Core Open Catalogue 2011

core gallery o p e n 2011

Alison Hand Annabel Dover Amy Moffat Carolyn Lefley Charlotte Bracegirdle Christopher Eyles Clare Mitten David Fletcher EJ Major Emma Cousin Emma Roche Freya Douglas-Morris Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin Iain Andrews James Ryan Jon Williamson Joshua Uvieghara Lindsey Bull Lisa Muten Louisa Chambers Rachel Wilberforce Robert Lang Sarah West

CONTRIBUTORS: ARTISTS: Alison Hand Annabel Dover Amy Moffat Carolyn Lefley Charlotte Bracegirdle Christopher Eyles Clare Mitten David Fletcher EJ Major Emma Cousin Emma Roche Freya Douglas-Morris Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin Iain Andrews James Ryan Jon Williamson Joshua Uvieghara Lindsey Bull Lisa Muten Louisa Chambers Rachel Wilberforce Robert Lang Sarah West JUDGES: Graham Crowley Alli Sharma Fiona Macdonald Sarah Williams CURATORS: Jane Boyer Rosalind Davis CREATIVE EDITOR: Chantelle Purcell

Core Gallery would like to thank: Charlotte Norwood and Annabel Tilley COPYRIGHT Š 2011 CHANTELLE PURCELL Published 2011 by Core Gallery For information please contact: Core Gallery info@coregallery.co.uk

JANE BOYER CURATORS STATEMENT

6-7

ROSALIND DAVIS OPEN SUBMISSION SWINDLE open submission Guide

8-9 12-13

graham crowley why open competitions matter?

14-15

ARTISTS: Alison Hand Annabel Dover Amy Moffat Carolyn Lefley Charlotte Bracegirdle Christopher Eyles Clare Mitten David Fletcher EJ Major Emma Cousin Emma Roche Freya Douglas-Morris Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin Iain Andrews James Ryan Jon Williamson Joshua Uvieghara Lindsey Bull Lisa Muten Louisa Chambers Rachel Wilbeforce Robert Lang Sarah West

17-18 19-20 21-22 23-24 25-26 27-28 29-30 31-32 33-34 35-36 37-38 39-40 41-42 43-44 45-46 47-48 49-50 51-52 53-54 55-56 57-58 59-60 61-62

texts

Curator’s Statement 2011 Jane Boyer

‘Fear and loathing in the gap between reality and make-believe’ comes to mind as I view the work chosen by the judges for the 2011 Core Gallery Open. These works speak of fractured and fragmented experiences; the search for meaning between the two selves: private/public; a bombardment from technology and media images; place which is no longer actual but has become a representation, a symbol, an icon; a preference for constructed memory because real memory has become suspect. These works speak of our 21st century experience.

The pieces themselves are structurally complex, multi-layered, many are murky and dense. There is often a crudeness to the technical execution. This crudeness is an important element in these works; it is key to where art production is headed, just don’t call it expression. It can be seen as a halfway point between abstraction and realism; a sort of gesture that isn’t gesture, a mark made to emote and stimulate, a technique used to transport the viewer to a reality composed by the artist, a signal to the viewer that emotions should be stirred and a message is being sent.

Even when the execution is crisp, the space, places and figures are invented, fragmented and tense. The ruse of reality is used to conjure memories which don’t exist. Constructed memory becomes a defence against an

invasive barrage of technology.

Underlying these works is a sense of subterfuge, a concealing of personal and artistic expression because we’ve been led to believe expression is no longer acceptable, it’s too emotive, too personal, too exclusive, too self-indulgent. Iain Andrews writes in his statement, ‘The sheer enjoyment of making these marks is not intended to be a Dionysian pursuit that drowns out the appearance of the real through a curtain of subjective, expressionistic gestures, but rather an attempt to transform and redeem the form through the act of making. The act of making becomes inseparable from the message that is being conveyed through the marks, one of the importance of transformation and redemption…It is vital that pictures are not sedatives, but are capable of evoking sensation and awakening feelings…’

‘The act of making’ has become a term for ‘expression’.

‘The role of the artist, of course, has always been that of image-maker. Different times require different images. Today when our aspirations have been reduced to a desperate attempt to escape from evil, and times are out of joint, our obsessive, subterranean and pictographic images are the expression of the neurosis which is our reality. To my mind certain so-called abstraction is not abstraction at all. On the contrary, it is the realism of

our time.’ Adolph Gottlieb ‘The failure of European art to achieve the sublime is due to this blind desire to exist inside the reality of sensation (the objective world, whether distorted or pure) and to build an art within a framework of pure plasticity…

We are reasserting man’s natural desire for the exalted, for a concern with our relationship to the absolute emotions…’ Barnett Newman 2 I find this subterfuge compelling, it creates a fertile ground for the discussion of abstraction, meaning, and communication. I use these words rather than the term ‘expression’ because that term, these days, has a limited somewhat negative meaning of self-indulgent emotion, when in fact everything we do is expression - is communication. But that discussion is for another time and place; the significance for this exhibition is the fact that these issues are raised once again. Regardless of the term used to describe the marks made in these works one thing is clear, these emerging artists have moved away from the idea of the ‘lone genius’ and the bravado of the abstract expressionists. They feel anxious and aren’t afraid to express it. They also realize their place within a greater whole, they do not stand outside looking back, they are in the midst of the melee, fencing and parrying with stimuli.

We are shifting away from the cold sterility of the intellect and exploring again what it means, what it feels like to engage in the ‘act of making’.

Jane Boyer | http://www.jlbfineart.com/ | www.coregallery.co.uk

Open Submission Swindle? october issue 2010

As an artist who has entered open submissions and as a manager of an artist led gallery space (Core Gallery, is a not for profit space), which held its first open submission this year, I feel I can give a slightly different insight into this subject than those laid out in the last 2 issues of a-n as to what actually your open submission fees go towards.

Graham Crowley one of our selectors for the competition was interviewed about this subject for our Core Gallery Interviews sums up succinctly why it is important to have independent competitions: “Independent competitions are vital in providing a platform for work that isn’t being shown by commercial or public galleries. This becomes more important as the market seems to exert an increasing influence on public galleries.”

Firstly we at Core Gallery decided to have an open submission because it was a great opportunity to give artists a chance to exhibit their work at London’s foremost contemporary arts festival- ‘Deptford X’- a prime slot in the exhibition calendar in this area of London.

Competition administration was significant, 4 months of planning and execution. If we weren’t to charge a fee there would have been no way of being able to hold this competition. Even with the amount raised through entry fees, this

does not even begin to cover costs: promotion, publicity, marketing, design, invites, paint, screws etc let alone all my work, my colleagues and interns labour into the show all of us artists. All open submissions take a huge amount of work regardless of who they are run by and I am afraid it is unrealistic to think people could run them for free or that an equivalent ‘ hang fee’ would balance the labour involved- it would end up being more costly than your entry fee.

If we were able to give everyone involved in the running of the competition, the minimum wage, we would be way into the minuses of the fee raised; we were working for free so hardly a swindle for us at least. Why did we do it? The competition allowed us to build up a database of artists, which we would not have been able to have seen in other circumstances, a means of creating an audience for our space, to make ourselves known to artists as we are a new gallery space. Ultimately the competition was profile raising for us and it was a high calibre independent exhibition.

In future for us profile building means being able to connect people- artists and curators etc. All revenue was put back into the exhibition and the gallery and will go towards helping create more educational events amongst other things, through exhibitions, education and art talks (and not just for those who won the final competition!)

We charged a low fee in order to make the competition accessible and affordable.

In addition to the competition we are then supporting a further exhibition of 3 artists that were selected from the 18 initial winners of our open submission. Tom Butler, Marion Michell and Alyson Helyer will be given a group show in 2011 at our gallery supported by us.

We had fantastic independent selectors for the open; Kate Jones, Matt Roberts and Graham Crowley who I purposefully asked as I wished for the exhibition to be exciting and stimulating and something that artists would want to enter and be part of. The judging was utterly fair.

Everyone had an equal chance to get in on their own merits.

Exhibition View: Extra-Ordinary, 2011 © Core Gallery

We were rewarded by the wonderful exhibition we had of 18 artists, the artists were very pleased with the exhibition and appreciative of the hard work we had put in. This was a mutually beneficial competition.

In the future we will need to make an annual open submission more sustainable for the gallery as people’s labour should be paid as we all know, but it was a great and rewarding project to be part of but definitely was not a quick way to get rich!

I completely agree that submission fees to competitions have inflated to ridiculous prices.

Saatchi Gallery recently held an open submission ‘The Art of Giving…’ £25 per artist is something of an ironic joke given the title.

I would suggest that one just enters those competitions you firmly believe in or want to be part of and feel you have a fair chance in applying to it. There is a glut out there for good or bad but they do serve an important purpose on many levels of getting exposure for artists and galleries need money to run their spaces too I am afraid to say.

Exhibition View: Extra-Ordinary, 2011 © Core Gallery

There is already a hanging fee of types you can hire a gallery and put on your own group show- but then who will organise, promote and Exhibition View: Extra-Ordinary, 2011 © Core Gallery

manage that? If you wish to empower yourself, it certainly can help to set up your own projects or support independent competitions and spaces like ours that supports artists in a number of ways.

This was originally published in the letters section of an magazine.

Rosalind Davis | www.rosalinddavis.co.uk | www.coregallery.co.uk

Exhibition View: Extra-Ordinary, 2011 Š Core Gallery

Open Submission guide

Entering and being included in an open submission exhibition can be a fantastic opportunity, bring prestige to your cv, be a networking opportunity and help you reach new audiences which can include galleries, collectors and Curators to your work.

Each year there are consistently more artists applying for opens making the percentages of getting into the exhibitions is even more competitive for example in 2009 The Jerwood Drawing received 2344 entries 66 artists chosen. In 2011 they received 3500 entries and 70 artists were chosen. Its competitive and difficult. Therefore here are a few general guidelines as to how to navigate, enhance and make the most of your entry to open submission competitions and not waste that all too precious submission fee.

What is the percentage of artists that are selected?

Is this a gallery I would like to exhibit in?

Would I like to develop a relationship with the judges or gallery space?

Does the competition/ gallery space have a good reputation?

What sort of work do the Judges do?

Are there any prizes? (if so that can also mean a higher amount of artists entering) Does the gallery actively promote the exhibition?

Independent Artist led/ Commercial Galleries?

Research: You need to be discerning: Sometimes, artists can have a scattergun approach in the hope that one (at least one!) open submission may take your works. With the rise of competition fees one needs to be careful about what and how many competitions you enter: So here are some questions to ask yourself before entering:

Core Gallery is a small independent artist led space; we (as do many spaces small and large) develop relationships with the artists we work with long after the physical exhibitions are over. With larger art prizes you can be a very small fish in a large pond however on balance the larger competitions of course have more money for promotion, champagne receptions and guest lists. Networks vs champagne. Feeling part of something and building sustainable networks vs large glamorous sometimes anonymous shows. . Both have their

place, both can be fantastic so consider which would you prefer?

Once you have looked at these factors and decided to enter you need to think about the Submission entry itself. Some of this may sound obvious but having looked through many artists submissions there are always a percentage that do not do the following which can automatically disqualify you from getting into a shortlist;

Does your statement talk about the actual physical work: is it painting, sculpture or video?

Is it site specific? What materials are you using? Is the process important? Are the materials important? Why? Sum up your practise in 3 words is a good starting point. Once you can do that you can expand.

Are you ready?

Take good photos of your work: Please don’t include the wall/ other people’s work within the frame.

This is a hard one, but sometimes we need to give ourselves more time to develop as artists and not be consumed by getting into exhibitions.

Do check the image is in focus Do label each jpeg as requested by the guidance notes Keep to the resolution the competition asks for.

Useful Resources to locate and get tips on open submissions: a-n.co.uk Artquest.org.uk Axisweb.org

Be consistent: Open submissions state a maximum amount of images so it is best to make a strong statement about a body of work; 3 images should give a clear identity of a body of work not necessarily showing how diverse and multi talented an artist you are.

With regards to installation and sculpture this can be difficult to show in one jpeg, so you may be better representing your work by using your 3 images showing just one piece/ installation shots.

Know how to write about your work: Some submissions require artist’s statements to support your application; Some statements bear no relation to the artwork the judges see and they need to be in harmony, so make sure your statement is relevant and understandable.

Rosalind Davis | www.rosalinddavis.co.uk | www.coregallery.co.uk

why open competitions matter?

GRAHAM CROWLEY

Over the last few years several new and rather exciting open competitions like the Core Open have emerged. They've come about because of a profound dissatisfaction with existing sponsored competitions. Most of which have become inditements rather than celebrations of painting.

These new opens are either artist-led or the initiative of excellent, small independent galleries, such as Matt Robert's 'Salon' and Charlie Dutton's 'Crash'. Along with these and the Core Open are the excellent 'Marmite Prize', and the constantly improving ArtWorks Open (run by the Barbican Arts Group ), the Creekside Open, the National Open Art Competition and of course the John Moores / Liverpool Exhibition. They all provide a vital platform for new and emergent work. Without the reactionary baggage or the capitalistic cynicism of existing competitions.

One significant difference between the 'old' and the 'new' is the realisation that judgements about painting shouldn't be reduced to a matter of taste, prejudice or sensibility. The main problem is the inappropriate choice of 'judges'. This is invariably the task of a PR company and in the pursuit of publicity, 'celebrities', rich people etc. are chosen as judges. Instead the measured judgment of practicing artists, who are aware of painterly conventions, precedence, history, innovation, academic fashion and language - is ignored.

In Between, 2009 © Anna Maria Kardos

Blue Trolley, C-Type Print © Liz West

Painting is a discourse. The new Open competitions nurture new, unfashionable and emergent work - they maintain that discourse.

This is not 'state' or market-led art. The ethos is one of ideas not capital. Competitions like the CoreOpen reflect knowledge and generosity, something that is an anathema to the market . Â

Blue Drift, 2010, oil on canvas, 114 x 137 cm Š Graham Crowley

Exhibition view: Core Gallery Open 2010

Exhibition view: Core Gallery Open 2010

Graham Crowley | http://www.grahamcrowley.co.uk/

artists “There was an extremely high level of applications for this year’s Core Gallery Open which led to some interesting discussions between the selectors. The final exhibition reflects the quality of applications and sheer variety of approaches.”

Sarah Williams

alison hand Alison Hand’s work is concerned with the representation and identity of place, and the power relations articulated through particular visions of landscape. Interested in the shifting idea of how a landscape is thought of useful or useless, how we negotiate it, trespass, own it and see it as sacred, she deterritoralises the ‘picturesque’ and refocuses the act of painting as record, fiction, memory and exaggeration.

Alison Hand holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London and was selected for the 2010 Marmite Prize for Painting Exhibition and the Core Gallery Open 2010.

Parc d’amour, 2010, acrylic on board, 60 x 60 cm © Alison Hand

amy moffat Taking reference from Carl Jung and Herman Hesse, the work of Amy Moffat, informed by states of being, uncertainty, instability, obsession and vulnerability, investigate the what it is to exist in the terrain between the public validation and the internal validation of one’s self that we all seek.

Amy Moffat holds a BA in Fine Art Painting from Wimbledon College of Art and was selected for the 2010 Marmite Prize for Painting.

Art Attack’, 2010, 38 x 30 cm, oil on board © Amy Moffat

annabel dover Engaging with the invisible story of an object, Annabel Dover interrogates the personal narratives we impose upon objects that often provide a hidden expression for the breakdowns in human relationships and the memories and emotions that they reflect: overlapping, disparate and disjointed.

Annabel Dover is currently completing a PhD in Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art. Selected for the Jerwood Drawing prize in 2008 and 2010 and exhibited at Tate, CoExist and the Contemporary Arts Society.

Chimps Tea Party, 2011 (from Anne Frank’s Wall) Oil on Board, 18x24 cm © Annabel Dover

carolyn lefley Carolyn Lefley makes photographs that depict a world floating between reality and fantasy, between believable spaces and sites of make-believe. Interested in the relationship between literary fiction and fantasy stories and the inherent magical qualities of a photograph, she explores the uncertainty of future world events.

Carolyn Lefley holds an MA in photography from the University of West London. Winner of the Magenta Foundation, 2007.

Realm, 2009, photograph, 90 x 70 cm Š Carolyn Lefley

charlotte bracegirdle Erasing elements in the glossy surfaces of images that already exist, the brush strokes in the paintings of Charlotte Bracegirdle subvert narrative to get new meaning. Although the narrative is often about loss, fear and lack of control, the work controls the scene like a mischievous interventionist – like the trick where the tablecloth is whipped away leaving the tea cups in place.

Charlotte Bracegirdle holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. Winner of the The Beck’s Canvas Award 2008, the David Langdon Award 2006 and runner up for the Young Masters award at The Cynthia Corbett Gallery 2009.

Firemans Lift, Firemans lift detail, 2011, acrylic on printed page from book, 19 x 28.5 cm Š Charlotte Bracegirdle

christopher eyles The themes and ideas in the work of Christopher Eyles are carefully formed from architecture and the surrounding environment. However stripped of original place and geographical location represent a nonspace acting as a means for the works to journey and explore in their own right, allowing the work to become outcomes of their own destination.

Christopher Eyles holds a BA in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts Farnham and recently exhibited at Art Space Portmouth andCGR Gallery, New York.

Possesion Horizon, 2011, photo montage, 30 x 30 cm, Š Christopher Eyles

clare mitten Central to the work of Clare Mitten is a dialogue between object and image. Quickly made painterly objects function as 3d sketches, whereby the original is transformed through flattening, editing and error.

When flipped back to 3d, the reconfigured construction is a strange hybrid – both a condensed synthesis of these multiple processes of looking and understanding, but also something suggestive of other disparate things.

Clare Mitten holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London and was selected for Jerwood Painting Fellowship and exhibited at Jerwood Space.

Yellow Mantel Mantel Fort, 2011, mixed media, 235 x 93 x 56 cm Š Clare Mitten

david fletcher Beginning with an encounter of a scene or image that contains a combination of certain elements the painting of David Fletcher develops these elements into a dichotomy of symbol; symbols that are familiar but in someway pivotal aspects of the everyday and symbols couched in formal structure, that bring out qualities of the ambiguous or contingent.

David Fletcher holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London and was selected for the 2010 Marmite Prize for Painting Exhibition, New Contemporaries 2007 Jerwood Contemporary Painters 2007

A Loving Dance, 2011, Oil on canvas, 25-35cm Š David Fletcher

ej Major The photographic work of EJ Major often involves the element of perfomance and is rooted in questions of identity, how we are constructed as human beings and the lexicon of languages we must adapt to and adopt to survive. Further, in what we look to as re-fashion, as individuals in terms of constructing ourselves.

EJ Major holds an MFA in Art Practice from Goldsmiths, University of London. Winner of the Salon photo prize, 2011.

From the Series Shoulder to Shoulder, Contact Sheet 1, 2009, digital C-Type, aluminium mount with subframe, 46 x 37 inches, Ed. of 3 Š EJ Major

emma cousin Concerned with material and image connection and the tension between figuration and abstraction, the paintings of Emma Cousin explore the different languages of material, scale and colour to challenge the context of space, subject and human and perception.

Emma Cousin holds an BA from the Ruskin College of Fine Art and Drawing. Winner of the MoveMe Arts Council Figurative prize in 2008 and Surface Open in 2010.

This is a Landscape, 2011, Oil, acrylic & varnishes on panel. 15 x 30 cm Š Emma Cousin

emma roche Emma Roche’s background is in painting and she marries this with many processes borrowed from craft, sculpture, text and performance. Interested in the unlearning and relearning of established processes, hybrid form and alchemical exploration, she creates tragicomic qualities in an obsession and celebration of ‘failure’ present in both the work and its titles.

Emma Roche holds an MA in Visual Arts Practices from the I.D.A.T. exhibited at Galway Art Centre and Riverbank Arts Centre and Salon Art Prize 2008.

Stack 1, 2010, Pile of 52 paintings screwed together and covered with dried acrylic brushmarks. 153 cm x variable Š Emma Roche

freya douglas-morris Described as a response to the places either travelled to or imagined, the paintings of Freya Douglas-Morris are an overlaying of various images and landscapes creating fictitious scenes that attach no specific memory but a feeling of universal familiarity and other worldliness.

Freya Douglas-Morris holds a BA in Fine Art from Brighton University. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2011, selected for the Marmite Painting Prize in 2008 and has had solo shows in Berlin and Barcelona.

Vanishing, 2011, Oil on board, 30 x 40 cm Š Freya Douglas-Morris

gabrielle lockwood-estrin In search for an essence that embodies specific situations of her own experience, the paintings of Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin convey the residue of human activity. Interested in different actions, reactions and repercussions, what they affect and what they shape she asks ‘who is to say when it is right and wrong?’ Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin holds a BA in Painting and Print-making from the Glasgow School of Art. Winner of the Armour Award for Painting and Drawing in 2010.

Road, 2010, oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm Š Gabrielle Lockwood-Estrin

iain andrews Concerned with the struggle to capture the relationship between the spiritual and the sensual, apparent opposites that are expressed through the conflict of high narrative themes and sensuous painterly marks, the paintings of Iain Andrews are sensuously addictive, worldly and material, holding a sense contemplative silence akin to religious icons.

Iain Andrews holds an MA in Painting from University College of Wales and a PG Dip in Art Psychotherapy from Sheffield University. Winner of the 2010 Marmite Prize for painting Andrews has also exhibited in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 and the Saatchi Gallery.

Sanvaen, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 80 cm Š Iain Andrews

james ryan James Ryan’s paintings focus on an exploration of an implied three-dimensional space onto a physical two-dimensional surface. The combination of printed pattern and painted geometric form produce odd visual moments and figure/ground relationships as design and paint freely interplay over the surface of the canvas.

James Ryan holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. Winner of the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize, 2010 and exhibited at Salon Art Prize 08 & 07

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on checked fabric, 46cm x 51cm Š Jame Ryan

jon williamson Inspired by Modernist design and architecture, the work of Jon Williamson inhabits a non-autonomous hinterland, sometimes appearing as if it belongs in the world but reconfigured with an incompleteness or ambiguity of function, aspiring to compress, abstract and distil architectural forms and histories.

Jon Williamson is currently completing a BA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts. Exhibited at Xhibit at LCC and Core Gallery 2011.

Self Assembly, 2011, Timber, Striplight, 70 x 120 x 55 cm Š Jonny Williamson

joshua uvieghara Loosing a subject in a structure to find another in the process, the work of Joshua Uvieghara uses urban landscape, portraiture and collage as source material to explore haptic and optic visualities to ask whether a subject is necessary and whether a structure can bring a subject forth.

Joshua Uvieghara holds an MA in Fine Art from the University of Brighton. Exhibuted at Fringe MK Painting Prize, Surface Gallery, Phoenix and the Ludlow Summer open 2010.

Voice in the Concrete, 2011, oil and household paint on board, 42 x 39 cm Š Joshua Uvieghara

lindsey bull The paintings of Lindsey Bull create a juncture where psychedelic patterning and colours meet darker forces driven by an interest in ritualistic performances.

Exploring the sensation of such a fractured reality are the depicted figures within and enveloped by spaces that feel simultaneously familiar and unreal.

Lindsey Bull holds an MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design. Winner of the Red Mansion Art Prize 2010 and Brenda Landon Pye Prize 2009.

The Performance, 2011, oil on linen, 32cm x 40cm Š Lindsey Bull

lisa muten The relationships between geometry, space, time, memory and place are re-occurring themes running through the work of Lisa Muten. Working with geometrical shapes to map the surface of found images and prints specifically sourced from the 1970’s she creates the possibilities for new narratives to emerge in the present.

Lisa Muten holds an MA in Fine Art from Kingston University and recently exhibited with the WW Gallery at this years Venice Biennale.

A Defiant Women, 2011, oil on found print, 220 152 mm, Š Lisa Muten

louisa chambers Using memory and source materials that reference architecture, popular culture, scientific technology, folklore and mysticism, the paintings of Louisa Chambers hover between abstraction and figuration questioning how machines and devices both futuristic and archaic, could assist humans living in temporary or placeless worlds.

Louisa Chambers holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. Selected for the Salon Art Prize in 2009 and 2010; the Fringe: MK Annual Painting Prize in 2009 and John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize in 2008.

Flash Light, 2010, acrylic on paper, 32.5 x 23.9 cm Š Louisa Chambers

rachel wilbeRforce With a focus on the peripheral and evanescent, the practice of Rachel Wilberforce explores the societal and social constructs and the interplay between the private and the public. Referencing issues of the residual, liminal and spectacle, the work is presented as partial or re-imagined narratives or phenomena.

Rachel Wilberforce graduated from UCE and has exhibited at the ICA, The Old Vic Tunnels, Frieze Art Fair, Tate Modern and National Museums Liverpool.

Vygeboom, South Africa, Aged 4, All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived, My Parallel Archive Series, 2009, C-type print, diasec & aluminium, 70cm x 70cm © Rachel Wilberforce

robert lang The paintings of Robert Lang materialize from the intermittent collecting and consideration of web based photographs. The process by which this source imaginary is then dislocated, dissolves details which are replaced with modulations in the surface, textures and tentative daubs, aiming to reconsider a social attachment through the relationship between the figure and expanding background.

Robert Lang holds an MA in Fine Art from UWE, Bristol.

Exhibited at Transition Gallery & Gallery North, Salon Art Prize 2010 and ArtSway 09

The Pre-Text, 2011, oil on linen, 305x205mm Š Robert Lang

sarah west Investigating how an icon is constructed in terms of process, content and image, Sarah West elevates images from a mass-produced throwaway context of newspapers and magazines and setting them into a lineage of painting, transforming them into alluring objects responding to the seductiveness of the printed original.

Sarah West holds an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art. Selected for the Fringe MK Annual Painting Prize publication 2010, A Tender Cut, Fold Gallery and Annuale 09, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh.

Price Tag, 2011, oil paint, oil bar, pastel and pencil on pigmented gesson panel, 60 x 42 cm Š Sarah West