Bankley Studios & Artists Gallery

Private View: Friday 18th May 2018, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues until 2nd June, open Saturdays 12-4pm and by appointment.

A solo exhibition of new paintings by Sarah Woodburn, winner of the Bankley Open Call 2017.

“…I peel and portion a tangerine and spit the pips and feel the drunkenness of things being various.” (Louis MacNeice)

Inspired by unprimed empty canvas and tubes of fresh paint, SUM is a culmination of paintings made over the last two years.

Each work is started in much the same way – seeking out the ‘perfect’ surface by covering imperfections left behind from stretching raw canvas on a studio floor, with paint. Whilst many of the marks, gestures and lines have an accidental and whimsical quality to them, as a whole they work together with confidence and purpose.

Every decision, from start to finish, feels like a compositional balancing act. Each action informs the next, dictating the direction, mood and tempo of the work. Painting, if you like, as a game of chess.
Consistency within this group of paintings lies behind the medium and the decision making process, yet the outcome is always unpredictable.

Sarah Woodburn (b. Chertsey 1982) undertook a Foundation diploma at Wimbledon School of Art (2001-2002) and graduated in Fine Art at Newcastle University (2002-2006). She lives and works in London.

www.sarahwoodburn.com

ARM at Bankley Studios & Gallery
Navid Asghari, David Rogerson, James Moss

PV Friday 27th April 2018, 7pm – 9pm,
Exhibition continues Saturdays & Sundays 12pm-4pm until Saturday 12th May 2018

A free public installation of film, sound and sculpture from contemporary art partnership ARM, testing new methods for collaborative working.

That Sinking Feeling is a collaborative installation that dives into the soup of our current predicament. It seeks to reflect the relationships we have with this reality, the artefacts we create in our pursuit of progress, and the confused emotional state we find ourselves in. Combining film, sculpture and sound, the exhibition favours a lyrical approach ⎯ to use the vernacular of internet memes: ‘That feeling when… you realise you’re in the middle of a slow-motion apocalypse and you haven’t done your homework.’

ARM are a group of artists and producers working together in sound, image, digital technology, installation and research. From 27th April 2018 they will exhibit their new mixed media piece That Sinking Feeling in Bankley Studios’ first floor gallery space. arm.parts/

PV April 13th 2018, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues until April 22nd 2018
Open Sat & Sun 12-4pm or by appointment

The connections between the work of Brandys, Scott and Swaine has a double focus – that of the figure and that of light. The figure is the site of exploration and inquiry, and throughout the work there is an interest in exploring the bridge between the internal and external world.
Each artist has her own relationship with light and its effects; spanning the emotional, social, psychological and spiritual. High colour and light are used evocatively in the work which is on show at Bankley Gallery.

The artists see the exhibition at Bankley Gallery as an opportunity to experiment with combining their visual languages to create a multi-sensory installation which is intended as a dialogue between the play of Photographs, Paintings, Drawings and Objects; some of which are new works created especially for the exhibition.

The three artists exhibiting in 'Somewhere On The Colour Spectrum' met through the Turps Studio Painting Programme.

PV 9th March 2018, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues 10th & 11th March 12-4pm

Alyson Olson
Polly du Cros
Paul Bramley

Following on from previous collaborations, Alyson, Polly and Paul have been developing a dialogue between their practices, which lie between painting and sculpture with a mutual interest in discarded, ubiquitous materials. Process and materiality are at the root of their practices but each have a common interest in how the audience respond to the work in the space and the social comments that come from using these materials. For this ‘experiment’ they have continued this dialogue; but have focused on directing each other in the processes, removing the ‘hand’ of each other within the work and making decisions using the commands from each other to develop the installation. By orchestrating the work in this way, they have chosen to remove any ego that may be contained within the work and build a strong trust within the liminal space of the collaboration.

www.facebook.com/events/619203708429735/?active_tab=about

PV Friday 01 December 2017, 7-9pm
Exhibition Continues: Saturday 02 December 2017 - Thursday 07 December 2017
Opening times: Sat/Sun 11-5pm, weekdays by appointment

Lumen are an art collective exploring themes of astronomy and light. They curate events, exhibitions, seminars and residencies in the UK, Europe and beyond. For the exhibition at Bankley Gallery, Lumen brings together a number of North West based artists.

Image: Mark Lascelles-Thornton

Artists

Louise Beer
Leanne Bell-Gonczarow
Jacqueline Butler
Jennifer Brookes
Tom Cowell
John Hooper
Rebecca Huxley
Mark Lascelles-Thornton
Dave Lunt
Melanie King
Helen McGhie
David Ogle
Natasha Sabatini
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The Hole
- a painting exhibition by Joseph O'Rourke

Opening Night: Friday 10th November, with live music from Forrest Lloyd.

6.30-9pm (a bar will be running from 7pm)

Exhibition continues on Saturday 11th and 18th November 12 - 4pm
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'The Hole' will present work by painter, recent graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, and artist in residence at Bankley Studios, Joseph O'Rourke. The exhibition brings together paintings all made in 2017. Some have already been exhibited this year at 'Giants' in March (Tent Gallery, Edinburgh), and in June at E.C.A. degree show. Some work is being exhibited for the first time. Recent work has increasingly been made with ideas based around personal values in relation to global events. The title of this exhibition 'The Hole' refers to the seemingly un-fillable holes that governments, politicians, financiers, corporations are leaving in the human race, both as individuals and communities. The title also draws reference from the song 'Way down in the Hole' by Tom Waits.

See more of his work on his website www.josephorourke.co.uk and on Instagram @joeor_

The opening night will see the exhibition be accompanied with live music by Forrest Lloyd.
Forrest is a multidisciplinary artist working left of field in RnB, noise, and grime.

Please join us for the opening of our annual Open Call Exhibition and Open Studios Weekend 2017!

Bankley Open Call 2017:
Private View and Prize Giving: Fri 6th October 2017, 6-9pm

Exhibition continues 6th – 28th October 2017
Open 7th, 8th, 14th, 21st & 28th October 12-4pm


Shortlisted artists:

Amber Agha, Iain Andrews, John Angus, David Armes, Phoebe Baines, Richard Baker, Ellie Geary, Sarah Gilman, Lesley Halliwell, Kirsty Harris, Mark Houghton, Bethan Hughes, Gareth Kemp, Christian Mieves, Arthur Roberts, Emma Sandström, Jason Thompson, April Virgoe, Sarah Woodburn

This year's shortlist was selected by Donal Moloney - Artist & Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Paulette Terry Brien - Director of The International 3, Salford; Simon Woolham - Artist and Curator at Paper Gallery, Manchester; Helen Wheeler - Artist and winner of Bankley Open Call 2016



Bankley Open Studios 2017:
Launch Evening: Friday 6th October 2017 6-9pm
Open Studios: 7th & 8th October 12-4pm

Bankley will open three floors of artist studios to the public showcasing the work of over 30 artists working in painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, textile, video art and performance, representing the diversity and quality of work by artists currently resident at this artist-led co-operative.

Private View 8th September 2017, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues until the 16th September
Open Saturdays 12-4pm

'Selected works' brings together a collection of paintings and drawings by Matt Davies, winner of the Bankley Open Call 2015, for the first time. Mostly new pieces are in situ with some favoured paintings, uniting and intermingling with contrasting features and colour.

After winning the Bankley Open in 2015, it has been Matt Davies' intention to deliver fresh work that would challenge the way he usually paints. Smaller, more organised paintings have evolved from larger expressive and intermittent works. Although the same amount of mistakes and reworking have probably been made, the difference is that there is less space to hide with smaller works and that they prevail in intimacy and attentiveness.

This exhibition has also allowed Matt to facilitate the space with additional works on paper. These works have been uprooted from sketchbooks and involve intimate drawings that reflect on his personal life, combined with humorous and dark imagery.

PV: Friday 25th August 2017, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues: Saturday 26th August, 11-4pm

An exhibition about the nature of exhibitions, Scaffold Gallery's next show will focus on the culture, history and etiquette of art-shows and 'private-views'.

Twenty-two artists present new works in response to their experiences of exhibitions, reacting to their role in society, how they function and the customs and behaviours of an opening night. Through a wide variety of methods - including sound installation, photography, sculpture, performance, publications, video work and more - the artists each provide comment and critique on the rituals and traditions of the art exhibition.

Richard Hughes, Rado Daskolav, Kayt Hughes, Devon Forrester Jones, Sid & Jim, Meg Brain, Kieran Leach, Will Marshall, Adam Ralph, Laura Weaver, Laura Hopkinson, Carrie Doughty, Claire Prosser, Emily Simpson, Carritt & Palmer, Rob Flint, Lewdjaw, Rowan Eastwood, Bob Bicknell-Knight, John Flindt, Rose Cleary, Deaf Pictures, Daniel Hunt.

www.scaffoldgallery.com

Private View: 4th August 2017, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues until the 13th August 2017
open by appointment.

Escape to the Country is Evie O’Connor’s first solo show, conceived when she made the decision to move back to her hometown of Glossop in the High Peaks of Derbyshire. Being back in a familiar space rooted in her adolescence, whilst simultaneously living within a new narrative, has informed this new series of works, that are derived from direct experiences of the specific landscape and her interpretation of familiarity.

The past year has seen her exoticize and abstract her environment. Themes of isolation, class, self-examination and identity are explored within her body of work. The sense of isolation which is both trapping and liberating is heavily romanticised, with her reclusive nature prompting this reoccurring act of examination and translations of others close to her. Favouring people as the main subject of her work, the lone figures help direct her and create new versions of those close figures in her life into the surroundings. Her portraits acknowledge traditional themes of portraiture as a precious form of documentation whilst offering a self-taught, unaffected naivety.

With a background in fashion and textiles, she is critically engaged with the use of colour and proportion and this knowledge has heavily informed the stylistic and decorative qualities within her work, as well as the idea of purpose for those figures and landscapes. Colour is a significant language to her and an evocative colour palette is essential to engage with the surface, as well as a device used to signal her re-imagining of bodies within what is both a beautiful and droll environment.

Her own nostalgia and personal attachment cannot be overlooked, alongside the idea of critically exploring a terrain she has returned to as a young woman, especially that of her family’s class and identity. These narratives all unfold within the paintings along with references to regurgitated childhood memories, placed through subtle surreal motifs and unconventional decorative elements.

www.evieoconnor.com