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Category archive for: Art

1
Dec

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Here’s news of an interesting and thought-provoking exhibition heading to the Vaad later this month. It’s an interactive experience, as all the best ones are, and well worth a visit….

1
Dec

The cream of the Custard’s crop is set to grace the Vaad Gallery later this month, thanks to Bryn Tranter and his gang. And with Christmas looming into view now with alarming rapidity, why not pop inside for a natter and a chance to invest in some vibrant, original art? Highly recommended.

27
Nov

One for chocoholics and bird-fanciers everywhere, a raven-tastic exhibition set to soar at the Vaad Gallery in December. Caw blimey!

26
Nov

We’ve an exciting new exhibition of local artist Farshad Sanaee’s work at the Vaad Gallery next week. Admission is free, so shelter from the storm and browse some new and vibrant art at the same time!

20
Nov

Claire Farrell of EC Arts sent through a load of information about a public art project she’s involved with in Digbeth. Here’s the artist’s sketch:

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The final piece, she says, will be “181 linear meters spanning Mill Lane, Bradford St and Rea Street, standing at lowest point 2.2 meters per sculpture/haunch and rising to 6 meters tall” and is due to be finished next Autumn.

Here’s the artist’s statement by Rob Colbourne & Stuart Mugridge:

Digbeth Public Art Artists Statement

Artist Statement Rob Colbourne & Stuart Mugridge Digbeth Public Art concept 1. Industriality, Digbeth and the coach station. The boundary ‘fencescape’ – that it is not ‘one object’ but an ‘array of related features’ – a landscape of relations. In effect the individual components aim to provoke a sense of intrigue, whilst creating other effects holistically throughout its structure. The old station’s interior candidly exposed its raw industrial construction when looking upward to the ceiling. Aiming to maintain that authenticity, whilst reinterpreting this into something new, the boundary fence explodes this raw grittiness outwardly to the edges of the apron, the old interior becoming exterior, following the ethos of this re- development. 2. Forms and the Directionality of Weight. Merging the old station’s identity and that of the forms of a weighbridge, the individual components that make up the boundary, perhaps, in effect turn the whole site into a kind of weighbridge, where people are loaded and unloaded. *These individual components also lean, playing with their own notion of centre of gravity, the horizontal and vertical. They are formed by folding a flat sheet into a 3D form, in itself something that can balance. This fold allows us to experiment in how the structure can lean up to its ‘tipping point’. This leaning gives us notions of architectural balance, or something that implies a moment of rested potential movement. 3. Solid and Slitted structure; Movement and Flow. The boundary is about the experience of it, not necessarily the object itself. From passing it at different angles and perspectives, it can seem to be quite solid, though your own movement, gaps appear between haunches. From entering at another angle, the L shaped haunch allows for a ‘slit’ to open up that allows visual access to the apron. This references the iron ‘slitting’ process of the Lloyd’s mill, previously linked to the site whilst embracing the notion of ‘motion parallax’. The L shaped haunches placed side by side have a unidirectionality that allows for a different effect depending on the angle of approach. Through this it aims to embed the notion of the language of a station and public transport, symbols that promote travelling in a space of transition. 4. Transparency The gaps between haunches are quite important. As a fence it requires no horizontal element to hold it together. This in effect created a continuous vertical gap that can suggest that the boundary invites you to visually experience the space beyond, whilst at some points it seems comparatively solid. Indeed, through our research in this area we have noted that Digbeth is full of glimpses into workshops, factories and so forth, through grilles, fences and shutters. However often fences and other restrictions can seem hostile and separating public and private space in quite an unfriendly nature. The boundary fence both aims to maintain this character, but not the sense of restriction and negativity associated with that. Therefore we can see and experience what goes on in this area in a friendly way, reinterpreting the important identity of the area and visually blur the notions of the public and private space. 4. Colour and Finish The boundary fence and its components, of an industrial nature would lend themselves to a contrast in their colour and treatment. This treatment can echo the way Avery’s products were treated, as both raw functional objects, with also a sense of the ornamental. These practices in ‘japanning’ (a type of enameled gloss finish) and the tensions between an industrial structures being finished in this way begin to merge and echo the sensibilities of the place. The use of Red as a colour shouts loudly through the site’s history. Used in decorating Avery’s weighing apparatus, it also became a motif for the site’s occupation by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited also known as Midland Red, who aimed to ‘ Paint the Midlands Red’ with their fleet. In the same vein this colour would be very recognizable as a king of alternative signage, and links to other symbols that can be integrated within art involvement at the station. . 5. Lighting The modular nature of the boundary lends itself well to a lighting system of the same nature. Rather than a wash of light across the whole fence haunches will be lit individually to establish a framework of visual rhythm. Lighting would be set incrementally using groupings related to the avoirdupois system of weight i.e. using a more imperial system of division. Like the milled divisions on a pre-decimilisation ruler the lit haunches will be divided into more imperial subsets of 2s and 12s. Imagine every other haunch lit white and every twelfth lit red – the eye of the viewer measures its progress along the expanse of the fence, or measures the movement of coaches against this backdrop. This division although inspired by weight also begins to reference distance as it highlights senses of movement and progress. Through careful lighting the boundary fence will establish a balanced interplay between light and shadow – through the use of shadow the lighting becomes more effective. From the street side of the boundary the passer-by will have highlighted glimpses into the station as the view inwards becomes revealed and concealed with every passing step. Again progress will be reckoned as the spilt white light is incrementally replaced by a glow of red light.

Here’s a photo of the prototype being built and tested:

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And a video:

3
Nov

Bryn has produced a short film showcasing the art on display during the Lost In S.P.A.C.E. group show from artists based at the Custard Factory that ran in the Gallery at the end of October:

31
Oct

Laundry, “an association of multi-disciplinary artists”, are taking over the Custard Factory Gallery from November 6th to 9th under the banner Laundry Open Lab.

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This girl has inner beauty by Helena Roos

The main draw is a show from Galleri 54 from Gothenburg.

Galleri 54 is a not-for profit, artist-run gallery in Gothenburg. The gallery is run by Group 54, formed in 1954, as a reaction to the Gothenburg art scene which was considered confined and conservative.

The gallery has existed since 1959, and is run by a board consisting of 8-12 artist working in Gothenburg. The board members are replaced on a regular basis. The gallery’s aim is to offer interesting and varied exhibitions showing local, national and international artists giving artists the opportunity to show their work and to formulate ideas without commercial pressure or influence.

Portable - G54@Custard Factory has artworks by nine individual artists who are actively working with the gallery and is a taster of what is currently happening in the Gothenburg arts scene. They’ll be exhibiting a wide variety of forms such as drawings, black and white painting on the wall, performance, sculpture, video, installation and collage. The artists are Ann-Sofi Roxhage, Anita Paakonen Ahl, Paula Wallmark Nilsson, Helena Roos, Sara Lännerström, Stina Pettersson, Jonathan Jarl, Theo Ågren and Björn Hellström.

The launch is on Thursday November 6th at 7.30 pm and the show continues on Friday, 2 pm - 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon - 5 pm.

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I could be dreaming by Paula Wallmark-Nilsson

Alongside this they’re running Laundry Open Lab sessions on Saturday and Sunday evenings:

Saturday November 8th @ 5.30 pm: Interactive Installations: Gary Stewart, Iniva (the Institute of International Visual Arts)

Sunday November 9th @ 5 pm: Art is my Business: Ania Bas

Sunday November 9th @ 6 pm: Off the map - art in Nodar, Beirut, Alexandria: Alicja Rogalska

Sunday November 9th @ 7 pm: Crossing Borders: Brendan Jackson

Full details of the talks can be found here.

8
Oct

Found on YouTube, a nice film from Platform 01 that took place in the Custard Factory Gallery in March:

PLATFORM 01 was a multi-media collection of work by predominantly local artists, and featured contributions from painters, photographers, sculptors, printmakers and digital media artists, some of whom have been featured in Elle Deco, presented work internationally, worked with Supergrass and The Young Knives, exhibited at the Tate, and won numerous awards. The diversity of techniques alongside the potential audience resulted in a wide spectrum of artists, art, and collectors representative of Birminghams rapidly expanding art scene.

Shows off the space rather nicely too. If you want to book it call Jonathan on 0121 244 7775. (Shameless plug over…)

8
Oct

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Lucienne Cole’s Here + Now + The Future closes this year’s Ikon residency in Eastside on October 31st. As with last year’s Halloween party they’re making a big deal of it with “performance, film, music, dancing and marshmallows” and a strictly black and white dress code.

Providing a welcoming environment for ‘kooks’, Ikon Eastside hosts a closing party to The Eternal Now: Warhol and Film ‘63 – ‘68 by artist Lucienne Cole & friends, including Steve Woods and film-maker Chris Keenan. Paying an affectionate homage to ‘The Exploding Plastic Inevitable’ and The Velvet Underground and Nico, “the most influential and unpopular band in history.”

But fear not, arts fans. They’ll be back in Digbeth in the Spring.

8
Oct

shambalafrontfwJibbering’s Shambala Art Exhibition launches tomorrow night at the Wild Building on Floodgate St, from 7-11pm and then continues until Friday 17th October.

Over thirty street artists have been brought together to help raise money for two small grass roots charities based in Africa. The boards that the artists painted during the Shambala Festival 2008 will be exhibited, along with donated pieces that will be sold through closed bids to the highest bidder.

All profits (with no administration charges) will go to Banunule School For Orphans, Kampala, Uganda and Malawi Education Project, Malawi.

The exhibition has already been shown in London @ Cordy House, Curtain Road, Shoreditch, 18th - 21st September. The launch night on Thursday 17th September saw over 500 people through the doors. With buyers knowing that the exhibition was on for three days in London and then open in Birmingham for 7 days, we saw several large bids on the opening night.

Full details here.