break the surface. Lots of painting, lots of canvas finding and recycling, things ready to leave on the street once more. Amusing to find that the same property pimp estate agents who helped push us out last year are using my art and the shows we put on last year as a selling point for the area that we can no longer afford to live in. Right there all over their website, have to smile at that one. No, gentrification can't kill creativity, the winter has been a productive positive one, surrounded by new work, happy in new surroundings, eating hot buttered toast and about to get on with these layers of daffodils that are threatening to shows their faces any day now... Time to blog a bit, like those daffodils, I'm ready to emerge for the spring...

Now then, all you artists who's work we had the pleasure of hanging on walls and showing in shows last year. what do you have coming up? Be nice to see these invites to join in were working in both directions...

GENTRIFICATION KILLS CREATIVITY:

2010-08-28T02:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-08-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-08-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-18T02:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-07-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

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..

2010-07-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-07T05:54:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

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?"

2010-07-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

"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......

2010-07-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

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....

2010-06-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

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?

STREET ART?

2010-06-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sean_Worrall - Every day this coming week, starting on Monday, I shall leave five pieces of art around NW10/NW6 somewhere near @ph_gallery #streetart - vinyl, cardboard, canvas - watch the streets, Kensal Green cemetery, the tube station, the park, don't know where yet... Let's see what becomes of it all, each will have a message, I hope people will response and.... Art is a gallery on formal walls, art on the street for people to find... pick up... ignore? Destory? Take home? Frame? Share? Bring back to the gallery?

The Red Series and the Solstice sunrise and...

2010-06-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, none stop working on this solo show and the Affordable Fair and doing everything ourselves has burnt us out completely... Organ team grinding away more than ever, no time to write about music or consider radio shows or anything else... There's the recent red series, as recent as earlier this week actually, and there's the big Wilfred beatbox painting - this really is a great space, feel like I need a day of sleep rather than thinking about Sunday morning flyering in Queens Park(right by the gallery space that you'll find underneath the tearoom). And such grey weather for the eve of the Summer Solstice... too burnt out to blog, put so much effort in to this show that I'm all out of words, and I would really like you to come have a look... Lots more photos on Facebook, I really don't like Facebook but one must tell people using all the platforms I guess, whore it all away and suck at the soul... Enjoy the sunrise... The Summer Solstice piece will be in the gallery on Monday (or maybe Tuesday, paint doesn't dry that fast)

PATRICK'S HARVIST GALLERY SPACE IMAGES

2010-06-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

A small taste of what's on the wall of Patrick's Harvist gallery space right now, the show runs (all day every day) ubtil June 27th... Kensal Rise, London, NW10

SO THE SHOW OPENED...

2010-06-18T02:20:00.000-07:00

Show opened last night, burnt out, we were hanging all day, right up to the last minute. Maria performed her spoken work poetry soundscapes with cello, laptop and visuals in the cafe area, she made it rather special, well the night was special anyway, but Maria added so much. the paintings are all hung in the gallery area, there for the next ten days... More words later when I've caught a minute, Thursday was frantic, Wednesday was frantic, loads of new paintings or new layers on old paintings, ever evolving... Heading down there now, Friday morning, catch my breath and see it all properly

And even if I do say so myself, the work looks good all together on those walls... that's the way to see it, not on line via digital soulsucking, live and in the flesh, living and breathing on the walls for you to see, touch, explore....

power cuts, bad weather and 11 different slices of art maker...

2010-06-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

Art Fair has been and gone, all kinds of things happened, organised, Organ-ised... Power cuts, storms, people, eleven artists coming together and feeding off each other in a positive way. Once it was all on the walls and we could see it all properly it all looked excellent (even if I do say so myself), quite a buzz to see it all there and to know we pulled it all together - lots of effort, lots of work, busy opening night. work sold, work traded, eleven slightly different ideas on how to go about the art of making and presenting art. The weekend wasn't without a problem or two, not sure I want all my time and energy sucked up running a gallery space right now, really ate up my art making time and well... time to get the solo show together, hanging it tonight and opeing tomorrow, been painting up a storm, spaying up a storm.... photos of it all up soon... and more words... no time today...

That piece up there is another that emerged yesterday, well it has been emerging over the last couple of weeks... no more spraying on it today, need to let all the new pieces or the evolving pieces dry out in the wind or we're going to have the gallery and cafe engulfed in the sweet smell of Montana Gold paint...

All out of found canvas now, found another one last week... and I do rather like that people are now bringing their unfinshed of 'failed' pieces to me... "paint on this, cover it all up so only you and I know what's there underneath, validate the art" she said...

2010-06-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

AFFORDABLE FAIR UPDATE:

WHAT IS AFFORDABLE ART? WHEN IS ART AFFORDABLE?

It happened something like this, tired of the way galleries here in London, on the whole, seem to treat artists (it appears to be nothing but an exercise in squeezing as much money out of their cash cows at they can...), tired of all this, I went searching for something different. The notion of some kind of artist collective, people pulling together, a space for a collective...

I’d heard about this new gallery space that wasn’t really being used, right on my doorstep here in Kensal Rise (we need some art life around here, this has to be the deadest area of London in terms of art events). Went in with the simple intention of hiring the space to put a couple of show on, the enthusiastic man who runs the place somehow talked me into the task of running the entire art space (the gallery space is underneath his rather pleasant tea room). His terms seemed reasonable enough, this deal seems a little more like it terms of the artist. How difficult could it be? After all we’ve put on hundreds of rock gigs, Napalm Death rider demands, mosh pits and ambulances, and we know how to hold and publicise an event. How many flyers have we given out? Press releases, posters, we know how to do all that... this should be rather enjoyable... we’ll do it ourselves, we’re good at that. . We know where the exciting artists are...

So the idea of a collaborative art fair thing seemed like an exciting way to kick things off, gather together some artists that excite us and hold a four day event with art, music and a whole load of good creative people... Something that would get people of this area of London interested (and hopefully) excited about the space....

Without really thinking we called the opening even an “Affordable Art Fair”, just a name, we just wanted people to know there was vibrant art to come enjoy and that if they wanted to buy it then it was “Affordable”. We didn’t really think too much about it...

But what is affordable? One person’s affordable is another person’s way out of reach, I mean if you have a fiver in your pocket until the end of the week then there’s no such thing as affordable art is there? A bus ticket isn’t affordable... Affordable art? Only if you can afford it... We were wrong to call it an affordable art fair, got quiet a reaction. The art will be there for you to enjoy, it will be reasonable priced, that fact can’t be argued with. for the record, the price range will be anything between £5 and I think the highest priced piece £1500 – may or may not be “affordable” to everyone, but more than reasonable. And it really isn’t about the selling anyway, no, just come and enjoy...

Personally I’d rather just give my art away, some of you know I often do, paint shop doesn’t seen to be in tune with this though... the notion of what is affordable and what isn’t has bothered me this last week, people have really question the whole notion of selling art. I‘ve changed all the website flyers and the event is just an Art Fair...

I shall put on a new two day event, it will be called “WHAT IS AFFORDABLE?” The art will all be free to take if you think that’s the right thing to do. You can pay for it if you want, put some money in an envelope, put it in the black box by the door... We’ll have some of my art, some found art, artists who want to get involved get in touch... we will be picky though, this will not be some kind of art bin for your failed art...

THE KINGSINGER CANVAS PART 3

2010-05-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is how the big Kingsinger canvas looks now, or how it looked when I finally gave in to the dark earier tonight. Can't really see any of the colour or the detail here in the photo (and looking at work on line is never right anyway) but i just wanted to keep the evolution going here on this blog, as much for myself as anyone who may pass by and read any of this... Whole load of new pieces that need to photographed properly and put on line, lots of work ready for the month ahead at Patrick's Harvist...

Lot of people already asking me to put on a second Affordable Fair before we've even got to the first one, lot of really good artists making contact, don't want to just do another one though, don't want to turn it in to some kind of monthly production line. Maybe another one for August? Do something else with the space for July? I have this idea for a show of 100 smallish paintings, don't want to end up doing gallery things all day everyday though, already eating at my painting time...

Just heard on the radio that Louise Bourgeois has died. What a long creative life... guess most people will know her from her giant spiders...

100 paintings has to be a stupid idea doesn't it? 100 different sizes and shapes all gather together over the walls of the space

Really like Mimi's work...

2010-05-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Really like Mimi's work, love her energy... http://mimisioux.blogspot.com/

An exhibition

2010-05-26T17:52:00.001-07:00

KINGSINGER CANVAS LEAFGROWTH PROGRESS PART 2

2010-05-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

The ongoing progress of the still unfinished canvas wall that is the Kingsinger canvas (previously blogged about further down, retrieved from the bins of a former member of 60/70's vocal group The Kingsingers). There's quite a few in between photos between this part 2 and the previous part 1, saving it all with the idea of animating it, there again maybe not. far too easy to get distracted by animation and photoshop and computers rather than raw canvas and wet paint...

Colours are a little washed out in this photo, just want to document it for myself here (and You if You want to see it) , ye s I know it isn't finished and I really should keep it all to myself, but I do see these ever evolving canvas pieces the same way i view the ever changing walls full of layer after layer of graffiti marks down at the Southbank... Walk pass this canvas again next week and it will have changed once more

Things really coming together with the gallery space now, getting rather excited about the forthcoming PATRICK'S HARVIST AFFORDABLE ART FAIR - Harvist is spelt that way because of one of roads the cafe and gallery space is on the corner of... people seem genuinely impressed with the line up of artists for the first fair, can't wait to see it all up in the space.

Going to follow things up with a solo show of my own work, some may question that but I feel like I have a good body of new work to show, feeling confidently excited about filling the space, and I kind of want to be the guinea pig and learn about the problems involved in solo shows at the gallery, rather have the problems happen to me that someone else I've brought in. But then MARIA SLOVAKOVA is going to be involved as well, Maria will take a wall, show some of her work (I really love Maria's paintings, one of the best things about running an art space is discovering new art and new people), Maria will also perform her music/poetry/soundscapes...

"We are performing a 30 minute set with Dean Firth on electronic soundscapes and Greg Hall on cello at the opening of Sean Worrall's Solo show that will also feature some of my paintings...See you there" said Maria on line just now..

The solo show will open on 17th June, more news very soon... Creative exciting times... Lots of good people making contact with their art and energy and.... keep it all coming, might take a couple of days for me ot get bac kto everyone, I will get back though...

PATRICK'S HARVIST AFFORDABLE ART FAIR

2010-05-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

All coming together nicely, there's the poster we've just made, links to all the artists and such can be found on the Organ website here

those scissors get everywhere...

2010-05-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

Washing line in the late evening sun.... those scissors get everywhere... busy day today... no time for No Soul today....

found itself in an apple tree...

2010-05-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Another new canvas piece that today found itself in an apple tree... Good use has been made of the Saturday light and the sun...

This year's hop leaves are now out and

2010-05-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

This year's hop leaves are now out and that wall of leaves canvas that started life last year, and that has been documented here on this blog before, has put on some new growth today...

Are these pieces ever finished? Or pieces of Ever evolving street art that shouldn't be there forever? This one is another bigger canvas and is probably ready for a show that will probably happen after the Affordable Art Fair at Patrick's Harvest...

Could well be there's been enough leaf-growth for a show of my own?

Kingsinger canvas leaf growth progress

2010-05-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

The great big Kingsinger canvas I told You about the other day, the one found outside Mr Kingsinger's house, one of those Ikea print things that Mr Kingsinger had clearly become tired of that suddenly found itself born again with lots of green leafshapes...

Today was the day to take it out and back and let more leaves grow on it... Work very much in progress right now... my personal wall full of ever evolving graffiti flavoured marks and shapes... leafgrowth as Spring threatens to think about Summer... More next week...

Really positive response...

2010-05-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

Really positive response to the collective ideas, Affordable Art Fair and gallery space... Really don't like looking at art on line, must be done though and there;s some genuinely exciting connections being made, some artists I'm really excited about sharing space with. Really looking forward to exhibiting and sharing some of the work I've seen during late night web surfing sessions in the last few days

The first Organ currated Affordable Art Fair will happen at Patrick's Harvist cafe and gallery space here in London NW10 (Kensal Rise) in the second week of June. Looks like an opening view on Thursday 10th June, and then the fair runs through to the 13th with bands, music and good people upstairs in the cafe area, and... Exciting!

First artist invites have gone out, people are booking spaces, coming back to me with ideas and really getting the spirit of what I'm trying to do. True, it probably is Organgrinding again, with artists rather than bands and records and those awful creatures called booking agents that you have to deal with when you're putting gigs on though... Proper DIY and creative people pulling together...

So I put the word out about collectives, people started replying... lots of people... so I typed out some words, far too many words... and sent them to everyone, I'll put that reply here, so everyone can read it...

Here it is.....

Hello,

First let me apologise for this general (lengthy) generic e.mail, don’t really want to be this impersonal or indeed this long-winded, needs must though, there’s suddenly a lot of art-shaped enquires and gallery e.mail flying my way. This is in response to your e.mail about either the new gallery space or the idea about an arts collective that I recently threw out there on to the web...

The information here is for you to use and respond to. I’m open to all ideas, all suggestions and whatever you wish to throw back at me, come get involved please, start a dialogue...

I’m Sean Worrall (although some of you may know me as Sean O in indeed Sean Organ),

A BIT OF BACKGROUND... Organart was a small group of painters, sculptors, film-makers and animators with a shared love of underground alternative music and the culture that evolved around that music. The collective started in the late 80’s, started by a small group of then art students. It included an alternative music magazine called Organ that gained quite reputation during the 90’s and the early part of this century. I won’t bore you with all the history now, but Organ and indeed Organart has evolved and carried on in one successful form or another right through to today. The approach has always been DIY, a alternative punk ethos, a roll up your sleeves and get it done attitude, a creative outlook all fuelled by the contradictions of a fine art background and a whole lot of street art, punk, Factory aesthetics, (both Warhol and Manchester versions) an occasional bit of healthy high art pretentiousness and... well...

Along the way (as Organart) we’ve made A series of TV shows, radio shows (we’ve had a weekly show radio on London arts station Resonance FM for a few years now). We ran a rather successful alternative record label, we’ve put on art shows as well as something like a thousand alternative rock gigs featuring various shades of bands in venues both big and small, all over London... Not really wanting to turn this in to a life history, just filling you in with some background so you get a vague idea as to who I am and where I’m coming from here...

Over the last couple of years I’ve scaled back pretty much all my musical activity, we’ve closed the record label, stopped putting on live gigs, scaled down the Organ magazine and I’ve gone back to my real passion - throwing paint at canvas, at cardboard, at the occasional wall. Organart still exists but scaled right back to a core of two of us originals, myself and Animator and fellow Resonance radio DJ Marina Anthony, along with one or two contributors, collaborators and such...

I’ve been painting quite frantically over the last two years, exhibiting in East London galleries, the occasional West London space, street events, art fairs, experiencing the same frustrations as everyone else in terms of galleries, the rules and such... Last week I threw up some on-line postings revolving around the idea of pulling together a loose coalition of artists - a new collective of motivated creative people to share ideas, share potential gallery space, to throw thoughts around, to combine and exchange information, experiences and resources...

Since I originally posted about the collective idea there’s been quite a few developments. Last week I went to check out some new gallery space over here in Kensal Rise, London NW10. I went in there with the idea of maybe just hiring the place and putting on my own show or maybe a group show for a potential collective or just a few like-minded art-makers... Came out with the (unpaid) job of gallery manager with freedom to run the space full time and to (within reason and with respect paid to the cafe upstairs..) do whatever I want in terms of putting on shows and inviting people it....

Not really sure if I wanted to be pulled in so far in terms of actually running a gallery, kind of got excited about the possibilities now though... And we do have lots of experience, we kind of know a little about what we’re doing in terms of PR, promotion and running events. (I’ve been rather shocked to see how artists are treated by galleries, agent and such here in London, I thought the music industry was bad but...)

THE GALLERY SPACE is underneath a really friendly cafe and venue called Patrick’s Harvist here in Kensal Rise, NW10 - 45 Chamberlayne Road if you curious, go have a look if you want, space is there now, coffee is good in the cafe, basement space is open although I will point out the the lighting in gallery needs some work right now and the way the current work is hung (and not really publicised) has nothing to do with us, we don't start doing things our way until until June).

I want to hit the ground running and get things rolling while the people who’ve offered the space and chance are still excited. I like to have lots of good energy and excitement running around these things – apathy is an enemy, we like to get things done here... So we’re going to start with something simple, something that will hopefully excite the owners, the public and the art community around here...

AFFORDABLE ART FAIR

We’re planing a three day “Affordable Art Fair” straight away. Date is second weekend of June, (before the football World cup distracts everyone). Three days of events, music, art fair in the gallery space downstairs (in terms of music, for those who know me and have listened to my radio shows, no it won’t be hard-boiled experimental punk rock noise, think more alt.folk acousticness, jazz...).

Space at the fair is available right now for people who want to get involved and maybe want to sell a piece of work or two.... this is very much a fine art thing, not so much a craft thing, there is a regular craft/vintage fair event being planed (indeed the first one happened last Saturday), so people who want to know about that ask me and I’ll give you the details of the people who are running that...

Right now, right away I want people who want to come be involved in having work in the Affordable art fair.

Dates: private view Thursday evening, 10^th June (art in the gallery space, events, wine, beer and such upstairs), open all day until around 10pm on Friday, with things happening upstairs on the Friday evening. Fair all day until late night on Saturday with outside daytime events in the garden space and things happening outside on the street (the gallery and cafe is on the main Kensal Rise high street – 45 Chamberlayne Road, at the top of Portobello, just over from Queens Park - interesting area, lacking in art right and ready for something like this. Latest James Bond was in the cafe yesterday, the area has become rather fashionable in the last couple of years, I suspect there may just be a few people who’d like to buy original pieces of exciting art around here.

So we kick off with the AFFORDABLE ART FAIR, and if that works and everybody is happy, we do more. Wheels are already in motion in terms of a follow up in the form of a two week group show for later in June, so talk to me about that as well, and then... more shows, more fairs, more.... I want to get people excited about the space, then we can do more and more, group shows, solo shows, 3d, photography, sculpture...

First things first, who wants to know more about the fair? Who fancies some space? We have 14 space available... get back for more details

THE COLLECTIVE IDEA? Still figuring that one out, kind of got overtaken by the gallery space this week... Feel free to come back to me with your ideas about the collective, I’m going to put a blog page up where people can post and bounce ideas about, post their thoughts and such... For now, I’ve put some thoughts on my “No Organgrinding Here” personal blog, feel free to go add comments and make yourself know to others if you wish

Right, time to pull together the Affordable Art Fair, who wants more details? I know you're now wondering about the cost, I'll be right up front, yes there will be a small (and I hope reasonable) fee for each artist involved, to cover the rent, the posters, the flyers, the PR, the time spent looking after the show and such... I'm looking at no more that 25.00 per artist... come back if you want to know more...

Sean Worrall

throwing ideas and galleries and affordable art fairs about... come get involved...

2010-05-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

So now, where were we, this week has been taken up with talk of collectives, of gallery space, of DIY and doing things ourselves, raging against the art machine as it were... paint has hardly touched canvas (or cardboard or vinyl) this week, only Wednesday morning, paint must be thrown at least once a day though, thems the rules and some rules should not be broken... Hop leaves are out and ready to be painted...

So here's an update just for the record, blue vinyl, 7"blue vinyl, another bit of old ORG records stock, everyone who ever ran a small label must have loads of unwanted bits left over, I'm painting all ours and leaving it on the street... that one was a Dream City Film Club/Rhatigan split single, limited to 1000 but we only sold about 800 so... nothing is ever thrown away here, everything can be turned in to a canvas....

The Gallery space we are now working with is in the basement area of a friendly bohemian cafe/venue called Patrick's Harvist, good coffee, great looking cakes, really friendly people, a breath of fresh air is this part of NW10...

I really didn't plan to get involved in running gallery space but now it has happened I'm rather excited about the idea... After my years of putting on hundred of gigs (thousands, really think it got in to four figures, that's one hell of a lot of tedious sound checks, drummers, people counting to two, guitarist's egos, singers turning up late, fights, beer, broken stage drivers in hospital runs) , no, I really didn't want to get involved in putting on art events and being the one doing all the organising again... seems I must though, galleries in London really aren't that artist friendly are they, I'd rather do it all myself then take all their money grabbing crap...

So we start off with the simple idea of an Affordable Art Fair in early June, with bands, events, and four days of doing it all the Organ way (damn, more band soundchecks!). Loads of fresh exciting art in the gallery area.... all I need now is a whole load of exciting/excited artists to come join in. I want to make this a monthly event, got to make the first one work though. can't do that by myself...

And then there's the first group show straight after... two weeks of paintings on walls... four or five painters sharing walls, I'm one of the four or five, if you think your work fits on the same walls as mine then come yell... if you don't think it fits and you're thinking, no, I don't want to share space with all those leaves and that spray paint and almost (but not quite) out of control paint throwing, but you still fancy the space and taking advantage of our organising energy and publicity drive then please come talk to me about ideas for the space, for your show, your group show... I'm open to all ideas, all art, I have to respect the place, the people, the cafe so Ron Athey style naked upside down and bleeding type performance art I maybe just have to pass on with regards to this space right now... Wonder if Ron paints pretty flowers?

The Collective idea... still chewing on those ideas, if you have any add them as comments... say hello anyway, who are you lurking there... And yes, I did do the "Please Choose One" miniature pieces drop, I hid with a camera and spied on you taking them... well I was near by, not that hidden, they all went in about an hour, did it on the South Bank by the Thames, I'll tell you about it when I have a moment... must paint...

The Gallery Space is at

PATRICK'S HARVIST GALLERY SPACE
underneath PATRICK'S HARVIST CAFE
45 CHAMBERLAYNE ROAD
KENSAL RISE
LONDON NW10

Go have a look at it if you want, be aware though, the art currently hung in the basement was not hung by us, lthough I do rather like some of the work there, and I'm wel aware that I need to do something about the lighting before we kick off in June.... Actually, if you are going to lok at the space give me a shout, I'm just around the corner and I don't bite... right, sun out, time to sling paint...

THE DAFFODIL - Mixed media on recycled canvas

2010-05-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

THE DAFFODIL - Mixed media on recycled canvas 60cm x 90cm (April 2010)

Just been reminded by You that i hadn't put a photo up of the final Daffodil, here it is, just for You... Thank You...

Recycled because the piece is painted on an unwanted untouched, (untouched besides by the hand of filthy weather), found on the street canvas - this one found and weathere-white in a pile of rubbish outside a house... I kind of like that idea lots more than going out and buying a new one, this is my idea of street art... find it on the street, paint it, put it back on the street...

NEW GALLERY SPACE...

2010-05-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

NEW GALLERY SPACE... So us Organ team thought it was time for some action, had enough of how most galleries here in London treat artists. We've been looking for some space in a place where the people in control of that space have the right attitude to life, to art and the way of doing things. Most of these London gallery venues seem to be about nothing more than an operation in seeing how much money they can squeeze out of art makers. So we're looking at opening up spaces and doing things in a slightly more resonable and balanced way, First space is in a basement underneath a rather friendly cafe, over here on out home turf in NW10, Kensal Rise...

Motivated excited pro-active artists get in touch, organzine at aol dot com. First combined two week show is set for June, opeing night first week of that month. Come at us with ideas and vibrant energy...

motivated pro-active 2d artists/painters who want to collaborate

2010-05-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Organart is a long standing, compact, ever-evolving, small collective of alternative creative people - artists, musicians, underground gig promoters, bands, small press/zine makers, animators, radio show makers. Over the last 20 or so years, we've had many people come through and right now we're looking for fresh blood....

I know I said No Organgrinding here, but this is a touch of Organgrinding...

Today we're looking for a small band of motivate 2d painters/artists and this is something we've been posting elsewhere today...

We're North West London based and right now we're looking for motivated pro-active 2d artists/painters who want to collaborate in terms of exchanging creative ideas, energy, sharing gallery space, projects, the seeking out of alternative space to show/make work. We want a new collective of five to ten 2d artists to join us and to bring something of your own to the group.

You can be London based or you can come at us with ideas from wherever you are. All thoughts and ideas are welcome. Organart has been about in one form or another for over 20 years now (we're experienced when it comes to doing rather than just talking), come throw some ideas and get involved, come introduce yourself.

Gallery exhibition space and more waiting for those motivated enough and with a style and outlook that lines up somewhere near ours...

Contact me directly

I BELIEVE IN BOB & ROBERTA SMITH... (and Resonance FM)

2010-05-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday is day two of the Resonance FM fundraising marathon. Here's five fresh pieces of still wet black (or blue) seven inch hand-painted vinyl that will be auctioned on air tonight somewhere after 9pm... Tune in and find out more via www.resonancefm.com where Bob And Roberta Smith is anchoring the second day and we shall be on air with Cardiacs goodies and some other bits to auction. There's already some gig tickets for Boredoms at the London Forum that you can go bid on...

Come on, support Resonance FM, and help us keep this fine and uniquely special arts radio station on air...

Today's Mayday find, today's Beltane find

2010-05-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today's Mayday find, today's Beltane find, today's quarter day find on the street was the biggest found piece of canvas yet, quite a body of new work building up now and all on recycled canvas found on the street... This one is, or was now - was because the piece has been in my work space for a few hours and paint has grown on it - this one was one of those giant mass produced canvas art prints you can buy in places like Ikea, and now it is reborn and coming to live with real painted leaves growing in a Trillion green kind of way. By the end of next week it will be ready to be shown, graff marks will grow on it, leafhearts and shapes will unfold and drip on to it in some kind of paint-fuelled bloom, indeed if it was raining (for the first time in about a month here in London, no rain here since April 2nd I think I heard on the radio), if it wasn't for the heavy rain I'd be outside now with spray and paint-stink annoying sunbathing cats with the shaking of spray paint... And it turns out this one was being thrown out by a man who was once in that 70's vocal group, The King Singers, here's a YouTube of them in Boston. There's a story to each of these pieces of found recycled canvas... and now this one has green leafhearts on, come bac kthis time next week and see what else grew on the canvas...

Anyone intersted in sharing some gallery space in London NW10?, Kensal Green...

fund raising weekend at Resonance FM

2010-05-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

Today, Mayday, is the start of a marathon fund raising weekend even at London arts radio station, Resonance 104.4fm... Loads of art, music, experienced and more being auctioned over the weekend... It really is a privilege to get to DJ on the the station, I really do agree with the New York Village Voice when they called the station the best in the world... None of us get paid to work there, we're all volunteers, no expenses or anything, it costs us money each week, we do it for the pure pleasure... and there's no advertising on the station either, all funding is from donations, besides the little bit that comes from the arts council (expect that to be cut if those damn Tory get in next week) so the station really does need the life blood of donation... (please)

More about it on the Organ website via www.organart.com

You can explore Resonance via www.resonancefm.com

"please choose one if you'd like one"

2010-04-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Today the completion of a whole herd of small Captain Leafheart violations on pocket-size canvas beasts. Fifty of them, all layered with several coats of leaf shapes and 'organic' graff marks, all ready to be left on the street all together with a sign that says something like "please choose one if you'd like one".

Hopefully people will take just one, if indeed anyone feels like taking any of them? Who knows? Maybe they'll just all be left there and taken away by the street cleaner at the end of the night as he or she moans about more bloody street art cluttering up the place and making for more work, day after day, art no one wants left on the street to clear up... 50 of them painted, 25 will be left, this weekend, somewhere in London town, not sure where yet... any ideas?

slightly weathered

2010-04-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

Another nice big white, slightly weathered, canvas found on the street today, bare bones of a not very good portrait on it, looks like someone gave up after half an hour... who needs to buy these things? #green #recycle #art

leaf shapes and beatbox lines

2010-04-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Small piece of hardboard that now has several layers of marks and leaf shapes and beatbox lines and drips. First painted on this piece of hardboard and several others the same size, about a year ago, can't see much of the original marks and shapes and colours that were on there - the ever evolving wall of graffiti marks and spray shapes and...

Would a Peter Prendergast look good on a wall?

2010-04-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

You kind of maybe have to admire his situationist take on life don't you? And Banksy sticks it all out there without ever being vague about the intentions of his twists and his pop art marketing and yes...

Can't say the image excites me that much but his tongue in cheek does make you smile a little doesn't it?

Would a Peter Prendergast look good on a wall? An outside wall? A Piece of Street art?

Wonder where they all go?

2010-04-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Small cardboard piece, another Italian shoe, not as red as it once was now, once again to be left on the street... Wonder where they all go? More leaf-hearts and the enjoyment of a drip or two... "Would it look nice in a frame?" (as someone else asked this week)

the battle of the daffodil

2010-04-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

No blogggggging recently, lots of painting though, and spraying and leaving things on the pavement and daffodil battles and this one, work still in progress this Sunday afternoon (no Resonance FM radio DJing today, London Marathon has taken all the air time this week). Can of now empty red Montana Gold spray paint in the corner for scale, this is on one of the white weathered canvas beasts found abandoned in the bin a few weeks ago... Whole load of pieces on cardboard and hardboard taken to some kind of completion today... Time to put the canvas back out on the street now, see if anyone else picks it up and takes it home... Been battling with this daffodil and all the layers for what seems like weeks now, layers of graffiti marks and leaves over leaves and drips over drips.... the marks of street art and art left on the street but not street art...

ROA @ PURE EVIL / DALE GRIMSHAW @ SIGNAL...

2010-04-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

ROA @ PURE EVIL / DALE GRIMSHAW @ SIGNAL, East London, 8th April – Two shows opening within spitting distance of each other over in the giant rabbit infested warren of streets that is Shoreditch, East London. (yeah yeah, Shoreditch, mock if you like, but there is a genuine buzz here, the place is alive, things are going on, being created, it isn’t all about avoiding the idiot culture in the Nailgun Arms). Tonight we have Roa with his first solo London show and Dale Grimshaw just over the road with a return for another show at Signal. Two small shop-sized galleries and both rather alive and busy for their opening nights... this is Organgrinding though, and these no Organgrinding hre, if you want ot read the whole thing then over here on the Organ pages

the fifth Boombox piece

2010-04-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

And here's how the fifth Boombox piece, the biggest one yet, "Wilfred 5" looks now, probably finished... unless I pass it again with can in hand...

Easter eggs, found canvas, found art...

2010-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Busy productive creative Easter weekend, two found canvas beasts that were left unloved, unused and unwanted in the street now brought back to life. one was white and untouched by paint, new besides the dirt of the street and the scars of weather, that one now has a giant daffodil growing on it. The second an unfinished unwanted seascape, a painting that really hadn't started before the artist gave up on it, and now covered in several layers of spray painted leafhearts and the freedom of just making marks and enjoying the flow of (spray) paint and the way it drips and runs over the canvas and indeed rocks - the original texture of the oil-painted rocks is still there, painted by whoever abandoned this canvas by their rubbish bin... graffiti walls ever changing, old canvas walls ever evolving... and today a beatbox has appeared on the canvas (as if by magic..). work still in progress... more layers yet to appear. Busy bank holidays and no time for Easter eggs and much else (besides breaks for radio shows and getting around town and to studios on time with no tube trains working on Easter Sunday) .

That other piece of art there was found on Sunday morning, actually the people who were throwing it out of their house were happy to see it being taken when they were asked if they minded it being taken from their rubbish. Seems they no longer wanted it and were happy someone else did, old family heirloom that they no longer wanted hanging around their home. Isn't it wonderful, what is it? The print is familiar, pre raphaelite? Frost And Reed of Bristol framed it as a limited edition print in 1909, just looked them up, they seem like some big deal New York/London art dealers now, back then they were smallfish from Bristol. Isn't it great, do love finding things/leaving things on the street, anyone know anything about it? Who is it?

Roa solo show here in London, opening on Thursday, that's exciting... More news, lots of Roa imagery and such on the Organ art pages at www.organart.com. Sleep is need, 24 hour creative times... making art, finding art, growing art, leaving bits of art...

SWAN FEET KICKING AWAY IN NEW RED ITALIAN SHOES

2010-03-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

Uploaded a whole gang of recent paintings, pieces, slices of recycled vinyl, Italian shoes, reworked cardboard and such today... See, swan-like floating on the calm quiet surface looking like nothing much is going on, while all the time, underneath, you can't see the feet kicking away and working like crazy... all these new pieces are waiting for you here

And last week, three big canvas beasts found, two completely untouched besides anything besides the weather, just there waiting, thrown on a rubbish pile outside a house on the Harrow Road, another big one in a bin with just a messy coat of red paint... all rescued and ready to be worked on....

TO HER

2010-03-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

SPRING EQUINOX....

part seven of the ongoing experiment

2010-03-20T03:55:00.000-07:00

Back to the 1p leaving pieces on the virtual street thing, part seven, another piece of fresh off the stock shelf never played black seven inch vinyl. The virtual street being ebay and the price being one pence... details here

This is part seven of the ongoing experiment, getting art out there in an alternative interactive kind of way... of course you might fine one of these vinyl pieces or cardboard pieces on the street or left in a bar or on a train... today you might find leafhearts 9as everyone else insists on calling them) left by TO HER in Kensal Green...

I was on the 18 bus a couple of days ago... no, tell you that one on another day, painting time is slipping by.. shoes and bags to paint. Maybe see you at the William IV tomorrow... although I rather suspect the organisers once more have failed to tell anyone the event is happening . Where is the energy?

before that crows that now only have beaks

2010-03-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

ghostly white Italian stiletto shoe where once there was leaves and before that crows that now only have beaks sticking out from behind and before that beat boxes and tomorrow something else?

Find it on the street, paint it, put it back on the street again, the art of recycling...

2010-03-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

And I do rather like the idea of finding discarded bags and growing leaves on them, never mind the rubbish bins Vivienne, everything is a canvas... Find it on the street, paint it, put it back on the street again, the art of recycling... Captain Leafheart... I do like fashion bags, bring me your bags with their fancy rope handles once you've taken your new dress out for a walk... This one will be at the William IV, along the Harrow Road, Kensal Green, over the road from "To Her", this Sunday, see previous blog...

Yes, Going for the one and Market stalls are street art...

2010-03-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, the sun finally came out, a ladybird almost landed in freshly sprayed paint, even had a daffodil threaten to make an appearance, is the Spring really finally here at last? Sprayed up a storm yesterday in good light and fresh air (well Montana Gold flavoured fresh air) . The green shoots of spray painted spring, Tales Of Topographic paint lakes and Going For The One, Red Italian heels on canvas and cardboard and vinyl. new fresh seven inch vinyl on red, blue and indeed white ready for the weekend, recycled CDs all ready to be dropped with their new leaf growth...

More layers and leaves (and leafhearts) over prog rock logos thrown up as graff on pieces of already covered canvas that then get worked upon some more...

"Are you one of them street artists?" asked someone the other day. No, but those marks and shapes and ways of doing things have been in my visual vocabulary for many years now and I probably did paint on walls before you (or Robbo) ever did. No my walls are canvas shaped or cardboard shaped. I may make some of the same marks, no time for all that almost anal slickness in my work though, Graffic work is not for this paint thrower and I do rather enjoy (controlled) drops and drips and yes I may leave leaves on the street and I may love the idea street art, but no, I would never claim to be " one of them street artists"

Now does anyone feel like collaborating on Market stalls in London thisd summer... the art end of Portobello Road and such places... Share the cost, the space, the work, te fun, the sunshine and the time? Get in touch... D.I.Y and lo-fi, never mind no galleries, STREET ART!

The LOW-FI FAYRE...

2010-03-12T13:09:00.001-08:00

The LOW-FI FAYRE is a new monthly event that is to happen over in Kensal Green, London, NW10 (our home turf these days). The first Low-Fi Fayre runs from Midday until 9pm on Sunday 21st March. “This new unique monthly market and social enterprise celebrates all that is low-fi with a variety of stalls and entertainment”. We can expect stalls offering art, craft, books, vintage clothing and who knows what. “Enjoy tea and fabulous cakes from Cake Embassy together with music and film shorts while you browse”. The event takes place within the comfy confines of the rather spacious William IV pub on the Harrow Road, so there is no need to brave the cold” If you are a design-maker, artist, crafter there are stalls still available. “If you would like to hold a stall please email a link to your website or blog or provide a brief description of what you would like to sell”. Stalls cost £10, for further information and to book a stall email: lowfifayre@yahoo.co.uk

We'll be there with some pieces of art and general DIY Organness, hand painted vinyl, small canvas pieces and such, hopefully there will be lots of DIY type being and doing and all around getting involved from others.... More news on the musicians involved, the films and such late this week... The William IV is at 786 Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London, NW10. nearest tube, Kensal Green on the Bakerloo Line, lot of buses - 52, 18 and such, nice big REVOK piece on the wall outside the pub, some of those mysterious scisors there...

KIT KAT BREAKS...

2010-03-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

yes I know, no blog for days, doesn't bean nothing has been going on, there's some Faile/Bast photos on the Organ pages and of you haven't heard the first of the Create and Survive radio shows, you can now sream it or indeed download it from here, street art and well go have a look and a listen... Busy busy busy here, cats of 45s, Kit Kat breaks, glittering prizes and endless comp... no, no compromises. Lots of work done actually, all evolving and...

Tine to get some painting done, time to get this year going...

2010-03-01T05:27:00.000-08:00

no Daffodils but it is March the 1st and the sun is out and the light is good and dare we think of Spring and creativity and...? Really do need to get out there now.

Lot of street art type things going on this weekend, watching is tougher than doing, itchy spray paint trigger finger...

A whole load of photos from the Hazardous Waste event at Graffik Gallery, Ladbrook Grove, West London, up now over on the Organ website. Lots of good friendly people, lots of exchanges, more Create And Survive interviews done with the Grafik Warfare collective for the next in our series of radio documentaries (and far too much whisky drunk).

Tine to get some painting done, time to get this year going, time time time...

the big wall canvas

2010-02-27T04:52:00.000-08:00

Where is the spring? Where are those green shoots of new life? Need it to arrive now, had enough of this bad life and not being able to get out, need the new leaf growth, buds of trees, need those daffodils, need this to be a creative productive positive busy year of painting and energy and enough of this being stuck in doors in the cold and the bad light looking at the bleak trees and the winter defiantly hanging on... Sun trying to fight through the wind and rain today, need to get out there, need to get out and make art outside, share art outside...

There's the big wall canvas, been treating this like my own wall in here through the winter months, adding marks, layers of graff-leaves and spray paint marks, the marks you would associates with tags and street graffiti, marks on top of marks, the new covering the old, layer over layer, far from finished and new marks to be added and new leaf growth, more layers on the canvas wall, many layers to be added yet... should have been documenting it as the layers build up...

Got a great e.mail yesterday from someone who had found another of the seven inch vinyl pieces... Enough, time to get out and paint, oh, the sun has gone in, 1pm and I need to turn the lights on in here again...

Time to organise a show...