The installation at 16mm is complete and still in situ until Sunday 29th June.

It's been really enjoyable, drawing on the walls, chatting, eating things upstairs, moving things about in the space. Really nice atmosphere and people hence the extended extensions... We will be photographing it all on Sunday morning and then taking down the paper drawings, removing books etc. and leaving the wall drawings in place until somebody else wants to use the walls.


Some of my notes / thoughts from the end of this show are below:

Summery from sketch book in 16mm

Tues 9pm

'I quite like the way this show came about - very naturally.

With a different project I’d planned for, having been canceled at the last moment, I took the opportunity to have a show with Larissa Alves - a friend and filmmaker I live with, before she left London for Portugal. She worked in the room next door to mine on 2 films for the last year or so and is Brazilian, so before leaving she arranged to screen it at 16mm, which is run by Brazilians. With me showing next door it became like moving our rooms into more public space - her cinema and my comic stuff. Then also in tandem with our situation in South London she cleared out and moved on and I stayed behind scribbling away generally in the same place.

What would have been a 5 day installation for me, turned into a month and then another week added on… following which it was decided there would be a series of shows in the space – someone from Sanford that Larissa introduced to the owners on the opening night will help use the potential for this site with a series of screenings and exhibitions by Brazilian artists. There is a lot of potential…. It’s been great working in here, and I’ll continue upstairs sometimes in the future on my laptop as they have wifi and the best cakes in London… there are a lot of people in here working on different projects. A real mixture: marketing people, writers, myself and the owners Renan and Claudia who work here as a project in itself – having done all the interior design, checking on the food, serving food and drinks, talking with customers, arranging screenings… it’s a really creative hub without being all about art, and the general atmosphere is very friendly. I’ve chatted to a lot of the customers as an artist and as a punter when just having lunch, even leading to meeting up again outside of the venue. This is quite unusual for me in London.

As well as liking the opportunity to draw on the walls, I’ve been thinking about the site quite a lot. It’s been positive to have somewhere new to go and make work – with a buzz but also a sense of calm. Rather than take my stuff back to South London following this I’m going to take it to a studio in Margate, Kent and keep the studio for only working on the drawings and ideas – no admin or general living distractions. Quite a journey compared to cycling in, but I think the train can provide think time to switch into the work and new location, and back into everyday life again when returning home. It will be possible to stay overnight there which will be helpful - a bit like the time and space for idea bubbles that ‘Writing Piece’ also provided.

Margate is a real ‘place’. As in, it has a definite character and a sense of community there, unlike many big cities; yet this place also has it. I think because Renan and Claudia founded it and put a lot of themselves into the site and the business, it has taken on a slow time element. And because of this a lot of the customers are regulars and pick up on this personal and trusting atmosphere – hence talking to each other and spending time in the place on their own work as well. Though efficient there is no rush here at all, the food is all checked by the guys and there is always time for a chat and warm hellos.

Such a situation in the center of a city is really quite rare and valuable... If I’m stressed or feeling a bit skitty when I arrive it dissipates as soon as I’m in the door pretty much, and there’s no hierarchy… I can be talking to the waitress, chef, business directors, whoever – and it’s all very much on a friendly and respectful level. Again, this is something that I am very drawn to in my personal life as well as in my work. This has also been helpful in enabling me to develop the work: drawings which are quite tatty, a bit odd and very much in progress – it would have been very different and more difficult in a more aloof or judgmental environment.

I think other important elements here, that facilitate this work include the balance of personal and public space – quite a private place for the desk space, whilst there has also been regular communication as the room is a through way to the toilet and the screening room. Having flexibility with hours and freedom in content and materials has also been important. It’s been good to have encouragement rather than any pressure to ‘produce’ too – if new work happens great, if not, well conversation around that and the work installed is also fine. Using it as a meeting place has been significant: talking with people including friends and other artists without the gallery or studio feel, or the pub feel has been insightful, fun and productive, surrounded by work but not in a pressurized or overly critical setting – it’s been playful whilst contained.

Mmmm… anyway.

That’s enough for today. I’ll keep on pondering, photograph it and take it down on Sunday and write this up then.

It really has been a very unusual month… I like that it happened because something else didn’t.. such is life; you don’t do that, so you do that instead, and that leads to that, and so on. So you might as well go with it and enjoy what is – like the music and cakes that are currently upstairs… (!) ‘

>Doodle of figure dashing up the stairs, arms outstretched, musical notes floating down the steps and cakes propped at the top.<

Attached is a flyer for the next show here, the opening coincides with Pride and includes a film as well as a photography exhibition.
I’ll upload final photographs that Laura Cadenazzi (a friend and photographer) took on the Sunday shortly.