church

ArtAttack Exhibition 2016

Posted by Gigi Salomon

Invitation

Co-founder of ArtAttack, Alex Lebus, was keen to look at the art being produced by a 1000 artists who had graduated in the last five years.   I was selected along with 19 other artists to show in the Crpyt Gallery at St Pancras Parish Church.

Red Door

 “We will be showing a wide range of work: figurative painting, photography, sculpture and immersive art. The judges include the well-known painter Andrew Salgado, German visual artist Sandro Kopp and gallerist Juliette Loughran” said Alex Lebus.  “David Hockney sold his first works as a student for £10 – his work sells today for millions. But the future artistic greats are today’s students and graduates, and they are just as hard to find now, as ever. The Winter Exhibition seeks to make some of this brilliant work more visible, offering gallery-quality work at below gallery prices.” 

The architecture of this famous crypt, with its domed ceilings, lent itself perfectly to my work.  Each artist was able to create their own gallery within the atmospheric crypts.  It gave me the opportunity to create a site-specific Sculpturescape, viewable through what looked like a boarded-up crypt door.

Sculpturescape 'Passage' - 2016
Sculpturescape ‘Passage’ – 2016

WHAT IS ARTATTACK APP?

The world’s first online social network and marketplace connecting buyers directly with up-and-coming artists. ArtAttack is revolutionising the art world, opening it up to everyone and supporting lesser known artists. Gallerist Juliette Loughran has praised ArtAttack saying “with the app it is not just a case being able to discover one or two more artists, you can discover hundreds of new artists in a way that is simply not possible in a traditional show.” 

Co-founders India Irving and Alex Lebus saw the difficulty young artists face once they have left art school. There is a fundamental need for artists to support themselves while nurturing their talent and creativity during this vulnerable period. Artattack removes all of the unnecessary costs in selling and buying art, offering a platform for people to own gallery quality art at below gallery prices.

There are already has 1000 artists on the app, with users in over 40 countries.

IMG_4636
Alex (left) and a friend in my vault at the exhibition

For more details or interviews please email alex@artattackapp.com 

The app is available on iOS here or search “ArtAttack – Share, sell network” on the app store.

Remembrance – St Martin’s Church London 2015

Posted by Gigi Salomon

ARTISTS TO HELP SAVE ST MARTIN’S GOSPEL OAK
opened by Michael Palin

Over 70 artists are showing work with the theme REMEMBRANCE to help raise funds to pay for vital restoration of St Martin’s Gospel Oak, which remains a beacon of life and hope in one of the most deprived parts of London, since its foundation 150 years ago.  By exhibiting my sculpture ‘Regeneration’, along with several acquatint monoprints, I was pleased to mark the centenary of World War I, and acknowledge remembrance in the widest sense of the word.

Cell Form II - Embossed Aquatint
Cell Form II – Embossed Aquatint – 2015

Over 70 professional artists taking part, including a number of Royal Academicians; Eileen Cooper, Stephen Cox, Diana Armfield, Anne Desmet, along with many well-known names in the Art World such as Maggi Hambling CBE, Craig Murray Orr, MaryAnne Aytoun-Ellis, Charles MacCarthy, Lucy Jones, Olivia Musgrave and many others.

Michael Palin and Reverend Chris Brice at St. Martins
Michael Palin and Reverend Chris Brice at St. Martins

St Martin’s Gospel Oak was built in 1865 by the architect Edward Buckton Lamb.  It is a grade 1 listed building, described by Nicholas Pevsner as the ‘craziest of London’s Victorian churches’ with its Gothic pinnacles giving the appearance of a fairy-tale castle.

St Martin’s, like so many churches, is desperately short of money for repairs. It is a centre for community activities in an area which has suffered the worst ravages of social breakdown and is an inspiring haven within a landscape of blighted post-war architecture. The Church was recently shortlisted for Historic England’s ‘Angel Awards’ after the restoration of the tower to its original glory, but there is much more to be done in the main body of the church particularly to the windows and walls.

It is also of interest to note that the Rev Chris Brice and volunteers do important work in the parish, not just to raise restoration funds but also to help refugees, housing the homeless and many other outreach projects in the community.