Previous Exhibitions at The Crypt Gallery info@cryptgallery.org.uk       Homepage Current Exhibitions at The Crypt Gallery About The Crypt Gallery Plan of The Crypt Gallery Find / Contact The Crypt Gallery Links   For a short walk through one of our previous shows ">click here With thanks to www.camanddom.com for filming it. 17 - 25 July 2010 DOES MY ART LOOK BIG IN THIS? Rintama Arts, participating artists: Susie Baldock, Jenni-Maria Cibari, Debbie Clark, Fiona Chaney, Sophie Cordery, Sam Goodchild, Juliet Guiness, Louise Harrington, Chris Korek, Elli Lait, Loraine Perry, Jessie Rayat, Maria Staley, Regina Valkenborgh, Rachel Wilkins Curator: Loraine Perry RINTAMA ARTS present a group of emerging artists from the University of Hertfordshire whose work encompasses photography, painting, installation, performance, print, video projection and site responsive work. Each artist traverses their own path in their own distinct manner focusing on elements of beauty, frivolity, humour, darkness, the delicate, the ethereal, the everyday and moments in time and space that cause the viewer to 'take a minute' with some responding directly to the physical, cultural and historical aspects of the building and location at St Pancras itself creating their own narrative. www.rintamaarts.com 25 June - 13 July 2010 UNDER THE MOON Ramona Belcher, Norma Cronin, Juliette Jeanclaude, Carol Lawrence, Jess Lee-Short, Su Lupasco Washington, Annalouise Oakland, Yvonne Overton UNDER THE MOON brings together eight artists for the first time, most unknown to each other until the rallying call was sounded, and the circle drawn. Expressed through painting, sculpture, installation, print and mixed-media, the personal narrative of each artist is revealed in their distinct and individual work. This diverse and inspired group fuse their talents to present a truly unique show. As moonlight illuminates all it touches, so the spark of this creative adventure will entice and excite all who enter the mysterious, subterranean labyrinth beneath the hubbub of Central London. www.underthemoonexhibition.wordpress.com 10 - 20 June 2010 GENE MEME 50 beautiful and compelling paintings by artist Gregor Harvie replicate and mutate, evolving from simple cells to complex crowds. Like genes, they proliferate without conscience, overwhelming the space they occupy. 50 elegies by writer Alex Harvie remember past societies whose rapid growth led to collapse, a simple repetition of previous failures. We ignore these messages from the past, these memes, at our peril. For each painting sold, Street Child Africa will offer a vulnerable child in Ghana a year's apprenticeship including accommodation, food, medical care and support, to help lift them out of poverty. Find out more at: www.genememeart.blogspot.com THE POPULATION DEBATE Rising population is one of the most important issues facing our planet. The GENE MEME debate asks: What should be done about it? The panel of eminent speakers discussed this critical issue,tackling topics like: Whose problem is it? What are the demographics? What are the options? What are the practical problems? What ethical issues might be involved? Should anything be done at all? Prof. Aubrey Manning OBE, University of Edinburgh Prof. John Guillebaud, University College London Roger Martin, Optimum Population Trust Fred Pearce, The Guardian, New Scientist Savina Geerinckx, Street Child Africa Revd. Jeremy Caddick, University of Cambridge For further details see www.gandaharvie.com or contact Alex at info@gandaharvie.com 6 May - 6 June 2010 LINGERING WHISPERS The exhibition where international Art & Fashion duel and duet Website : http://lingering-whispers.com Does self expression flourish under pressure? Is creativity at its most acute in times of social, political and financial crises? More than anything, do the Arts provide hope during periods of extreme difficulty? The Great Depression in the 1930's saw Hollywood enter its Golden Age, a period many still describe as the Imperial Era of cinema. On the eve of WWII in 1939 MGM created Gone with the Wind, still one of the most successful films of all time. The Wizard of Oz, released the same year, became one of the most famous moving pictures ever made and Judy Garland's rendition of Over the Rainbow has been voted the greatest American movie song of all time by the American Film Institute. Extravagant colour and elaborate sets delighted millions; timeless in their invention and splendour while the music, choreography and elaborate costumes of this period all became instant classics, both on celluloid and stage. So now, while the financial world alleges we are once again in the midst of a grave depression, could Art once more succeed and exceed beyond all limits, providing a platform where all channels of creativity might flourish, stimulate and inspire? With this in mind, Lingering Whispers has been born. An exhibition comprising 40 international artists hunting for alternative ways of expression during this crisis. Art and Fashion will merge into one, both stage and catwalk, conscious and subconscious combined where imagination will be celebrated and the pigeonholed eliminated. Contemporary artists, poets, performers, fashion designers and photographers will unite in sharing their unspoken vanities, intoxicating fantasies, illusions, longings, dreams and desires. Lingering Whispers is about experiencing, not inert viewing. Art as a stage rather than four blank gallery walls. A glamorous, exquisite alternative to darkness and gloom. Curated by Predrag Pajdic and produced by Virginie Puertolas-Syn with: Dom Agius, Errikos Andreu, Barney Ashton, Joachim Baldauf, Stefania Bonatelli, Wren Britton, Carolyn Cowan, Fran Dileo, Alexandra Eldridge, Devin Elijah, Manuel Estevez, Roberto Foddai, Al Giga, Frances Goodman, Christophe Haleb, Katharina Hesse, Daniel Holfeld, Kobi Israel, Pascale Lafay, Scooter Laforge, Emiliano Lazzarotto, Mark Mander, Tupac Martir, Katarina Mootich, Michal Ohana-Cole, Maflohe Passedouet, Petra Reimann, ricci/forte, Pato Rivero, Yvonne De Rosa, Mauro Santucci, Iris Schieferstein, Erick Soler, Tapio Snellman, Wolfgang Stiller, Christopher Stribley, Lee Wagstaff, Cyrille Weiner. For further information or press images please contact Predrag Pajdic on +44 77 344 340 66 or p.pajdic@gmail.com 22 - 30 April 2010 BODIES TRANSFORMED A collaborative exhibition of 8 artists The show brings painting, print, installation, sculpture, drawing, photography and dance together within the magnificently labyrinthine architecture of the Crypt. Its subterranean space creates a setting for an alchemy or transformation of the material body and immaterial aspects of each work. Its scope is at turns both mythic and playful. "Sara Mark's work manifests the process of matter transformed, the transformation in Glen Snow's painting is completed by the viewer's reading of the painted surface, and Kim Thornton's work transforms the mundane objects of domestic life. Dina Christy employs the transformative qualities of light, Bruno Mazzotta re-invents mechanical objects whilst Lisa Payne combines materials in an attempt to make a homogenous whole out of disparate parts. Victoria Ahrens breathes new meaning into the origins and memory of collected material and Jane Dalton's intricate mark making transforms the surface and becomes a measure of time as well as space". 15 - 20 April 2010 CAGED BIRD SINGS A show about breaking the ties that bind Featured artists - James Roper, Klarita Pandolfi, Eoghan Deane, Antonio Pagani, Dorothy Yoon, Reme Campos, Jo Young, Paul Dawes, Kika Nicolela, Hester Jones, Stella O, Daisy McMullan, Sarah Misselbrook, Andrew Graves-Johnston, Taciana Coimbra, Domenico Bolano, Luigi Menichelli, Max Lamour, Arturo Zavala Haag, Tom Lovelace and Elizabeth Shingleton. Curated by Bare/not Projects (Dinea Smith, Silvia Caso and Kate Weir) Bare/not Projects are first-time curators from Central St Martins. Our debut show - Caged Bird Sings at The Crypt Gallery - is a group project with 21 artists, sculptors, film-makers, photographers and designers who have been given an open brief to deconstruct and challenge ideas of restriction. These artworks confront the illusion that we alone control our lives; an antidote to the media's influence on our perceived autonomy; where liberated individuals are praised whilst stereotypes, moral panics, religious beliefs, political ideologies and sexist or racist perceptions are perpetuated. With themes ranging from immigration and cultural identity to sex trafficking and claustrophobia we want to explore the wider issues surrounding restriction. * Is security, which undermines liberty in the name of protection, desirable? * Is what we feel as an act of freedom lived as an act of violence by someone else? * Are these binds inevitable or self-imposed by our collective or personal conscience? * Can there be a world with 'no conformities, no cliches, myths or anything which is given or dictated; where it is possible to eschew conflict because everyone is allowed to be different' as defined by anthropologist Roland Barthes? * Is freedom really the ultimate goal? We have joined forces with charities Stop the Traffik and the Anti-Slavery Organisation, and will be holding a symposium in the Crypt on 17 April to further investigate our theme and talk about the legacy of restriction and censorship in art history. Visit http://barenot.wordpress.com for more information or follow us on Twitter (@barenot) and Facebook. 8 - 12 April 2010 PASSION II An exhibition of paintings by Audrey West Journeys through pain can reach a place of joy. Audrey West's exhibition of paintings creates new icons out of traditional themes, surrounded by seascapes, and the 'truth' of portraits to describe a complex mythology. Images of the journey of the African diaspora, suffering related to Jesus, the anarchic joy of flamenco combine to describe the artist's passions in a juxtaposition of loud and muted tones. Passion n.1 strong and barely controlled emotion > an outburst of such emotion. 2 intense sexual love. 3 an intense enthusiasm for something 4 (the Passion) suffering and death of Jesus Audrey West emerged as a significant 'black woman artist' during the 1980's. She continued to write and paint whilst active in community development, and working as a counsellor and language teacher. An MA in Cultural Memory has set her various pursuits within a cohesive framework. Audrey has recently begun to showcase her work again, with much audience appreciation. 18 March - 4 April 2010 PASSION A photographic interpretation by Andrew Rafferty Portraying the last few hours of Christ's life has absorbed some of the greatest artists over many centuries. Early imagery focused on the Passion being a necessary precursor to Christ's triumph at the Resurrection. But over time this focus shifted to the artists using the human compassion of the viewer to respond spiritually to the sufferings of Christ. Photography is rarely used in Christian churches as the primary artistic medium for storytelling, let alone devotion. But it could be argued, that a photographic depiction of the Passion started around 1400 A.D. with The Shroud of Turin and some 600 years gives many the promise of an afterlife. Perhaps it was the Cloth of Veronica, the most famous relic of Rome in the thirteenth century onto which it was claimed that the imprint of Christ's face was made in an almost photographic way that inspired the Shroud's creation. Rafferty's photographic interpretation of the Passion goes deeper into today's human than yesterday's divine. Not just human weakness, but humans actively seeking the downfall of another human. There are no long robes, no halos, and geographical and historical reference points have been stripped away. With its fourteen works the exhibition has a narrative that leads from Conspiracy to Death for more than one. Uniquely, in this interpretation of the Passion, the artist has used himself in every image and all are self-portraits, as if to emphasise that we each have the capacity to be the conspirator, the torturer or the betrayer or perhaps, the redeemer. Rafferty's photographic technique is inventive. Infra-red videography and photography are set alongside sharp close-ups, multi-layered images, 'joiners' and a photograph made through skin contact, a new Vero Icon. Using the darkened spaces and passageways of the Crypt Gallery there is a sense of journey. But to what end are we being propelled? 16 February - 13 March 2010 WARNINGS Warnings is an extraordinary promenade experience beneath the Euston Road. A live-art piece about reading and being read to; an immersive night of theatre about guilt, loneliness and the ghost stories of M.R. James. On your journey you will hear two of James's greatest works, 'Count Magnus' and 'A Warning To The Curious', unfolding through the vaults and passageways of this very much still inhabited nineteenth-century crypt. Expect chance-meetings, otherworldly images, and a few surprises. 11 - 13 February 2010 ATMOSPHERE IN THE SPECTRUM An exhibition of artwork by Amy Brooks, Elliott Tucker,Rebecca Brodskis, Sophie Hoyle, Aukje Dekker, Milica Prokic, Sidonie Roberts, Ben Nathan, Lina Daugirdaite, Erik Bellevik, Tal Regev, Babette Semmer, Leo Cohen, George Rae, Esmeralda I Gonzales, Ben Nash, Leonora Aunstrup, Patricia Delgado, Sydney Southam, Oli Bonzanigo, Richard Burton, Agatha Antony 'Atmosphere in the Spectrum' is an exhibition showcasing a gamut of young emerging artists each at different stages of their education who explore a wide variety of techniques for expressing something as intangible as mood, atmosphere and spectrum. Each artist brings a different viewpoint to bear on the concept of atmosphere; thus, by its very nature, each vision expressed will be personal, engaging the viewer in a very individual way. The artists present their work in a range of media including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, installation and video, featuring a fluidity that will appeal to a sweep of emotions enhancing the work as well through the influence of the space and the aura of the crypt that pervades it. 4 - 7 February 2010 UNEARTHED AT THE CRYPT A group show with artists Andy Charalambous, Karen Gardner, Nigel Goldie, Hinchee Hung, Orson Kartt, Izzie Tart Unearthed at The Crypt is an Exhibition of Contemporary Art from six artists whose work ranges from video, sculpture installation, ceramics and unconventional painting materials. Unearthed is about emergence from concealment, of materials sourced from under our feet, of illuminations of truth before appearances, and about the opportunity for discovery. The Crypt as the given space provides the experience of disinterring, of bringing from obscurity into full view works which are reflexive, regarded, ironic, as well as experimental. This is an exhibit not just to view, but to experience. For further information or images see http://www.unearthed.org.uk or phone Hinchee Hung on 02076070006; email hinchee@spaceoddity.eu 29 - 31 January 2010 126 DAYS We've been together now 126 days, it's been colourful, even messy at times. An exhibition of artwork by Patrycja Basinska, Darren Beatty, Nadia Berri, Alex Darcy, Terry Dynes, Niccolo Fano, Manuel Fernandez, Jayne Lloyd, Christina Papanicolaou, Cristina Pedreira, Lara Pelॺ, Wendy Plovmand, Judith Riessner, Lucia Rivero, Ana Ruepp 126 DAYS showcases the work of Byam Shaw MA students following this period of time together as a class and as a group of individual artists. The nature of the Masters dictates a one year trajectory for the completion of a body of work. 126 DAYS provides a snapshot of the ongoing artistic process, an insight into its evolution under these circumstances. Presented works include video, sculpture, installation, mixed-media and painting. 15 - 17 January 2010 CONCRETE An exhibition of artwork by Rebecca Ackroyd, Olivia Bax, Conal Bryant, Abby Clark, Oscar Coakley, Kenneth Collings, Maya Darrell Hewins, Aislinn Dowling, Leanne Hayman, Nina Kovacevic, Alberto Lamback, Ben Lund, Benjamin Spicer, Nicky Spry, Yoichi Tamori "Concrete" is a group show consisting of works from students at Byam Shaw School of Art. The pieces selected question not only the form of physical structures but also our notion of them. The show explores the relationships between objects established within a space in a suitably contemplative atmosphere. Participating artists present their work in a range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and video. The individual interpretations made by each artist are varied, yet when placed together the structures create a cohesive whole. The nature of much of the work invites the viewer to look beyond the surface and observe the individual ingredients of "Concrete". 16 - 20 December 2009 MAGIC CARPET Crossing back and forth between time and place, the Crypt Gallery showcases a group of exciting time-travelling artists. ?In ancient times dreams and trance states were the principal well established methods of time travelling. A symbol can be read as an inconceivable compression of the time taken by operations of the spirit.? - Paul Valery The weight of history and our navigation within it becomes a trickier task as time passes. As our eyes open wider, our experiences increase, and our visual memory gets ever more full, the connections between people, events, objects and emotions becomes harder and harder to distinguish within the clear linearity from past through to present. This exhibition brings together 12 emerging artists exploring the concept of displacement. Utilising images taken from a rhizomatic understanding of the world and its histories, the group presents work in a range of media encompassing video, painting, sculpture, installation, and sound. Artists include: Mark Bell, Lindsey Bull, David Cochrane, Rita Evans, Charlie Franklin, Andrew Gannon, Julia Mariscal, Paul McCann, Jill Mulleady, Michael Murphy, Luna Paiva & David A Smith. Further press information: http://www.cryptgallery.org.uk or please write to jilluna@yahoo.com 11 - 13 December 2009 OBSESS(US) Artists: Ayano Yamamoto, Clare Wallis, Carlos H. Matos, George Petrou, Ioli Zalimoglou, James Ashby King, Jonathan Cunningham, Manuel Muñ¯º Gomez Gallardo, Michael Delaney, Molly Beth White, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Lillian Suwanrumpha, Lucia Gomez Mejia, Sylvia Nicolaides, Tomoko Takayama Presenting Obsess(us), an exhibition that brings together a group of 15 artists from diverse art backgrounds and cultures to explore the concept of obsession. Through photography, installation, video, sound and painting the artists express their own interpretation of this notion and create artworks which are individual responses that also combine to form a collective understanding of what it means to obsess or be obsessed. Shared qualities and ideas, such as social and self, body and space, physical and mental, reality and imagination, all play a part in each of the works. Each response is not only explored in different media, but also conceived from varied cultural backgrounds and attitudes. The anxiety that obsession brings with it is present in all of the works, inviting the viewer into a state of contemplation. 3 - 6 December 2009 LITTLEPALOOZA! A festival of theatre, music, cabaret, storytelling and visual arts from Scary Little Girls Productions. As a production hub and artists support and development network, Scary Little Girls now has over 100 associate artists from all areas of the arts. This means that there will something for everyone in the rich programme of our first ever arts festival. Each day we are in the Crypt Gallery will see a combination of visual art displays, animation and performances. Ticket only. Advance bookings recommended as spaces in the crypt are strictly limited. Tickets and more information available at www.scarylittlegirls.co.uk Enquires on info@scarylittlegirls.co.uk or Tel: 0797 6623 706 27 November - 1 December 2009 FANTASY ZOO A new Garudio Studiage exhibition HATE REALITY? LOVE ANIMALS? SKINT? Garudio Studiage have the perfect project for you with our latest collaborative venture, the Garudio Studiage ?Fantasy Zoo?. Garudio have chosen 30 of their favourite artists to receive an imaginary budget of ?10,000 to ?buy? animals anywhere they can find them and create the zoo of their dreams. The rules are strict but the outcome is open, so expect everything from balloon giraffes to ornamental cats all created with a careful budget in mind. Along with Garudio Studiage, contributing artists and designers include: Andrew Rae, Andy Forshaw, James Dawe, Karin Å«esson, Mike Topping, Hannah Waldron, Danny Sturgess, Laura Gill, Annabelle Hartmann, Sarah Fotheringham, Ivana Bobic, Kenn Munk, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Adam Knight, Tara Langford, Clare Ormerod, and many more. 19 - 24 November 2009 FORGE Photography exhibition Fashion photographer Cameron McNee and actor/director Dominic Kelly have collaborated to produce their second exhibition of photographs exploring emotions and relationships. Working solely with Meisner-trained actors from the Actors Temple, they have produced a series of intimate, large-scale portraits of relationships. Since 2006, McNee and Kelly have worked together with actors devising a process to capture uncensored moments of human emotion on camera. This process is based on an acting technique devised by Sanford Meisner that Kelly and the actors are trained in, whose principle aim is to create impulsive and truthful performances. It is also a technique that has bred many highly commemorated actors and Oscar winners in the USA such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Angelica Huston, Kim Basinger and Felicity Hoffman. Forge consists of (both) studio portraits, exploring relationships that we can readily identify with, and environmental portraits that ask the viewer to construct relationships out of the clues they are given. In a culture fascinated with watching reality television and seeing real people in emotive situations, the work of McNee and Kelly aims to provoke people's expectations about what is real and what is fabricated. The exhibition incites the viewer to forge their own stories behind each portrait they encounter and the individuals in them. The Crypt Gallery is a cavernous space under St Pancras Church built in 1822 and converted into a gallery in 2002. The haunting tunnels offer viewers space and atmosphere to consider the work. For more information: www.camanddom.com Cameron McNee shoot@cameronmcnee.com 07876560022 www.theactorstemple.com 10 - 12 November 2009 THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY Featured artists: Riffat Ahmed, Nicholas Brown, Lola Bunting, Maria Elvorith and Emma Smith Performances by Riffat Ahmed and The McCarricks Curated by: Maria Elvorith Dark and captivating, ?Through a glass darkly? alludes to the idea that our understanding of this world will never truly be clear until we reach an end; until that point, we perceive life only through a fogged lens. A selection of emerging and talented young artists explore and illustrate this idea through the varied disciplines of photography, video, painting, mixed media installation, music and performance art, all situated within the evocative setting of The Crypt Gallery. Intricate models placed inside the walls of the gallery and beyond the viewer?s grasp speak of our dreamlike perception of reality. Photographs capture fragile and misty moments in forgotten places around England, while delicately painted nebulae and star clusters surrender unnerving truths to the attentive, revealing another dimension to the experience. With ethereal sound and light bending and travelling throughout the gothic passageways, mysterious narratives painted in classical baroque style ask us to reconsider our initial interpretations and perceptions of this world, as the dawn and dusk of human mortality are explored in provocative physicality. 30 October - 3 November 2009 TRACING THE PHOTOGRAPH Supported by Openvizor Uz Afzal, Fagner Bibiano, Myka B, Karina Beltran, Charlie Dutton, Craig M Edwards, Bruno Freitas De Oliveira, Isabel de Porcel, Heidi Kayla, Raakhee Lakhtaria, Catherine Lindsay-Davies, Georgina McNamara, Olivia Milani, Bex Singleton, Natalia Skobeeva, Nick Smith, Rhod Walls Tracing the Photograph presents the work of 17 recent graduates from Central Saint Martins' Postgraduate Certificate in Photography. Curated by Rebecca Harris, this exhibition presents a collective of artists using the medium of photography, where themes and processes come into contact but practices remain distinct. Such an exhibition highlights their varied approaches, rendering the photograph almost obsolete through their conceptual aims and creative processes. These artists have come together while studying and the outcome of their experiences activates a discursive response to the nature of presenting or rather tracing spaces around us. Several of the artists explore what makes a photograph, considering the nature of the photographic image and the idea of authenticity, questioning the assumption that the photographer has the ?power? to turn what they ?see? into a ?mental object?. The practice of using a camera, of making a photograph, is also analysed through different processes highlighting that, inevitably, there is a vulnerability associated with the photograph. Our brains connect to our vision, recording moments in time, often as short sequences of film, pointed by specific memories of taste, colour, touch, things said and those forgotten or not said, the materiality of sound, acting as moments captured by a photograph. But these moments can become blurred, transferred and transformed determined by our current understanding of past experiences. By negotiating techniques, some of the artists return to the foundation of photography as an art form, where the line between photography, painting, drawing and sculpture became blurred into an experience of perception to the real and artificial meaning of representation. 3 - 25 October 2009 MIND THE GAP. . .BRINGING DEPRESSION ABOVE GROUND An exhibition of work by the Women's Art Movement This exhibition introduces a diverse group of National and International Female Artists wanting to break down taboos for women suffering from depression. The atmospheric ?Crypt? chambers and corridors take you on a creative journey of installation, painting, photography, digital imagery, glass, metal casting, film, slide projection. Many lives are enriched through the collaboration of creative females exhibiting together to combine experimental artistic disciplines, confront contemporary issues, social diversities & challenge the understanding of female representation within society. http://www.wam-london.co.uk 25 - 28 September 2009 UNRELATED ACTS ?When everyone who surrounds you is unique, only then will you truly belong.? Mr Woodcock Unrelated Acts brings together 13 very different practising artists. Without employing a preconceived aesthetic or moral theme, curatorial team Janet and Holly controversially yet lovingly selected these up-and-coming artists, using random connections and chance encounters in time and place. Unrelated Acts is a leap of faith, combining fate, gut instinct and the irrational. Beyond this unorthodox heart-over-mind process, the question of what truly connects the works, and their aesthetic relationships and common conceptual themes, will be entirely down to their audience. These Unrelated Acts occur appropriately inappropriately in the bowels of the underground catacombs of the Crypt Gallery, underneath St Pancras Church, opposite Euston Station. While many people lie beneath its floor and within its walls, the artists ? using various methods and media, including painting, installation, sculpture and even Chanel No5 ? adopt this ossuary space to conceive their collective genesis. For additional press material and images, please contact Janet and Holly: janet.holly@hotmail.co.uk 07940 706568 12 - 20 September 2009 IS THIS SPAIN? This exhibition brings together contemporary Spanish artists who question and reject the often held stereotypes of Spanish culture and Spain as a country. The artists portray another reality of the country, the "unofficial" one. This exhibition shows the culture of a country that lived under a total dictatorship during the twentieth century, a dictatorship which influenced in a very negative way the economic, social and cultural development of Spain. Challenging perceptions of Spain and demonstrating the cultural richness of the country, the artists promote and disseminate current Spanish art in its various manifestations, with emphasis on new languages such as video, net.art, and installation. London is the ideal platform at a European and international level for these emerging and established Spanish artists to advance a contemporary Spain which is not just bull, fiesta and siesta. A Spain that had its golden age and that, in the 1980s, began to emerge again. The artists and their work include: Momu & No Es, "Reina de las Fiestas" Derivart, "Casas Tristes" Santiago Sierra, "Bandera Negra" Andres Senra, "Casa Quemada" Greta Alfaro, "In Ictu Oculi" Democracia, "Subtextos" Alicia Framis, "Secret Strike - Inditex" Busto Bocanegra, ήchiriez Camerবt;br> Maria Cañ¡³¬ "The Toro's Revenge" Revista UHF, "Mapas de Españ¡¦±uot; Carlos Llavata, "I am Not Proud" Alejandro Vidal, "Tactical Disorder" Is this Spain? is a project organized by Exprimentolimon and Pensart with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Spain and the collaboration of Taller Digigrafico and Wines of Spain http://www.exprimentolimon.org http://www.pensart.org 27 August - 9 September 2009 SURFACE / SPACE / TIME Curated by Sam Clift & Eve Wheate ?Surface / Space / Time? brings together an independent group of inspirational emerging and established artists, exhibiting in their distinctive style through diverse practices of sculpture, drawing, painting, textiles and video installation. The exhibition seeks to explore hidden passages and connotations located within the subject title. Addressing the nostalgic labyrinthine passageways and presence of the Crypts half-lit spaces, installations and other physical and metaphorical entities merge and submerge, integrating and initialising a relationship with the space. The interspersed site-specific work characterises the adaptability of the artists to either work or conflict with the fabric of the building - as seen in the installation that searches for comparisons between the beautifully constructed, solid brickwork of the Crypt and the ?direct absence and alternative? with the economical materials and labour saving technology used within modern construction. Other artists examine ideas relating to the everyday perception and place; using multimedia, imagery and pattern to determine how memories are associated with the objects that surround us and how culturally and socially they give us a sense of ownership. Suspended in a semi-lit vault, large-format painting?s explore and attempt to accentuate the void within two and three-dimensional space, toying with the illusion of one?s own sense of physical and metaphorical perception of an environment. This distinctive exhibition invites the viewer to evoke a mental orbit of exploration, discovery and examination in a labyrinth of contemporary art that interconnects with its atmospheric space. Featured artists: Eve Wheate, JooHee Hwang, Lucy Barfoot, Lucy Fergus, Luke Stones, Mark Houghton, Mary Louise Evans, Richard Jack, Rona Smith, Sam Clift, Simone Wallace & Sue Hotchkis. 5 - 23 August 2009 BLACKMANKIND Four very independent artists in one very independent space. Artist Charlie Pi returns to the Crypt at St Pancras Church with twenty five new and intriguing portrayals of the black male. Based in part on traditional stereotypes of the black male such as: the athlete, the shaman, the exotic and the mystery, these paintings shift and twist the stereotypes to create thought-provoking images around the broader areas of physicality, spirituality and creativity. Titles such as, ?Rasta and the Bathroom Elk?, ?Drop the Pineapple?, ?The higher he climb?, and ?Olympic Pluckers?, give some idea of Charlie?s creativity and sense of humour. After the success of last year?s show Charlie Pi has invited three other fiercely independent artists to join him this August. These artists are not ?fresh from College? and like Charlie himself produce their art in and for the real world outside of the gallery system, which makes for an immediate and palpable difference in both approach and product. Beautiful photographs by Trinidadian Performance Poet, Rasconrad, ?I love photographing aspiring black men. There is a power that exudes from them between the ages of 16-35 that I think is unparalleled. Whether it?s his raw anger, deep frustration, hard musculatur or innate beauty, the black man is amazing to capture on film at that age.? Intricate and obsessive painted construct by Bajan Michael Connell. A builder by day, Michael uses all the detritus of his job. From shards of mirror to pipe insulation to create semi-abstract wall constructs where every leaf is cut from wood and painted to create magical illusion. ?I want to bring colour to the streets of London.? Terence McDonald Humphrey (Montserrat Man) Founder of 'Trunkstore' a developing independent arts outpost whose ongoing collaborative work includes the ?No Go Zones Audio Radio Project? and the emerging ?Aquarium Project? will produce a soundscape for the show. All artists are available for interview. For more information go to: www.charliepi.co.uk Or call : 0208 691 5592 mobile: 44 7940 259 948 27 July - 2 August 2009 POSTMAN'S PARK Frederick Alfred Croft [Inspector aged 31] saved a lunatic woman from suicide at Woolwich Arsenal station but was himself run over by the train (Jan 11 1878) Quietly hidden in a small pocket of St Pauls? Cathedral is a park of great consequence; for therein lies a monument celebrating heroic acts of self-sacrifice. What sets it aside from monuments of grandeur is its focus; which is not on the celebrated military heroes, not on the world?s most notorious thinkers, but on barmaids, railway workers, printers, policemen and children. What did they do that made them worthy of a permanent monument in London? They gave their life to save another's. The Actors? Temple invites you to down into St Pancras Church?s Crypt at the bequest of artist and philanthropist, G. F Watts. Once inside, the truths beneath the memorial inscriptions are revealed. These dead Victorian heroes share their memories of golden days; weddings, births and days-out whilst also harbouring doubts about the final moments of their life. Loss of loved ones, misleading news reports and ulterior motives float around in this underworld exhibition of living portraits. A fully immersive world of interaction is there for the taking. The audience is rewarded by asking questions, overhearing conversations and finding dark corners where secrets are shared. Yet, if observed from afar, when the portrait is unaware of any presence, a different hidden side of the ghost could be brought to light. At all times G.F Watts will be there with you to share stories and guide you around his dimly lit gallery of ordinary heroes. At times macabre, at others profoundly beautiful. Postman?s Park offers an insight into the human capacity to love, to live and die for what we believe in. 8 - 24 July 2009 SCULPTURE AND PAINTING EXHIBITION The London based FREE PAINTERS & SCULPTORS have been showing interesting work for 57 years. This group of 80 artists is free to follow their own ideas. Hence fresh work is always shown. No one is tied to a gallery's dictats. We hold 3 - 4 exhibitions a year, though this one concentrates on the three dimensional. 26 June - 1 July 2009 MELQUIADES As ?But Melquí¡¤es? tribe, according to what the wanderers said, had been wiped off the face of the earth because they had gone beyond the limits of human knowledge.? Gabriel Garcí¡ Má²±uez, ?One Hundred Years of Solitude? Melquí¡¤es is a show which opens windows to places just beyond the reach of explanation. It widens the gaps in experience, and invites mystery into the familiar. It is a show that explores the notion of the travelling display of wonders. The show shall exhibit the work of contemporary artists and musicians responding to things they can never experience. The audience shall wander through a labyrinth of curtain and stone, behind each arch, there shall be something unexpected and mysterious. Some of the works shall be ideas, some objects, some sounds, and some movements. Together they shall create a world just beyond the grasp of the everyday,the world of Melquí¡¤es and his travelling show. 5 - 21 June 2009 THE SPACE BETWEEN Group show with artists Annie Cattrell, Amanda Couch, Richard Ducker, Jan Dunning, Joy Gerrard, Kate MccGwire, Maril讥 Oliver, Kate Street, Esther Teichmann The Space Between brings together a group of nine established and newly established artists (whose work ranges from video to performance and sculpture), many of whom are represented in major collections, including the Saatchi, V&A and Wellcome Trust?s. The show explores the ideas that surround our common experience of ?liminality?, of existing in ?a space between? places, ideas, thoughts and emotions. The venue itself, with its tombstones and relics of those who have ?crossed over?, is perfect for a discussion of the theme, occupying as it does the middle ground between states, the ephemeral and the permanent, life and death. The current Zeitgeist dictates that we can be anyone or anything if only we try hard enough, or are good enough, and so increasingly we find ourselves in a ?space between?, somewhere between ?being? and ?becoming?. It?s a place of transformation and possibility, rich with longing, melancholy and fantasy. Only here are we able to stop and contemplate ? but never entirely grasp ? the state of flux that characterizes our lives. This sense of being poised on some kind of threshold is all the more topical because of the precariousness of the age in which we live. As the artist Doris Salcedo has said, ?Precariousness produces an image in which the nature of the work is never entirely present.? The artists? diverse practices of sculpture, video, photography, installation and performance each tap into different aspects of the theme. Annie Cattrell describes herself as ?a runner between worlds?, between science and art. Her work deals with the fleeting and ephemeral, those things that are normally invisible to the human eye ? a breath inside a human lung or cloud formation on a particular day. She will be showing ?Ranges?, which captures in glass a whole spectrum of human facial expressions from neutral indifference to laughter and anger. Amanda Couch has created an alter ego, ?a traveller, somewhere between civilized and savage, woman and child, space and time?. She has created a new work especially for The Space Between, which she will perform at the private view. Richard Ducker makes sculptural objects coated in concrete that are at once sombre and humorous. He combines the found with the made object to suggest private stories embedded in works which ?evoke nostalgia, myths soaked in dreams, and fairy-tales gone wrong?, and will be exhibiting a new work, ?Aqualung?. Jan Dunning works with a pinhole camera, offering an unsettling, enigmatic perspective on the ?natural? world. Her work exploits the ambiguous and transformational perspective of the pinhole photograph to present confrontations between fiction and reality, the possible and impossible, the natural and unnatural. Joy Gerrard concentrates on space, site, politics and a visual response to the city as a site of transformation. She looks at the idea of ?the crowd? framed by urban space in an attempt to address some fundamental questions about the changing political face of the city. Recent work includes large-format drawings of crowds forming to mourn and protest as well as miniature animation and video works that comment on the politics of congregation and dispersal in urban spaces. Kate MccGwire uses impure materials, most recently pigeon feathers, to create forms that exist somewhere between myth and reality, deliberately playing with Freud?s notion of ?The Uncanny? (that sense of something which is both familiar and strange) to unseat our sense of well-being. She will be showing ?Rile?, a feathered hybrid, half serpent half snake, and ?Sluice?, an effluent-like flood of pigeon feathers, both of which play on the material?s ability to elicit wonder and repulsion in equal measure. Maril讥 Oliver works at a crossroads somewhere between new digital technologies, traditional print and sculpture, her finished objects bridging the virtual and the real worlds. She works with the body translated into data form in order to understand how it has become ?unfleshed?, in the hope of understanding who or what it has become. To this end she uses various scanning technologies, such as MRI and PET, to reclaim the interior of the body ? a threshold portraitists don?t generally cross ? in all its physical beauty. And yet we are never privileged a complete view of the body before us; in her ?Family Portrait? series (which will be shown in its entirety) our gaze is constantly drawn to the gaps, the spaces between the printed sheets, each representing a slice of the body. Kate Street uses language and well-known stock phrases as a starting point for her sculptural works that strike a balance between the theatrical and the absurd, the romantic and the deathly. She is creating two new works for the show, one of which ?Bird in the Hand? explores our need to compare our achievements with others?, to dissect and analyse, in the search for the root of what makes us happy. Esther Teichmann uses the medium of photography and video to examine the relationship of the self to the maternal body and to the body of the lover. Desire and fear of loss are subtly and yet powerfully evoked in these explorations of the visceral and expressive properties of the human physique and skin. Teichmann will show ?To Get There?, a video work which invites the viewer to enter into the intimate world of the mother longing to comfort an adult child. For further information or images see www.thespacebetween.org.uk or phone Emma Lilley on 07834 320714; email emma.lilley@btinternet.com 22 - 31 May 2009 TALES FROM THE ELECTRIC FOREST As humans have migrated into cityscapes, we have brought with us a vast array of age-old mythical creatures and many new ones have risen up from the pavement. Such beings have found refuge in such places as dark dingy alleyways, abandoned factories, derelict houses, attics, cellars, sewers, train stations, underground tube lines... anywhere out of reach of the city's lights. These fantastical city dwelling figures and their stories, clearly continue to absorb and fascinate mass consciousness, for they are continually rearing their heads in modern cinema, theatre, literature and art. Recent examples of such tales can be found in the form of Murakami's monstrous rat-like 'Inklings' in his novel; 'Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'. The comedy series, the Mighty Boosh, created the hideous 'Crackfox' and David Lynch made a dreadlocked back-alley witch in his film 'Mulholland Drive'. All of these tales explore figures that appear to have undergone some form of physical mutation or drastic mental change rendering them abnormal and monstrous. With the idea that mythological symbolism has a reality underlying any rhetorical or fictional use, the exhibition's ultimate purpose is to offer an illustration of the fears and aspirations of the early 21st century and compare them to those of bygone days. Fifteen artists have scoured the dark corners of the city and their own consciousness, creating and appropriating tales of the city. For further information please email t.g.adriani@gmail.com For sales contact Helen Prosser at hprosser@cactusproductions.co.uk or 07786 521 806. Read a review of the exhibition: www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/532039 8 - 17 May 2009 THE OTHER SIDE Curated by Erika Winstone This exhibition takes its title from the book ?The Other Side? written in twelve weeks by the artist Alfred Kubin when he found himself incapable of drawing; it is his only novel. Eighteen artists have been invited to explore ?the other side? through working with real and imagined relationships, exhibiting work in association with an ?other?. The nature of these relationships vary, including differences of age, specialism, physical ability, career status, with in some instances the partner no longer alive. Questions are raised of individual practice relative to collaboration across these differences. The exhibition hopes to highlight the creative value of relationship within artists? practice and the ability for this to sustain and continue over time. The artists work in a range of media encompassing drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, sound, video, text and performance. Materially, there is an underlying correlation in the exhibition between music and art, with many of the artists working directly with sound as an integral element. ?The Other Side? is timed to coincide with a free Music Festival in the Church above and sited specifically in the Crypt gallery with its dual history as a place of sanctuary for both the living and the dead (having been used as a crypt and an air raid shelter in both world wars). Artists Mark Dean is presenting a new video and sound work echoing the voice of the Reverend Al Green with a painting by Liz Arnold (d.2001). Jane Eyton and Matthew Kolakowski will both present individual works and a collaborative sculptural installation made specifically for the space. Tony Hill, photographer, painter and sculptor, will present new work close by watercolours by his wife the painter Lynne Davies-Jones (d.2004). Trevor Jones, painter and printmaker, will present new paintings that are explorations of his relationships with his wife and his daughter. Trevor recently had a major stroke and now paints small scale with his left hand. David Mollin, artist and writer, will exhibit a work made collaboratively with the sound artist and writer Salomé –oegelin, and his mother. Lisa Payne, a recent graduate from the Royal College, will present sculpture alongside drawings and sculpture by her former tutor, the sculptor Peter Stanley (d. 2006). Roxy Walsh, a painter who has recently adopted twins, will present pairs of paintings made in relation to this for the show. Mark Wayman will be presenting a pair of performances in relation to memory, time and this particular site. Erika Winstone will present an installation that layers drawn paintings and video featuring performances by her father, band leader Eric Winstone (d.1974), and daughter Anna with her friend April. Maria Zahle is presenting a piece of writing, simultaneously being an art piece and an essay-text for the project. Exhibition website with links and further information on artists work, and performances at http://erikawinstone.net/theotherside 14 - 20 April 2009 ATLAS...SEPARATED BY INTERVALS An exhibition co-curated by Emma Somerset Davis and Mark Metcalfe Artists: Paul Atkins?Matt Blackler?Simon Burbidge?Cornford & Cross?Emma Somerset Davis?Valentina Goba?Celia Hempton?Paul Haydock Wilson?Sam Jacob?Tony Lee?Mark Metcalfe?Garry North Mouat?Elaine Mullings?Gaia Persico?Rachel Pumarejo?Anton Razvan?Andy Stiff?Finlay Taylor?Peter Mackertitch?Charlotte Young?Eli Zafran ??what he sought was always something lying ahead, and even if it was a matter of the past it was a past that changed gradually as he advanced on his journey, because the traveller?s past changes according to the route he has followed ?Arriving at each new city the traveller finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places?? (Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1972) A group exhibition of 21 artists who share the negotiation of displacement and dislocation as depiction. The exhibition presents a temporal non - atlas that traverses and charts the spaces between the familiar and the unknown: an atlas that shifts and dissolves and is constantly annotated through the relationships created between the viewer, the artwork and the site. 6 - 12 April 2009 WHAT A CIRCUS The Greatest Show On Earth A mixed media exhibition by Deborah Ess鳦lt;br> Deborah Essé³ was born in 1966 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she has studied and lived in many countries around the world, which is often represented within her work. Working in the tradition of latin american dances, she explores the language of expression and movement in a most bold and brilliant way. She can be contacted for commissions at: deborahesses@yahoo.com, her studio is now in Blackheath. Deborah is also exhibiting at: Buenos Aires Caf鬠17 Royal Parade, Blackheath SE3 0TL* until May 9th and Blackheath Open Studios, weekends 2-3 and 9-10 May, 2009. Please * check the website for details: www.blackheathartsociety.org.uk Visits to her studio strictly by appointment. www.deborahesses.com 26 March - 3 April 2009 GLASS ECHOES 2 An exhibition of contemporary glass by 24 newly established and emerging artists, curated by Angela Thwaites. See www.glassechoes.org.uk for full information. Artists: Fabrizia Bazzo, Varun Cursetji, Jane Dorner, Rachel Elliott, Andrew Graves-Johnston, Belinda Salmon Harding, Molly Harwood, Marion Hewitt, Dot Hill, Arabella Marshall, Karen Murphy, Tracy Nicholls, Alkesh Parmar, Diana Perry, Kevin Petrie, Tania Porter, Liam Reeves, Ana Robinson, Carla Sealey,Victoria Scholes, Cathryn Shilling, Andrea Spencer, Angela Thwaites, Phil Vickery, Aviva Walton The pieces on show chime in with this unusual, echoing space. They complement a subterranean world of things past and things to come, a place where rest and regeneration share the same domain. The long narrow passageways, hidden vaults and open spaces in the Crypt give a special atmosphere to the artists' work. On show are conceptual pieces, made with the environment in mind, using a variety of techniques - casting, fusing, blowing, pâ´¥ de verre,screen-printing, etching and mixed media. Work will be available for sale or for commission by direct negotiation with the artist. This is the second exhibition in what is intended as a biennial glass event. 18 - 22 March 2009 FACE TO FACE An exhibition of work by Andrea Tyrimos and Yasemin Kemal. Curated by Christie Joannou Face to Face is an exploration into the facial expression of a human being. Through a series of unique portraits, two artists have collaborated from all corners of Cyprus to examine issues relating to the Cypriot Diaspora. The artists? work deals with the important theme of reflection and self discovery as they challenge the viewer to seek the stories resting behind each portrait. Through each painting and drawing the viewer is taken on a journey to experience how young people deal with the on-going ?Cyprus problem?. They help to provide an understanding of how two people come together regardless of their background or ethnic origin, and how they adapt in an environment far removed from their homeland. Faces are caught on canvas as if frozen in time, leaving the viewer face to face with a sense of the emotional struggle, anger, happiness and courage behind each image. 7 - 14 March 2009 A PLACE CALLED LIMBO ?tis a strange place this limbo! ? not a place?? Artists: Jane Grisewood, Harriet Hedden, Chris Koning, Mike Latto, Arabella Lee, John O?Connell, Kriton Papadopoulos, Claire Robertson, Pauline Thomas and Ken Wilder ?Tis a strange place this limbo! ? not a place, Yet name it so; where Time & weary Space Fettered from flight, with night-mair sense of fleeing, Strive for their last crepuscular half-being;? (from ?Limbo? by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) Scattered over the Irish landscape (and unmarked except for a map reference) are the burial grounds of unbaptised children. For the past three years these sites have been the subject of the work of one of the groups' artists, Arabella Lee. They have remained for her in limbo but form the origin of this collaboration between the ten artists who have taken Coleridge?s words from his poem ?Limbo? as the focus. Their diverse practices of drawing, painting, photography, video, sculpture and installation explore this ?time and weary space?, touching on themes of oblivion and longing, suspension and uncertainty. The incompleteness and contradictions inherent in life affect us all - whether as participants or observers. We share experiences of waiting and senses of nothing happening. We can have feelings of isolation and emptiness, or exist between things, in a sort of no-man?s land, or we can simply encounter awkward moments. In all of these instances there can be an acceptance of the middle-space ? a moment of limbo. The Crypt Gallery beneath St Pancras Church, near Kings Cross provides an evocative location for this exhibition, where the artwork is bound together by the setting and integrated seamlessly in the subterranean space. Amidst the labyrinthine passageways and shadowy vaults the artists have installed video projections and site-specific installations, interspersed with two-dimensional works, sometimes almost hidden from view in the half-light. Their varied approaches reflect the frozen moments and uncertainties, the betweens and intervals, indicative of ?A place called Limbo?. For all press enquiries please contact Jane Grisewood. janegrisewood@btinternet.com 21 February - 3 March 2009 HERE & NOW A group show by INSIDEout Contemporary Art from Hertfordshire Artists: Jo Austin, Lupe Cunha, John Farnham, Lotte Farnham, Louise Harrington, Anne Houghton, Loraine Perry, Richard Phillips, Jan Reichmann, Anna-Marya Tompa, Deborah Wallond and Jane Willis. Curated by Lupe Cunha, MA. INSIDEout Contemporary Art, a Hertfordshire-based group of artists who came together in 2008 with the aim of showing the best in innovative contemporary art, are excited to be holding their second exhibition, this time in central London. With its long narrow passageways, hidden vaults and artefacts, the Crypt adds a special atmosphere to the artists? diverse work, including site specific pieces, installation, video, sculpture, plaster forms, photography, painting and printmaking. The unique quality of the venue with its low light and irregular surfaces contrasts with the vibrant colours of both paintings and light work. The old stonework is interspersed with modern technology in the form of digital photos and abstract sculptures. The many alcoves of this warren provide multiple individual spaces where a variety of contemporary installations, discussing a wide range of issues, are brought together without conflict, integrated and yet isolated, as visitors move between light and dark as they view the exhibition, the lighting accentuating the Here&Now of each artist's concept. 12 ? 17 February 2009 KAPRICORNIAN VOYAGE A collection of sculpture, drawings, paintings and photography by Kabira Alieva. Co-curated by Irina Stark This exhibition sheds light on Kabira's journey of self exploration, and features many personal works which have never been shown to the public before. These pieces weave the real and the imagined, with waking dreams, childhood adventures and half-remembered episodes intruding into the present. As well as merging her memories, her works merge different media. Her photography explores the juxtaposition between the real and concrete with the murky depths of the subconscious: the dreamy fairy-tale landscapes which might be real, or might only be in a parallel dimension. This is Kabira's take on Alice in Wonderland. What makes the dichotomy between the tangible and the ethereal more poignant is Kabira's background as a life scientist. Her 3D pieces show the importance of understanding the language of biological form ? amorphorous sculptures, which highlight the inescapable fact of being ? that each entity we see is neither part of the past, nor the future. All are part of 'now', their journeys incomplete and their destinations unknown. Kabira's drawings and paintings take the theme of the descent from reality into parallel worlds further. The abstract nature of some of her compositions merely creates a setting or route-map that allows the viewer to complete her thoughts and story. Do they portray Kabira's own feelings, her own self-discovery,her conquest over her dreams and fears - or does the freedom and involvement of the viewer personalise and relativise the ideas on the canvas, moulding them with unique but discrete meanings? Kabira's work certainly seems crafted so as to evoke strong feelings, but they resist interpretation, preferring to remain, tantalisingly, always just out of reach. For all press enquiries please contact info@starkprojects.co.uk / www.starkprojects.co.uk 29 ? 30 January 2009 WE CAN UNDERSTAND THE MEANING BETTER WITHOUT Artists: ADS3, Andreas Blank, Alexander Crocker, Sabina Donnelly, Robin Footitt, Tom Foulsham, Robin Friend, Ian Homerston, Ian Law, Lucy Moore, Samuel Nias, Darren Norman, Xavier Poultney & Hannah Barton, Lewis Ronald, George Thomas, April Yang. Curated by Dean Kissick & Sabina Donnelly. 1. An exploration of abstraction across various disciplines: painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, communication art and design, design products and architecture. 2. It starts with one artwork, that leads to another, that leads to another, and so on... an investigation into a series of connections made in the studios of the Royal College of Art. 3. Abstraction as structure. Simplified form producing a multiplicity of meanings. An absence of the particular. 4. An ephemeral intervention into an empty crypt beneath a 19th-century church in St Pancras. We exist in the in-between, abstract spaces within real spaces, now gathered together underneath the city, and then dispersed. 22 ? 25 January 2009 THREADS OF SINCERITY Works by: Emma de Clerq,Jenny Evans, Eliott Johnson, Nobuko Kawata, Kate Kendall, Billy Kerry, Georgina Mascolo, Arisa Nishiyama, Mike Pollard, Rika Yamasaki. The narrow passages and hideaway corners of the Crypt come alive with illuminated imagery, self-lit micro-beings, curious documentation and objects re-formed from a past life. Ten artists demonstrate a simultaneously profound and playful approach to memory, materiality and belief. You are invited to watch, investigate and participate in this exhibition of photography, drawing, sculpture, painting and installation from Chelsea College of Art. 16 ? 19 January 2009 ILLUSTRATORS KILLED MY FAMILY AND BURNED BY HOUSE DOWN An exhibition by 34 final year Illustration students from the London College of Communication. Amidst the catacomb-like vaults of the Crypt Gallery underneath St Pancras Church, Euston, we will be displaying a veritable feast of our work in progress from our final year. We have a genuine interest in pushing what illustration means and what constitutes illustration, exploring everything from traditional drawing to graphic design, moving image, printmaking and sculpture, and using a multitude of media and processes. Just like our delightful tutors have taught us to think, we focus on concept over style, allowing our ideas to inform our stylistic choices, creating work that hopefully pushes the boundaries people expect us to sit within. We've done rather a lot of this exhibition malarkey over the last few years; once we filled a 10,000 square foot warehouse with turf and pretty pictures. Another time we hung all our work from 2000 helium balloons in one of the college galleries, which, long story short, led to a visit from the fire brigade and a ban on balloons of any kind in the college, oops! That aside, we have had some fun with our shows to date and are looking forward to this one showing off our work in its final year prime. For more information please contact : illustrators@burninghouse.co.uk 14 ? 21 December 2008 LIGHT Sculpture, film and print by Dan Knight This artist uses light to reflect a spiritual quality in his work. Pieces include a film of more than 15,000 flower images, sculptures made from recycled electric cable, plus a series of small prints and a 5 note bottle top organ. 5 ? 9 December 2008 PRESENCE A group show by "Thirteen" Artists: Judith Bieletto, David Cullen, Hartash Dale, Paula Day, Carlo de Lins, Aileen Harvey, Nick Hazzard, Helga Lee, Marcelo Resta, Claire Pinney, Kate Poland, Michal Radzio, Wendy Roberts, Eric Storey, Julia Tester, Johanna Zhang "Presence", the inaugural show of the "thirteen group?. On display is an eclectic and arresting selection of new works from these emerging artists. Jewel-like paintings and photographs, bold abstracts, subtle etchings, striking woodcuts and coolly detached screen prints are placed in delicately-lit labyrinthine passages. The range and variety of work is bound together - and informed by - the setting; full of colour and form ? not to mention the past ? it provides an evocative mood in which to reflect on the works, which are both intelligible and intelligent. 21 ? 30 November 2008 JINN An exhibition of work by Gareth Brookes, Oliver Garland, Philip Medhurst, Christopher Roantree, Emma Simpson, David Snoo Wilson and Pascal Stefanidi In Schopenhauer's "of will and representation" he speaks of matter striving for form, of all things that exist being already present visually and experientially but waiting for the right moment to be manifest in the world?to be represented. This show attempts to transcend our already preconceived ideas of our represented world, where form function and experience can evolve from the known, the understood, the beautiful to the grotesque, the unbelievable and the unknown. A second evolutionary state perhaps where time itself can collapse on the floor in a heap waiting to be picked up again and relived. A crypt being a forgotten place forgotten in contemporary society, often viewed within the theatrics and drama of our minds as a place of fear, foreboding and events far from the minds of modern society?.The crypt presents us with an environment, a forum in which the ceremonies of our work can take seed, and germinate. Jinn? his or her own individual spirit. 12 ? 16 November 2008 VENT An exhibition of work by Cameron McNee & Dominic Kelly The work is an examination into the true nature of human emotion, finding ways of catching the moment of uncensored self expression; a rare moment shared with a loved one, a stranger or simply on your own. Cameron McNee, a photographer and Dominic Kelly, an actor/director desired to use their skills to craft images that were beautiful to the eye and also created a connection to the subject that was hauntingly real. The gripping exhibition consists of 5 foot high portraits and cinematic images which invite you to join the subject in their pleading, grief, anger or jubilation; so that you in turn take on the role of the jilted lover, the betrayer or bearer of great news. Beginning in January 2007 Cameron & Dominic workshopped scenes with actors from 'The Actors' Temple' evolving their photographic process to capture the truest moments in the subject. Continuing over 20 months an impressive body of work has been produced with the process growing and encompassing at times a cast of and a crew of 20, whilst other times stripping the process back to an intimate head shot showing the rawest of emotion between subject and camera. "Our desire to produce this work was driven by our own passion, our passion to create beautiful and powerful imagery, but also our passion to make a connection with all people. We have worked with people across differing races, age, religion and gender to find a common truth; we all feel emotion; rage, happiness, love, desire, sadness, these are all part of who we are and the truthful beauty that we are all the same." Cam & Dom www.camanddom.com   5 ? 8 November 2008 DARK/ART/DRESS An exhibition of site specific fashion and art from designer Lauren McCarthy and collaborators Lauren McCarthy - art dress, early works retrospective and new pieces introduction, costume works from 'the yellow wallpaper', pattern cutting performance www.artdress.co.uk Alexandra Groover - La Voisin collaboration, two dresses on the theme of aphrodisiacs, sorcery and the muse www.alexandragroover.com Robin McGrorty - E=Mc2 collaboration, works in progress and pieces on the theme of energy, balance and the spacial occupation of the human body Julian Roberts - subtraction cutting toiles and experimental works www.julianand.com Gareth Barnett - The Society of Futopia, new ritual performance and art works     24 ? 30 October 2008 [noplaceprojects*] An exhibition of work by Moira Allan, Russell Chater, Judith Fairlie, David Fitzgerald, Liz Helman, Helen Scalway and Richard Stone The exhibition no place takes as its prompt text by Jacob Voorthuis. The group were invited by artist/curator Liz Helman to respond to the notion that: ?the city is a web?a text. And the text of our lives is in turn inscribed on the city?on the spaces we inhabit?we draw a map of the city as it exists in tension with our lives.?** 'no place' will feature new work by artists: Moira Allan, Russell Chater, Judith Fairlie, David Fitzgerald, Liz Helman, Helen Scalway & Richard Stone. This diverse group, whose practices range from drawing to sound and installation, are united by a common interest in responding to issues and ideas concerning place and space. The varied approaches within the group allow for the creation of multiple narratives to play over a single site. The Crypt is a unique venue in the heart of Kings Cross, an area of the city in the grip of redevelopment, one of the most connected places in London and now the biggest transport hub in Europe. 'no place' is produced by Polly Gardiner. www.noplaceprojects.net Contact Email liz.helman@dsl.pipex.com Mobile 07968 087 692 Notes * [noplaceprojects*] is an artist-run initiative showcasing works in transitional spaces. As its name indicates, [noplaceprojects*]is not about a fixed venue, nor a fixed theme, but more about responses to current social and global frameworks regarding space and place. ** Jacob Voorhuis - ?Walter Benjamin Ambling through the City of the Mind?.Dr. J.C.T.Voorthuis lectures in architecture and philosophy at the Technical University of Eindhoven at the Academy of Architecture in Rotterdam.     11 ? 19 October 2008 ALL THIS TIME An exhibition of work by NATASHA STANBRIDGE, TREVOR TAYLOR, CORNELIUS BRADY, AGATA CARDOSO, SHARLENE CHANNER, LORNA MACMILLAN, MARK METCALFE, LUCY CAREW, JON GABB, SARA GRAHAM, GILES HINCHCLIFF, JON SOLOMON, ZOE CROSS, MATT BLACKLER, JANE BURNHAM, GARY MEYNELL, TOMOKO SAKANISHI, NICHOLAS LOCKYER, JENNY JOHNSON, SRDJANA SARCEVIC, NATHAN GORDON, DILYS REES, GEORGE WILLIAMS, JI YOUNG PARK, DENIZ UNAL, SAYSHUN JAY ?All This Time? is The Vanity Group's second show at The Crypt - St Pancras Church. In 2007 The Vanity Group used this space as a stall to set out their wares, observing the time honored traditions of gallery and art. This time however the exhibition is site specific, interweaving the personal archaeologies of the artists with the archaeology of contemporary society and the physical archaeology of the space. The Crypt as it now stands is used as an artists? space - we now approach with the idea of the space and interior architecture of the building. Site-specific art, an intervention in a specific locale, creating a work that is integrated with its surroundings and that explores its relationship to the topography of its locale, but more specifically, in this case, its relationship with its architecture and psychosocial history.     27 September ? 4 October 2008 MINE An exhibition of work by Rodrigo Boro, Roy Baron, Boldizsar Csernak, Dominic De Vere, Sebastian Edge, Stavros Gangos, Woodrow Kernohan, Timothy Leek, Sean Malone, Annamaria Pinaka, Cathy Rogers, Irina Rusakova MINE is an exhibition of work produced by current and recently graduated students of the MA in Artists? Film, Video and Photography at the Maidstone Campus of the University for the Creative Arts. Combining the background given by the course and the unique setting of The Crypt, MINE promises to be one of the most exiting and imaginative post-graduate shows this year. Offering innovative new approaches and explorations of time and lens based media. The course offers an original creative experience to students giving them not only the opportunity to use various media but actively encouraging them to incorporate new techniques into their existing practice. For further information please visit www.mineshow.co.uk or e-mail info@mineshow.co.uk