City Entwined • Paradise Row Projects • London, UK • 2022
Group Show
with Off Site Project
City Entwined celebrates the energy and cultural richness of London's independent contemporary art scene at a significant moment in its history: a post-pandemic context which has seen substantial shifts in the gallery ecosystem. It brings together a selection of independent and emerging* artists, galleries and project spaces from across London in a two-part exhibition that offers not so much a survey of this creative scene, but rather a subjective snapshot intended to embody its spirit.
Pairing each exhibiting artist with an affiliated gallery, it showcases the diverse, geographic, productive, economic, ideological and affective relationships between artists and the creative networks that surround them. Like a mycelial network, this complex web of connections structures a critical part of the city’s cultural ecosystem – a city entwined.
City Entwined highlights the contribution these eclectic spaces make to the life of the city. Staged at a prime location in Mayfair, London’s blue-chip commercial art district, the exhibition also aims to introduce these spaces, many on the geographical periphery of the city, to new audiences. At a time when many projects have endured the economic pressures of the pandemic and the ever rising rental and operating costs, the exhibition underlines the role and potential of collectivism and collaboration as a constructive, progressive and resilient response to these challenges.
Mirroring the show’s foregrounding of the breadth of projects in Greater London, the work selected manifests a diverse range of practices and influences. It ranges from the computer-generated 3D worlds of Léa Porré, in which she excavates and interrogates historical events, to the fluid feminine forms in the paintings of Gal Schindler; across the sculptural practice of Blue Curry, in which he ‘interrogates the origins, characteristics and impact of the tourist experience,’ (Art Monthly, March 2022) and the high energy collaged films of multidisciplinary artist Ebun Sodipo that explore gender, race and sexuality.
Participating projects and artists include: PART I 25 March - 9 April San Mei Gallery - Laila Majid & Louis Blue Newby / Kupfer - Romeo Roxman Gatt / springseason - Florence Carr / Collective Ending - Billy Fraser - Gobyfish Collective / Off Site Project - Léa Porré / Ruby Cruel - Blue Curry - Bruce Cayonne / Ginny on Frederick - Jack O’Brien - Gal Schindler / Darren Flook - India Nielsen / Gallery No.32 - Erika Trotzig - Gabriela Pelczarska PART II 14 April - 7 May Harlesden High Street - Andre Morgan - Joe Cool / TACO! - Alex Frost / flat 70 - Ebun Sodipo / Fiumano Clase - Shadi Razaei / Indigo + Madder - Amba Sayal-Bennett / Filet - Sam Creasey / French Riviera - Nicholas Pankhurst / Commonage Projects - Taro Qureshi - Simone Mudde / Ridley Road Project Space
Curated by Mazzy-Mae Green
Work shown:
• Ekpyrosis (2021)