Thursday 27 June 2013

Test Space heads to Nancy Victor

Test Space will be exhibiting 'Found' at Nancy Victor from Wednesday 31st July - Monday 19th August. 

Found and recycled objects hold personal histories and interactions which can be used and built upon to create a new life, new associations or narrative. Each exhibiting art work has been painted, sprayed or built onto found materials, be it skate decks, tree stumps, speakers or baseball bats.

The exhibition shows work by a selection of artists Test Space have worked with previously, alongside a number of artists who were invited to exhibit including: Benjamin Murphy, Pogger, Ferres, Suzko, International Nobody, SixOneSix  and Captain Kris. 

Test Space is a creative agency established in 2010, developing innovative and new ways to showcase artists and their work, often making use of temporary, unusual and abandoned property to do this. 

Join us for the opening on Thursday 1st August from 6.30-8.30pm

Monday 17 June 2013

The Stories of Food by Mary Dalton

The Stories of Food, print maker Mary Dalton's debut solo show at Nancy Victor opened at the weekend. There was a tasty selection of cakes and tea to welcome those out of the rain. Monoprints, etchings, wood cuts and textile make this an exciting yet dark exhibition about an essential for every day life.   

Seed Watching, 2012

Mary Dalton's work is enthused and inspired by food, what it means to us and how we treat and consume it. Dalton's previous work at London's Borough Market and teaching the homeless is used to inspire her art works, allowing them to often take on a form of their own. Large abstract figures are drawn loosely within a narrative, whether it be growing food to consuming it. 

Seed Sprouting, 2012

Dalton describes food as being a conundrum. For many it is pleasure, comfort or joy but for others it is pain, anguish and hardship, being both greed and hunger. 

The Destruction of Land at the Street (Community Market Garden) 2013

Fabric and textile are also exhibited alongside the print works. These pieces are an extended canvas from the printing press, a second outcome for a larger narrative. The fragility of embroidery and disembodied figures play homage to and fully encapsulates the spirit of this exhibition, encouraging us to think differently about the way we use food in daily life.

How Greed and Hunger ate each other, 2013

Embracing the Surplace, selection of prints

Oyster Eating II, 2011 and Oyster Hunger Mushroom Faces, 2013




The Stories of Food continues until Friday 28th June 2013.  Nancy Victor is open from 12-7pm Monday - Friday. 

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Snow of his young life by Laurie Storey

Snow of his young life explores the manipulation of imagery within the media, particularly tabloid newspapers, this exhibition questions the use of wrought imagery to accommodate a different view point, and the theatrical nature of journalism. 

The relationship wasn't going anywhere until one thing tied it all together, acetate, paint, wood, 2013

The starting point for this project came about from a personal experience which happened over 20 years ago. On a very snowy February 9th 1991, when Laurie Storey was seven and his brother Ben two, his mother walked them from their house to the local shops in extremely cold conditions. Ben cried all the way. During the journey a man claiming to be a news photographer asked if he could take a picture of Ben crying on his sled. Their mother, although slightly confused and finding the situation unusual, obliged, and thought no more about it. The following morning Laurie's mother received a phone call from their slightly panicked Grandmother. It appeared that the image of Ben crying in the snow had been published on the front page of the Daily Mail Newspaper. The photographer had cleverly snapped a shot of Ben at such a moment, that the stretched grimace on the child's face actually looked like a smile. The caption which accompanied the image said, 'Three year old Ben Story, enjoying the first snow of his young life.' This information was incorrect, Ben was actually two, his name was spelt wrongly, he was not enjoying himself, and the previous year he and his family had spent the winter in Colorado, USA, where it snowed every day.

Original news story from 1991

The adjustment of innocent subject matter masks a much darker practice in contemporary journalism. Dates, facts, figures as well as personal testimony are often tweaked and adjusted to make news articles more spectacular. 'Snow of his young life' questions this use of imagery to enhance or convey opinion in the media by creating a selection of sardonic alternative endings or perspectives. The death of Colonel Gaddafi and the murder trial of Amanda Knox were both sensationalised stories, although very different, they both represent theatrical notions of death and power. Specific images taken from newspaper articles are worked into, manipulated and printed onto acetate. In order to expose and influence the images, the acetate is presented in layers to portray the build-up of a story, thus forming a satirical narrative highlighting the absurdity of imagery manipulation.





Snow of his young life runs until Monday 10th June open from 12-7pm