A BIT OF BRIT
Art Opening, Sat June 21st at 6pm
London born, self taught photographer who began working in 1991 shooting portrait and documentary work around West London’s music and art scenes. Relocated to NYC in 1993 to work with now defunked photo agency LGI and the newly launched American Edition of Mixmag, before moving into fine art B&W post production work in 1995 while continuing to photograph portraiture and documentary work during periods spent traveling and working in Asia, primarily India and China. The images presented here depict tribal facial scarification from Southern Sudan, taken during the period 2010 to 2011 while working in Sudan with the U.N. peacekeeping mission to that country.
PAUL BANKS
London born, self taught photographer who began working in 1991 shooting portrait and documentary work around West London’s music and art scenes. Relocated to New York City in 1993 to work with now defunkt photo agency LGI and the newly launched American edition of Mixmag, before moving into fine art post production work in 1997 while continuing to photograph portraiture and documentary work over the following decade during periods spent traveling and working in the U.S. and Asia, primarily India and China. Joined the United Nations mission in Sudan in June 2010 to serve as a field photographer during the period of the South Sudan referendum and subsequent declaration of independence in July 2011. The images presented in the show are from South Sudan during the period prior to the referendum.
ILLTYD BARRETT
In the past few years, Illtyd Barrett has returned to making art after a self inflicted absence of some considerable time. To help him clear his mind and help himself focus, Illtyd embarked, eight years ago, on a series of large scale land drawings, executed back in his beloved Pembrokeshire coastline and a series of "letter cut" pieces in stone, finding inspiration from the methodical practice and intimacy of his surroundings and materials. He has continued to work since. Thrilled to be invited to be part of this show, Illtyd plans to present a series of "quiet" mixed media pieces based on nostalgia, deceit, loss and reverence. And, at last, he's back working with bronze!!!
NEAL FOX
Born in 1981, he studied at Camberwell Art College and the Royal College of Art. While at the RCA he co-founded LE GUN, the annual art journal which is now distributed world wide. Since graduating with an MA in 2005 his commercial illustration clients have included the Guardian, the Independent, the Times, Dazed and Confused, Faber and Faber, Absolut, Babyshambles and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Meanwhile Fox's more personal work depicting a phantasmagoric journey through the detritus and mythology of pop culture has led to solo exhibitions at Galerie Daniel Blau in London and Munich and Galerie Suzanne Tarazieve in Paris, and group shows alongside Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys. From a life long obsession with the tales of his dead grandfather, a World War 2 bomber pilot, writer, and hell raiser, his large scale ink drawings have developed into increasingly layered celebrations of the debauched and iconoclastic characters whose ideas have helped shape our collective consciousness.
STEPHEN HALL
Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Stephen Hall moved to New York in 1978 and began exhibiting his work in the East Village in the early 80's. Since then his work has been featured in exhibits throughout the US, India, Japan, Korea and Mexico. His work is part of numerous corporate and private collections and has been featured in major motion pictures, music videos and magazines. Mr. Hall has illustrated numerous book covers for internationally published authors. "Red House Mystery" A.A. Milne, "High Rise" J.G. Ballard and "A Can of Worms" by Russell Greenan to name a few.
STEVE JOESTER
Steve Joester is a British-born Rock & Roll photographer and mixed media artist, currently living and working in New York City. Joester, a leading Rock & Roll photographer in the 70's and 80's had his iconic images of the worlds greatest rock performers appear on album sleeves, posters, exhibitions and magazines worldwide. Joester made his mark shooting icons such as Mick Jagger, Bob Marley, Neil Young and Sting, and also documented Andy Warhol on film with Rob Halford of Judas Priest backstage at the Palladium in April, 1979.
MARK LOADER
Mark has been taking photographs since finding a plastic Kodak Brownie when he was about 7 or 8. Having absolutely no rapport whatsoever with human subjects, he has always been drawn to still-life and has recently been focusing on seeing new ways of looking at his favorite things. “A great photograph can be incredibly simple. It can be something that we see every day, but elevated into an environment that makes it worth looking at a bit more closely”.
ALAN McGOWAN
Alan McGowan is an artist based in Edinburgh who produces expressionistic figurative paintings. Working always from life his paintings explore the tension between the inherent elusiveness of the world and our exciting and doomed attempts to hold on to it. Seeing language itself as a vehicle for these attempts the language of paint – colour, tone, runniness, translucency, opacity, line etc become a second subject in tandem with the model, a parallel terrain. He has exhibited widely throughout the UK and internationally and also teaches drawing and anatomy in places such as the Museum of London, The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal Collection Gallery, Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.
CAROLINE MCKENTY
As an artist the fascination with process and materials, along with an education in textiles, has lead me through various tactile experiences in the discovery of function following form. Where the personality of the material and the way it is used gives birth to its final nature. Working in different fields, i.e. Fashion, Interior Design, Construction, Film and Theater, has enabled me to cross-pollinate my skills and references. Presented with this proposal are examples of an ongoing project that involves an architectural approach to the knitting process exemplified in the thick, polyethylene foam hand knitted chairs. Traditional knitted stitches, combined with the challenge of using extreme thread, are manipulated into looped forms of self-supporting structures. The results are hybrids - uniting a craft with deep historical roots of domestic techniques coupled with modern industrial materials
MARGUERITE VAN COOK
Marguerite Van Cook came to New York with her punk band The Innocents after touring with The Clash. She stayed, opened a gallery Ground Zero and curated numerous events and shows. Her own work as an artist and filmmaker placed her in many museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum and the Schwartz Art Collection at Harvard.
In 2006, Van Cook became the creative and managing director of the Howl! Arts Festival, an annual all-ages, multicultural, LGBT-friendly arts festival, which led in 2009 to the establishment of Howl HELP, a free emergency health & care service for downtown artists. she continues to work with the Festival. She is currently working towards a PhD in French at CUNY.
