Sisters Doing It For Themselves: Brains & Lip Takeover at CNB Gallery

Monday 24th April sees the private view of Brains & Lip Takeover at East London’s emerging art hotspot, CNB Gallery. The all-woman exhibition, which showcases the work of nine fantastic artists, is curated by Claire Orme and Alice Steffen, the creative duo behind Brains & Lip.

Controversial, brash and witty, the artworks on view challenge and reclaim what it means to be a woman in contemporary society. The subversive painting, illustration and sculpture that feature in the exhibition explore discourses of identity, sexuality and female empowerment, resisting the restrictive expectations of the elitist, patriarchal art world.

Jess de Wahls, Consent, 2016

We were thrilled to be able to speak with the two visionaries behind the ‘takeover’ in advance of next week’s exhibition.

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Investigating the ‘Other’: Ben Edge ‘FOLK RENAISSANCE’ at CNB Gallery

Camden-based artist Ben Edge talked to us last week about his debut solo exhibition, Folk Renaissance – an ode to the detail and craft often found in Folk and Naive Art as well as the traditions of religious Renaissance painting – which opens March 13^th at CNB Gallery in Shoreditch.

Edge’s paintings channel Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s allusion that “Man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.” By doing so, Edge’s work investigates and celebrates the ‘other’, presenting the viewer with a critical and psychological insight into the human story.

‘The Life of Peary’ | Courtesy of the Artist and CNB Gallery.

Impulsive, daring and intimate, his work champions the illicit; portraying people who live beyond accepted social and cultural norms, whether they are artists, arctic explorers, circus performers or musicians. By reversing the belief that out of folklore comes contemporary culture, Edge not only turns unsung heroes into icons, but also transforms the orthodox portrait into a poetic metaphor for the friability of life.

HIX Award Winner Announced!

Huge congratulations to Joshua Raz, Newcastle University grad and official winner of this year’s prestigious HIX Award.

Joshua Raz, Indoor Outdoor Tropics, Oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, 2016

Launched in 2013, the HIX Award was conceived by famed restaurateur Mark Hix and the director of CNB Gallery, Rebecca Lidert. It is specifically designed for emerging artists in the hopes that it can be their first step towards a career after university.

Danny Rolph comes home: ‘East Central’ at CNB Gallery

British painter, Danny Rolph, comes to London with East Central thanks to CNB Gallery this September. The exhibition is made up of four large-scale paintings, all of which have been inspired by the areas of London in which Danny grew up, namely EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4. As a child he would stand in the kitchen of his parents’ high rise flat just off the City Road staring at the city below, and in these works, which unite painting with collage, he has recreated those memories in abstract forms.

EC2, 2016, Mixed media on Triplewall

Of the works, he says: ‘I grew up in the sky, one hundred foot above City Road. The view from our kitchen window contained sunset and sunrises of the type that Tiepolo imagines populated by architectural silhouettes of St Paul’s, the Old Bailey and the Post Office Tower.’

PREVIEW: Ally McIntyre ‘The Sun Popped’ Opening Tonight at CNB Gallery

After winning last year’s prestigious HIX Award, Canadian emerging painter, Ally McIntyre, is back in London with a solo exhibition at CNB Gallery.

The Sun Poppped, which opens 25 May, challenges the age old concept that there can be a ‘perfect’ in painting, blending traditional genres, iconographies and artistic processes to create an alternative mythology in a new painterly age.

Ally McIntyre, Robespierre, 2016 c. Ally McIntyre. Courtesy of the artist and CNB Gallery

The paintings on view present an alternative to traditional heliocentric (male/patriarchal) worship, instead making nature, animals and the cosmos the receivers of praise and the central figures of faith. And whilst the theme and vibe of the work itself is very much mythological, it strongly alludes to the contemporary feminism, as well as the protection of nature and animals.

‘I was holding one of his pineapple grenades when it struck me how small and beautiful it was’ – K-tee at CNB Gallery

CNB Gallery, presents an exhibition of new works by British artist K-tee.

K-tee has long used weaponry in her work, and in this show she takes the distinctive American army MK II hand grenade, known colloquially as the ‘pineapple’, to create a series of small and medium-scale sculptures.

K-Tee, Milk Whole, 2016 | © K-tee. Courtesy the artist and CNB Gallery

I had the chance to speak with K-tee about her artistic practice and upcoming exhibition.

‘Myths are a link to a collective past of symbolism and meaning’ – Joe Machine at CNB Gallery

CNB Gallery present Britannic Myths, the gallery’s second solo show by the acclaimed British artist Joe Machine.

Math, Son Of Mythonwy, 2015 | © Joe Machine. Courtesy the artist and CNB Gallery

The twelve paintings that make up the exhibition have been created in collaboration with the academic and writer Dr Steven O’Brien, and are based on a dialogue around his soon to be published book, Britannia Stories.

I had the chance to speak to Joe about the exhibition and his artistic practise.

‘I think the sky represents the future’ – Peter Newman at CNB Gallery

Subterranean Blues at Mark Hix‘s CNB Gallery presents an exhibition of new photographs by the acclaimed British artist, Peter Newman.

The show is comprised of eight large-scale works that appear, at first glance, like planets suspended in a pitch-black universe. However, closer inspection reveals them to be depictions of city streets taken from the ground up. Dramatic and mesmerising in equal measure, they form part of Newman’s long-term ‘Metropoly’ project, which connects to earlier serial and typological photography, such as the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, the German artists who methodically recorded the mechanical structures of the industrial age.

I had the chance to speak with Peter about his artistic practice and forthcoming exhibition.

Peter Newman, London, St Mary Axe, 2014, C-Type print 122 x 122 cm | © Peter Newman. Courtesy the artist and CNB Gallery

‘Ultimately in the end, everything for everyone will end in the same way’ – Miranda Donovan At CNB Gallery

Metaphors for Mankind at Mark Hix‘s CNB Gallery presents a new solo exhibition by the acclaimed British artist Miranda Donovan.

The assembled works, which the artist describes as ‘sculptural paintings’, are drawn from three series: her meticulously detailed brickwork pieces, skilfully created by carving out miniature bricks from building materials, her ‘steel sheet’ with rivets works which are in fact made from resin, and her smaller figurative works done on either cement or computer motherboards.

Gallery director Rebecca Lidert explains, “The power of Donovan’s work is that it reflects man’s ingenuity, his skills and strength, but in doing so lays bare its temporality, portrayed through the erosive and gritty imprint of decay.”

I had the chance to speak with Miranda about her artistic practice and forthcoming exhibition.

Miranda Donovan, Keep Walking, Oil, acrylic, enamel and resin on panel, 2014 | © Miranda Donovan. Photo: AJ Photographics, courtesy the artist and CNB Gallery