City Entwined group show at Paradise Row Projects
Curated by Mazzy-Mae Green
Presenting with Ridley Road Project Space alongside Adam Farah
Images by Mirko Boffelli
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Gay Crabs Crispy Whirlpool, 2022
Posca and metallic paint pen on thin steel sheets
Steel wall shelf with welded steel inverted brackets
Gay Crabs Crispy Whirlpool, 2022, is a new wall based work consisting of two large, psychedelic painted steel pieces resting on a welded steel shelf. Gay crabs crispy whirlpool exists under a new and ongoing larger body of work, Gay Crabs.
My interest in creatures with many legs begun during research into the predatory lesbian creature, arachnids/ phobic symbols, and the politics of coercion, for performance work Dykegeist (ICA, 2021, with Mica Levi). Moving beyond arachnids, my research has taken a turn to crustaceans, particularly looking into the erotic deception found in the fantasy of hardness, a creature with brittle armour, depicted here engaging in a sensual, intimate encounter.
This body of work has drawn me to accessing a more or ‘painterly’ quality, also present in the technique of welding; an instinct and flow. This sits clashing with the flexible armour of the metal sheets posing a question of what might be malleable.
'City Entwined celebrates the energy and richness of London's independent contemporary art scene at a significant moment in its history: a post-pandemic context which has seen substantial shifts in the gallery ecosystem.
It brings together a selection of independent and emerging artists, galleries and project spaces from across London in a two-part exhibition that offers not so much a survey of this creative scene, but rather a subjective snapshot intended to embody its spirit. Pairing each exhibiting artist with an affiliated gallery, it showcases the diverse, geographic, productive, economic, ideological and affective relationships between artists and the creative networks that surround them. Like a mycelial network, this complex web of connections structures a critical part of the city’s cultural ecosystem – a city entwined.'
Galleries and artists involved:
PART 1
San Mei Gallery - Laila Majid & Louis Blue Newby / Kupfer - Romeo Roxman Gatt / springseason - Florence Carr / Collective Ending - Billy Fraser - Gobyfish Collective / Off Site Project - Léa Porré / Ruby Cruel - Blue Curry - Bruce Cayonne / Ginny on Frederick - Jack O’Brien - Gal Schindler / Darren Flook - India Nielsen / Gallery No.32 - Erika Trotzig - Gabriela Pelczarska
PART II
Harlesden High Street - Andre Morgan - Joe Cool / TACO! - Alex Frost / flat 70 - Ebun Sodipo / Fiumano Clase - Shadi Razaei / Indigo + Madder - Amba Sayal-Bennett / Filet - Sam Creasey / French Riviera - Nicholas Pankhurst / Commonage Projects - Taro Qureshi - Simone Mudde / Ridley Road Project Space- Eve Stainton - Adam Farah