Category Archives: Uncategorized

Out in the woods in Leytonstone, eleven pieces of a broken bed, next stop Deptford for a show called Unframed?

Posted on by
sw_elevenpieces_4

Sean Worrall – Eleven (July 2018)

I’m kicking myself for not taking a photograph of the broken bed base as it was when I cane upon it on the street in Hackney, the wooden bed had been smashed up and dumped on the street, I couldn’t resist the wooden struts that were left lying there unbroken on the pavement (other bits of wood from the smashed up bed have become artdrop pieces). Really am kicking myself for not taking a photo of the wreckage on Mare Street, it was one of those days when I head out from the studio in search of something to paint on, my rule is that I can’t come back home until I’ve found something, should have taken a photo of the pieces of wooden bed on the street, I have taken lots of photos of the painting process. The eleven pieces were cleaned up, sanded down and all eleven were painted together, there weren’t painted to fit together, they were all painted at the same time, painted together, all started and finished together, several layers grown on each one over a period of around three weeks…

The thinking was that they would appear in several different situations, all eleven as one piece, Eleven, it is very much one piece of work. Eleven made a debut two weeks ago at Wild, at outdoor installation/sculpture show in the woods at the back of the Quaker Meeting House out in Leytonstone, as part of the 2018 Leytonstone Arts Trail (always a pleasure to be invited to take part in the Arts Trail, this was my fourth year out there in E11). There’s some documentation of Wild and the twenty or so artists who took part this year over on the Organ website. Eleven was left under some trees deep in the woods, left for the foxes to run over,and the Blackbirds to checkout, it sounded brilliant in there for the two weekends that the show was open for.

sw_wild_leytonstone18_3

Eleven’s next appearance will be over in Deptford, south over the river over there in London SE8 and a and a show at no format gallery (they like is to all be lower-case, don’t get all proofreader on me now). From the floor of a wood and the light through the trees in East London to a white walled formal gallery in South London. It happened like this, the gallery had a last minute week with nothing going on so an invite came our way. I must confess I didn’t know of print-maker Hamish Macaulay until last week when the people at no format extended the invited and suggested we might like to collaborate

Unframed_flyer_web

HAMISH MACAULAY and SEAN WORRALL – Unframed? – no format Gallery, Deptford. London, SE8 5JN –  26th – 29th July –   Unframed? will open on Thursday July 26th (6pm until 9pm), and will then run from Friday 27th until Sunday 29th (midday until 6pm)

Unframed? One painter, one print-maker, two artists coming together to share a white-walled gallery space for one week. Hamish Macaulay and Sean Worrall, two artists, invited to takeover Deptford’s no format gallery for one week. The unframed plan is for the two of them to experiment in the space, to spread their work out, to play with installation and hang their work in the space at the start of the week, and then to see how things develop. Who knows what will happen?

The two artists (who didn’t know of each other until last week) will begin the week with the blank walls. Their plan is not to work together but to share the space and to see what develops. They plan to use the space for the first three days of the week, see what happens, and then open the doors to the public on Thursday evening for a formal yet experimental art exhibition.

On Thursday evening Unframed? will open with a “private” very public view (everyone is welcome, just come along). The no format gallery will then be open during the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The show might stay as it was for the opening on the Thursday night, then again, it might continue to evolve? This is an unframed experiment, who knows?

Unframed? Will also feature work from a small handful selected guest artists, artists invited to show in the space by Sean and Hamish. (guests t.b.c).

Click on an image to enlarge or to run the fractured slideshow and shots of Eleven in the woods over at Wild…

 

 

Advertisements

Fresh layers, new growth, star growth, “Over and Over (Again and Again)”

Posted on by

“Over and Over (Again and Again)” – Fresh layers, new growth, star growth, Starz. Acrylic on canvas, 50cm x 40cm (April 2018)

sw_over_and_over_1

“Over and Over (Again and Again)” –  Acrylic on canvas, 50cm x 40cm (April 2018)

 

More leaf growth, new layers and the on-going year-long #365ArtDrop18 piece, 365 paintings on found recycled material…

Posted on by
sw_artdrop18_62_1

#365ArtDrop18 – 62/365, a leaf left hanging in Hackney, East London. May 2018

More leaf growth, new layers and the on-going year-long #365ArtDrop18 piece, 365 paintings on found recycled material, material picked up off the street in 2018, 365 paintings on found piece of recycled material throughout the year, 365 painting left hanging on walls, in tunnels, by canals, on fences, left for people to take should they wish to.

sw_artdrop18_72_10

#365ArtDrop18 – 72/365, a leaf left hanging by Columbia Road Market, East London,, May 2018

The weather is improving, the better weather means more drops, there’s been 73 so far, expect an explosion of paintings left hanging as the summer starts to kick in. The piece is all about engagement, the breaking down of those barriers that gallery doors (and attitudes) can so often throw up, that and of course questioning how wasteful we are, questioning why we don’t give a second thought to the things we just throw in skips to leave on the street or don’t ever dream of re-using or handing on to others…

Part 61 to 73 of the #365ArtDrop18 piece, click on an image to enlarge or ot run the slide show…

The ongoing notion of a smaller painting brought to a completed conclusion on every single day…

Posted on by
sw_dailyconclusion18_59_1

Daily Conclusion 423 (59/365/2018 – Feb 28th). On recycled cardboard

The notion of a smaller painting brought to a completed conclusion on every day started back on January 1st 2017, not a painting started and finished on the same day, just one of the many paintings that tend to be happening and evolving in the studio at all the same time brought to a completed conclusion (right now there’s around twenty half finished smaller paintings as well as several much larger ones here in the studio). The notion was originally to end on December 31st, somehow it didn’t, it was originally a year long challenge I set myself, I rather enjoyed the discipline of having to do it though, so until it stops being a positive thing and starts to become a burden then on the notion will go on. I need to draw or paint every day, a day is not complete until paint has touched canvas (or wood or vinyl or…). 

sw_dailyconclusion18_44

Daily Conclusion 408 (44/365/2018 – Feb 13th). On a recycled piece of fridge

And I do rather like the mass-production pop art aspect of it all, I do like the idea of producing so much work that there’s very little monetary value in any of it, that a piece of art can be on sale for little more than you’d pay for a much-loved CD or a cake and cup of coffee or a couple of pints, I kind of like that people can enjoy buying a small piece of art without it being about money and the value and the big price ticket, I like that some of them can be left on the street for people to take or that the pieces can be on sale (of course paint costs money and bills need to be paid so if you do see a piece you like and it isn’t in the shop, then do please ask, I may still have it here in the studio).  Today I am mostly working on a big canvas piece that will hopefully be part of a solo show of larger work later this year….

studio_feb2018_3

Daily Concluded paintings, Jan 2018

 

 

 

Bridges over the Thames, Chip shop walls, abandoned tube stations…

Posted on by

 

sw_365artdrop18_49_8

#365ArtDrop18 – 49/365, a leaf left hanging on The Strand, London,

Bridges over the Thames, Chip shop walls, abandoned tube stations, the year-long #365ArtDrop18 piece of work goes on, there been 53 of the 365 paintings left out for people to take now, there would have been quite a few more but the weather so far this year really hasn’t been favourable in terms of leaving art hanging on walls.  Last week pieces were left down by the Thames, indeed a piece left on a bridge over the Thames. pieces were left all over town…

sw_365artdrop18_53_7

#365ArtDrop18 – 53/365, a leaf left hanging by a bridge over the River Thames, London,

Pieces were left on The Strand, outside the old and now abandoned Aldwych tube station (or Strand station as it says on the front of the now bricked up building).  A piece left hanging on the wall of an East London chip shop was soon claimed by a little girl in red boots (almost as soon as I hung it, she got her dad to get it down for her). The interaction is a big part of the piece of work of course, the use of the hashtag and the hope that we hear about where this year’s pieces have got to is a very big part of the year-long piece, the photos of people with their pieces and such…..

sw_365artdrop18_46_5

#365ArtDrop18 – 46/365, a leaf left hanging in East London, and quickly claimed…

We know that of the 53 pieces left hanging in London so far, that pieces have been found and taken to Belgium, Portugal, Germany, as well as various parts of the United Kingdom.   Alas this time, people are telling us they’ve found them via private message or by leaving comments under photos we’ve posted on social media, or by sending in very bad photos of just the piece of work and with no real context, I thought this was the selfie generation? Come on, let’s see you with the piece,  or go hold by a sign for your town or at least your cat, where have those pieces gone? Tell us the stories…

Click on an images to enlarge or ot run the slide show of some of the recent pieces left…

The luck of a thousand stars can’t get me out of this….

Posted on by

sw_manystars_march2018_1

“The Luck of a Thousand Stars” – Acrylic, brushwork, spray paint, marker pen, gloss varnish on recycled wooden board in a recycled found Ikea frame – for when a frame is thrown out leaves and stars will grow in it – 55cm x 75cm, (March 2018)

A leaf left hanging on a wall in East London yesterday is now off to San Francisco…

Posted on by
sw_365artdrop18_10_f1

#365ArtDrop18 – 365/9, a leaf left hanging and now found by the person who posted this photo

That piece in the photo up there, that painting, that leaf, those starz, that piece was left hanging on Fashion Street, just off Brick Lane, East London, a couple of weeks back, the photo above appeared on social media a couple of days later. As we keep saying, the photos people post with the pieces they have chosen to take are a big part of this piece of work..

sw_365artdrop18_23_1

#365ArtDrop18 – 23/365, a leaf left in East London

And I see the 23rd piece, a leaf left hanging on a wall in East London yesterday is now off to San Francisco, that is good news. Ten pieces were left out yesterday, I assume some of them are still out there. The #365ArtDrop18 hash tag is a big part of this year-long piece of work. Of the 27 piece left on the street so far this year, we know that five have been taken and two are still out there, the fate of the rest of them remains unknown. We know that one piece has gone to Belgium, one to the US and three more that we’ve heard or seen that have been taken but we know not where they now live…

sw_365artdrop18_22_4

The Spring is suggesting she might finally almost be here, the art drop thing was never intended to be daily, just a piece of work in 365 parts that will hopefully go on throughout the year.

Click on an image t oenlarge or to run the slide show of last weekend’s srops…