Bowieart and County Hall Gallery, in association with Bloc media, presents
The inaugural exhibition opens at County Hall Gallery, London, on 10 March 2005. BLOC provides exposure for 16 of the UK?s most promising emerging artists at a crucial time in their career. Sourcing talent from our most prestigious institutions, BLOC explores the trends, concerns, techniques and diversity of a new generation of British artists.
The exhibition includes work by Eleonora Aguiari who recently daringly masked Lord Napier of Magdala, the equestrian sculpture on Queens Gate (Kensington Gore, London) with red tape. Doug Fishbone, the artist who recently bought 30,000 bananas to Trafalgar Square is transporting soil from Israel onto the gallery floor of County Hall, a minimal gesture with massive geo-political clout. Whilst Raul Ortega Ayala, originally from Mexico, continues his investigation into the principles and world-weariness of office work; the artist creates a fantastical escape out of the materials he finds himself surrounded by during a stint as a jobsworth.
Glasgow based artist Ruth Barker?s, Dream of the Northern Lights replicates the aurora borealis in miniature which will be contained in a home made bell jar. Continuing her investigation into learning and the abstracted reality of physics, Naglaa Walker, winner of a Jerwood Photography Award, will create an ambitious site-specific installation, including film and photography.
Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir?s, disquieting drawings and animations are motivated by the stories told to the young artist growing up in the darkness of Iceland. Through her fictional narratives relayed in film and drawing Erica Eyres invites you into an uneasy world of disenchanted youth and beyond. Animation is explored as a medium, in the work of Mathieu Gallois whose digital animation appropriates the schematics of on board safety information leaflets found on commercial passenger aircraft. Another Goldsmiths graduate, Anthony Gross, presents an exploded narrative, through a fabricated day in the life of a group of generic commercialized males. Incorporating music, images and the spoken word Ben Sadler?s new video piece The Palace is composed of a long narrative which operates using the aesthetics of film.
Catherine Morland paints English landscapes scenes in smoke on glass which are then projected onto a second surface; these delicate projections act like residual images or distant memories. Upturned overhead projectors are used a light source in the work of Colin Guillemet who presents drawings laser-cut onto aluminium plates.
Developments in recent painting are represented by the work of Simon Keenleyside and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye; wannabe Essex landscapes sit alongside larger than life painterly portraits. Neil Zakiewicz on the other hand combines the grandiose and heroic tendencies of traditional subjects with a malleable and impermanent modern material; his subjects emerging out of foam blocks, leaning and warping and threatening movement or collapse.
A DVD catalogue, interactive cutting edge website www.bloc-art.com and SMS services are provided by Bloc Media the Official Media Sponsor of Bloc 2005. A panel discussion exploring the emerging art scene in the UK chaired by Dr Suhail Malik (Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, Postgraduate Fine Art Critical Studies, Goldsmiths College) will take place on Sunday 13 March 2005, 3pm. The panel consists of Miria Swain (Curator, Modern Art, Oxford), Duncan McLaren (author and journalist), Martin Herbert (Critic) and Nigel Cooke (artist).
BLOC at White Space, County Hall Gallery, London SE1, 10th March ? 22nd May 2005.
Friday to Monday 10:00am ? 6:00pm, 0870 744 7485, Admission Free
For more information on the featured artists and images visit www.bloc-art.com
Or email edward@bowieart.com or nnenna@countyhallgallery.com
London Underground’s public art programme Platform for Art is showing work by artists in BLOC as posters in the network at Charing Cross and Earls Court Stations. For more information please contact Tamsin Dillon tamsin.dillon@tube.tfl.gov.uk
Re-launched in 2000, Bowieart.com has a reputation of establishing the strongest young artists, connecting them with dealers, curators and collectors, the web site is visited by around 800,000 people a week.
BLOC provides an invaluable platform for a selection of the most exciting up-and-coming artists in the UK. For several years now serious international attention has been paid to British based artists and more than at any other time in history, British art is booming. BLOC presents the work of tomorrow?s stars, positioning itself as the space to encounter the strongest young artistic talent around.
Beth Greenacre, Director, Bowieart
County Hall Gallery is London?s most versatile art and exhibitions centre, home to the permanent DalàUniverse exhibition and inspirational temporary exhibitions. The gallery is situated in the heart of London South Bank in surroundings synonymous with cutting edge art.
BLOC is a real opportunity to guide new artists from across the UK to the next level, securing the future of British art. Art institutions in the UK are bursting with inspired, unseen talent and if British art is to uphold and maintain its world class standard we need to continue to bring that next generation into the spotlight.
Andrea Pedroni, Managing Director, County Hall Gallery
Bloc Media are the official Media Sponsor, providing all web, mail, sms and digital media technology. Founded in 2000, Bloc Media provides inspired creative and digital marketing to the art, entertainment and fashion industries.
BLOC represents a new platform for emerging talent and a fantastic opportunity for the world to meet the next generation of truly inspirational British artists. We are delighted to be part of what is sure to become a staple in the British Art Calendar.
Rick Palmer, Managing Director, Bloc Media
For more information please contact:
Ed Greenacre, Bowieart 020 7352 4976 edward@bowieart.com
Nnenna Oleforo, County Hall Gallery 020 7450 7619 nnenna@countyhallgallery.com
Rick Palmer, Bloc Media 020 7739 1718 rick@blocmedia.com