Fulham piece : Hot weather helps speed along the new piece #70things #wetbankholiday

Happily, given that the deadline is fast approaching the hot weather has speeded up the drying of my surfaces (at least to a workable dry) and I have been able to work on this piece a bit more.  Some of the surface is still wet so there is a waiting game until I can see the working sheen.  May the good weather return, it is a bit wet today....

New Piece for a new show #70things

I am making a new work for a private show I have been invited to put on in an unusual venue. Situated by the river near Fulham Palace I am making one new piece which is site specific to the residential block where the whole show will take place.   The start...

 then adjusted by adding some high gloss media to create more sheen and an area where something has disappeared into the depths

The piece relates to the idea of the Thames as a repository of our history; a grand Lethe running through our centre sweeping things away, sometimes revealing them years later.  Lost passions sometimes rediscovered, embedded in it is the notion of transience and mortality.


This is a work in progress, and I have to get a move on to ensure its not too wet for the opening....  eek.  So I am busy putting together the show, the statement and the price lists. Getting some additional lighting....

For those of you too far away to get the show.....a taster

This is some of what you are missing

 My work

 Mary B Eighteen's and Clare Smith's

 Simon Brewster's work

 Russell Coleman's

Jane Walker's

mine

Visual guide to getting to Sugar and Spice www.plasticpropaganda.co.uk @StKats @plasticp1

So yesterday was the first of the "Sugar and Spice" Meet the Artists events, the docks were sunny, the tube was hot, and if you missed this one don't worry, you still have your chance to meet artists and ask any questions you have on Wednesday 31st. Below is the prettiest way to get there.

I met some of the other artists, it was a delight to meet Ros Burgin, Ian Vines  and Justine Johnson properly, to see Clare again and I look forward to meeting some of the others next time.

So the scenic route:
 out of  Tower Hill tube, and through the tunnel

turn to the left past the Tower of London, and under Tower Bridge Approach

 at the end of the underpass go right past the big glass building and right again into the dock

  past Cote to your right and Cafe rouge to your left and past Commodity Quay

 turn right at Ivory House and under the arch

  into the prettiest part and turn left

  past White Mulberries

 right over the bridge towards the Dickens Inn  

 turn right next to Mala, 

 and right again going behind the white building

and you are there

If you have difficulties with steps and cobbles or want the shortest route, then the other way to come is by bus to Tower Hill and take the slip road off Tower Bridge Approach. Walk down St Katharine's Way towards the river and turn left at the end by the icecream stall, go through the passage and over the bridge taking the right  fork at the end and then you are there

Sugar and Spice and Southern Light shifting into Northern vasteness

All the work is delivered and hung and ready to view at Sugar and Spice.  come along and meet the artists on Tuesday 6-8pm.

While down in the Lot on my holidays I learnt about the role of Silk in the medieval arms race.  Did you know that the importation of silk in the middle ages improved the functioning of the longbow?  When silk replaced a wool twine which had been used for the bow the silk did not stretch in the rain, given that this was a British bow that is a big advantage.  In addition it was used to tie the feathers on the arrows more effectively too. To find out more about the influence of commodities and their import on culture come along to Sugar and Spice.

In the rural south at night, when the sun went down there was something so gorgeous and velvety about the truely dark night, where the newly cropped fields were black washed with yellow and the forest retained the tinest hint of green until it all becomes a solid black and only the stars shone... or sometimes the windows....

Sugar and Spice www.plasticpropaganda.co.uk, @plasticp1, @plasticpropaganda, @stkats @wappinglondon @cityoflondon

Yesterday the sun shine was on my side as I added the last coat of paint to my plinth for Mr Equines scales, so now just a last check of the transparencies and it is ready, along with two paintings to wrap to make it along for the Saturday hanging.

Mr Equiano's Scales
repurposed objects,gold leaf, transparencies
2016

I am really excited to be showing in this exhibition which deals with our relationships to commodities and trade, I have had some sneak previews of other works on show which look  fantastic.

Last of the 10
oil and indigo on canvas
100x100cm
2016

My work is concerned with the hidden and exposed  narratives of slavery and how they were bound up with  progressive changes in our society and some late developments in the British legal system related to abolition.  They ask questions about whose stories get heard in culture and  historical dialogues....  How at times artists have preserved stories: Turner and his depiction of the Zong massacre....

Resistance
oil and indigo on canvas
100x100cm
2016

and how  stories are sometimes lost.