Hackney to Hackney
It’s been several months since I last wrote a studio newsletter and a lot has happened. My solo show, Mangia Mangia came and went and my time in Hackney Wick’s Britannia Works Studios ended too.
As you will read, my focus has temporarily shifted away from art-making in this transition period between studios to the curating of exhibitions. In addition to this, I’ve been invited to take part in a couple of other shows too. It all comes to a head next month when four exhibitions will happen, two of which I have co-curated.
The first, in Rome, is a group show I was invited to take part in following my 2023 Fellowship at the British School at Rome, which you can read more about on the following page.
The 12th November will be a busy night with two shows opening on the same night. One a group exhibition of eleven painters curated by myself and artist Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa at ASC’s Handbag Factory. The other an event called Art Dialogues put together by a North American curator, Sidney Wright at Proposition Studios in Bethnal Green.
I took a trip last month to Dagenham to visit the curator Katja Rosenberg who runs several spaces under the name Art Catcher. I was then invited to put together a proposal for a show in Heathway Shopping Centre’s Pink Tardis space. This show, Übungsplatz will be a two-person exhibition with artist Uli Jaeger which will open on Friday 27th November.
My art-making will re-commence in late November/ early December when I move into a new studio in another part of Hackney Wick. More details to follow.
Cent’anni a Roma: The Abbey Awards,
1926 – 2026 exhibition
For three months in 2023, I lived at the British School at Rome, having been awarded an Abbey Fellowship. There I spent time researching the use of humour and playfulness in the tapestries of Futurist artist Fortunato Depero, whose work I was able to see in various venues across Italy including: Rome, Florence, Reggio Emilia and Rovereto.
This period of intense research has continued to yield a lot of fruit in the paintings I have made since returning. And I am excited to be able to share with you news that one of my paintings will be returning to Rome in November for an exhibition at the BSR.
Part of an exhibition of approximately 120 artists, the exhibition ‘Cent’anni a Roma’ brings together new works on paper by Abbey Award alumni from the 1950s to the present day, alongside archival material which traces the history of these awards which celebrate their 100th anniversary.
One of the advantages of having completed an Abbey Award is that the BSR hold an archive of all the artists who have studied their within their library and which is looked after by a dedicated archivist. For someone like myself whose old work is largely stored in a damp east London garage this is good news.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from Megan, on behalf of the Abbey Council, which describes in some detail the newly renovated state-of-the-art storage facilities at the BSR. It’s good to know that my work, which is owned by the British School will spend its life in a climate controlled, fire alarmed room that is equipped with both an automatic fire extinction system and reinforced security. What’s more, the description went into further detail stating that books, archives and all special material are stored in this room, either on shelves, in acid-free boxes or in map cabinets, adapted to the conservation of fragile material. Apparently, the work which I have donated to the BSR (which includes the new work made for this exhibition) will be looked after very well alongside works dating from 1860 onwards.
If you’re not able to get to the exhibition in Rome, you’re able to view my archived work in a special reading room at the School but under the surveillance of a member of staff and in accordance with British and Italian law.
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure that my work deserves this VIP treatment. The piece I made for this exhibition, entitled Prelibatezze, Italian for ‘Delicacies’ is a ridiculous painting of three invented books, all written by myself, and all extolling the virtues – and pitfalls – of travel:
1)The Blue Lines: Blackhorse Road to Battistini – a book whose title unites the London Underground and the Rome Metro.
2)Gourmandises – a thin volume with a front cover illustration of a sliced apple which I saw in an artwork by the Canadian artist Sin Wai Kin at Rome’s Fondazione Memmo in 2023.
(An interesting side note: I finished this painting in June, before I started reading F.T. Marinetti’s Futurist Cookbook and I now realise that the idea that foodstuffs can become art objects or enjoyed as an art experience is a very Futurist ideology and I’m very happy about this seeming coincidence).
3)How to Cycle Through the Dog-Infested Badlands - a thin and pointless paperback which seeks to discourage cyclists from crossing countries by bicycle where dog-attack is likely.
This painting will be able to be seen in Rome’s British School from 5th November until 18th December. There will be a preview and exhibition talk on 4th November from 18h00 – 21h00.
RGB (Blue) exhibition: 12th November
I’m delighted to be able to invite you all to RGB: a show curated by Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa and myself. Magda and I have been friends for years and we’re both alumni of the Morphē art residency in Dalston.
I’ve been a fan of Magda’s paintings for a long time and we’ve had a lot of conversations about our shared palette of blue over the years.
Specifically, we both use phthalo blues and greens extensively in our painting practices. Some time in the past, one of us floated the idea of doing a show together and this has since snowballed into the idea to do a group show of painters all of whom use the same colour – as a kind of survey that investigates the use of blues in painting, informing and expanding our practices, asking questions about its use and implications. Over the months, we have gathered a group of eleven painters from all over the UK and we’re bringing them to London’s ASC Gallery for a show that opens on November 12th.
ASC’s Handbag Factory has three separate gallery spaces and our Blue-themed exhibition is opening on the same night as two other shows: one on the colour green (curated by Scott McCracken and Pia Ortuño) and the other on red (curated by Katie Pratt and Raksha Patel). The artists involved in the Blue show include: Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa, myself, Adam Hennessey, Kaler Q Huang, Alastair Gordon, Jude Wainwright, Ella Reid, Ana Milenkovic, Kristian Evju, Iain Andrews and Karolina Albricht.
Art Dialogues: 12 November 2026
I’m delighted to be showing 29 of my pulpy paintings in Art Dialogues: an event curated by North American curator Sidney Wright which is happening this coming Thursday, 12 November in Bethnal Green, London.
Ten artists are taking part in this one evening event which runs from 8pm – 10pm. Each artist will present their work and participants are then encouraged to chat to the artists over cheese and wine.
Annoyingly, I won’t be present as I’ll be at my RGB show which also opens on the same night in Vauxhall. However, Sidney has kindly agreed to speak on my behalf using notes gathered from a transatlantic phone call a couple of months ago.