Busy week, busy is good,  been a busy year so far. This week we have another First Thursday evening down Vyner Street at Cultivate and all that that involves both in terms of my own work and the hanging, curating and the general running of the still time-consuming beast that is Cultivate (even in the evolved state you know find it in)  I say “this week we have”, it should read “had” – no time for blogs and websites when there’s things to paint and art spaces to fight for and shows to put  – Friday now, this blog entry started life before First Thursday has been and gone again (thanks to everyone who came along, thanks to those who bought pieces, I can eat today, thank you).  Well I say “Friday now”, that was last week, this blog has not been attended to in a couple of weeks.  Cultivate has eaten up far too much time for something like two and a half years now  Actually no, the adventure of the space has been worth almost every minute of both trying to build a community of artists and interacting with the local community and the people of Hackney and Bethnal Green. I’m not a native of these parts, I have been living in various parts of East and West London for the last twenty years or more now, I don’t consider myself a local but I do feel that if I choose to live here then I should at least attempt to contribute to the community I have chosen to be part of for the last twenty or more years, rather than just coming in and taking over,  which seems to be the way in East London now.

There’s a certain pleasure in having an open-door (artist-run) gallery type art space, a place smack bang in the middle of an East End street, a room that everyone hopefully feels comfortable coming in to. We have great chats about the art on the walls, about the things going on in the lives of the pensioner who was once a foot model in the 50′s “when it was really different around here and the twins looked after things” or the delivery driver, or the big Rasta who puts his head through the door when he passes and gives us a clench fist salute and yells a deep “Cultivate!” at us, we like it when the passing drivers on the way to the bus station up the road drop in as much as we like those who clutch their art maps and their guide books, or the local kids who say their scared to knock on the doors of the big galleries, I could go on, there really is a pleasure in making art spaces accessible without having to “dumb it down”, a thrill in actually having the people come in and respond in a positive way – a better space for everyone, a better Woolworths maybe? It can be full of meaning, it can be full of challenge, it can be alive with depth, it  doesn’t have to alienate and exclude. something for anyone and everyone… . .

What has been going on this last couple of weeks then?

Well the Stop The War show is still on, that one was documented in the last blog entry, Stop The War goes in until the end of the month, there’s a set of photos and a review from the opening on the Organ pages for you to explore, the show continues until the end of the month at the INDRA AND SAMIA GALLERY, London E1

Last Saturday was spent at the HACKNEY WICK TAKE BACK over at Swan Wharf, Fish Island – an all day DIY art show that was mostly about artists coming together and making something good happen. “A nearly spontaneous one day all day DIY art event at SWAN WHARF, – Saturday April 5th”   Here’s some of the information that went up on the Organ pages ahead of the event. I had four pieces up on the wall, the photos from the day are here.

Sunless is on right now, Sunless is a group show over in South London, happening right now in the big Bermondsey Project Space

SUNLESS is the name of a forthcoming exhibition at the Bermondsey Project Space curated by London-based artist Mathew Tudor. Mathew promises an exhibition of art works inspired by the essay film San Soeil (1983) and the experimental short La Jetee (1962), two works by Chris Marker.  The exhibition will be a mixture of painting, sculpture, instillation and film loosely inspired by the theme of identity, time and the concept of the collective consciousness.  The show opened on April 11th and run until April 16th (open daily from Midday until 6pm) at Bermondsey Project Space, 46 Willow Walk, London, SE1 5SF. (entry is free). .And once again, the Organ coverage of the opening night is to be found here via this link

Been far too busy to keep this page up-to-date (as I say every time I post something new here on these neglected pages.  Mainly the last two weeks have been about shows, there has been time for some new growth on old canvas though…

Here’s a selection of photos from the last couple of busy weeks…. click on the thumbnails to enlarge… I got to go paint…..