Invasion of Privacy

ARTISTS - PERFORMANCES - MUSIC ... IN A PRIVATE HOUSE

Exhibition open:23+24 and 30+31 Oct 2012, 12 to 6pm
Performances: 30 Oct, 6pm 

Invasion of Privacy is an art event - exhibition, performance, music - in the setting of a private house in Oxford. The owner of the art consultancy „Notfamousyet“ opens up her Oxford terrace house and invites artists to use this private space. 

PERFORMANCES IN THE EVENINGS. 
(Music by Oxford Improvisers / Performance by Barbara Dean)

Louisa Chambers is inspired by the experiences of living in contemporary society, the constant technological bombardment and physical dislocation. As response to this she invents and paints fantastical objects and constructions.

 Megan Smith, a Canadian New Media theorist and artist, investigates creative acts of identity placemaking within the digital domain. Her microCONTROL captures geographically bound community feeds from different locations.

Mercedes Mangrané, a student of Fine Arts at Universitat de Barcelona shows two video works. Sunshade uses the exotic view of a terrace as a space for breathing; Foreign Gestures, leads you through an apartment in the search for a feeling of belonging.

Susan Francis' installation uses small pieces of old sheets edged with text from the novel ‘Business of Lovin’ for her “Bedside Stories” 
Her Video “Night Vision” is a documentary about daily life when it is getting dark.

Ufuk Gueray's large painting “Unbearable Lightness of Being” features an attack of mass media and governmental surveillance on the individual. Luckily he also incorporated a healing plaster in his work.

Alex Dewart - with her paintings and collages - creates awesome beautiful landscapes. The use of small domestic patterns makes those exotic sceneries strangely familiar.

Ting Ting Cheng photographed domestic spaces within houses where she has stayed or visited. Instead of the human figures of the residents viewers can see only traces of them in the images,- triggering the viewers’ curiosity toward other people’s personal lives.

Ethan Pollock – with his ‘old master’ painterly style - looks into the windows of modern apartment blocks and catches its inhabitants. Through far away windows we catch glimpses of distant lives, a warm glow in the cold night, the flickering light of a tv or a dimly perceived silhouette. As gentle light pours out into the night, the effect is transformative.

Emily Alexander, series of photographs show voyeuristic night scenes of leaking lights, half opened doors, and the secretive facade of a small hotel. Voyeuristic as well as secretive the photographs ask the viewer question what is hidden within the darkness.

Paul Medley was intrigued by the ubiquitous CCT cameras and by the increasing restrictions placed on street photography. In response to this he took photos of people in public spaces without showing their faces.

Cally Trenchhas taken on the role of explorer and cartographer. She has mapped the area around where she lives, at ground level, noting what she can (and can't) see. The drawings follow the common map conventions of showing the area from above using orthogonal projection.

Encounters at Wheatley

Imagine a lovingly cultivated traditional garden in a 500 year old Manor House in June, now add bold and provocative sculptures made by international contemporary artists … and welcome to the exciting art event “Encounters” organized by the art consultancy “Notfamousyet” at Wheatley Manor, a village close to Oxford! The show was staged for only one night and one day, from the 12 to the 13^th of June, coinciding with the garden’s opening under the National Open Gardens scheme.

 “Encounters” shows how exciting international contemporary art can deliver a stimulating contrast to a traditional very English setting. Many of the exhibited art works were specially created this event, others were carefully selected to correspond to special areas of the garden. Amidst the garden the visitor will find stunning large playful sculptures, delicate ceramic objects, sound installations. It will also be an encounter with surprising materials: textiles in the shape of fruits, clay that is left unfired and therefore prone to decline, an army of wooden wedges, and colourful laces (or should we say tree bondages).

Each work corresponds to the special place in the garden and thereby impacts on and changes the place and the experience of the visitor.

The artists are from Oxford, the wider UK, Europe and Asia. Some are just at the beginning of their artistic career, others can already look back to past successes, but they all have something in common:  they are all exceptional, original and unique.

Ellie Reid finds beauty in discarded material and builds pieces of stunning elegance. Via the structuring and destructuring of her work she relates to the way in which we connect to both each other and what surrounds us.

Jane Wafer's sculptures use industrial and domestic materials in an endeavour to 'fix' dead trees. The construction of animal-like joints and spines enables them to twist and turn, introducing energy and flexibility into their rigid forms.

Jenny Fordcreates stunning nature-like designs - exuberant, abstract forms in hand-dyed and stitched silk velvet, organza and found mixed media. For Wheatley Jenny will create an installation with 15 of her "pods".

Jacob Wolfftranslates modernist ideas into contemporary language. He follows formal aesthetics, carefully orchestrating colours and lines, but injects every-day topics. For Wheatley he is going to present "1-2-3", a welded iron sculpture.

James Winnett will create a large pyramid sculpture developed in response to the 19th century Lock Up in Wheatley which was used for the temporary detainment of local people accused of antisocial behaviour.

Candida Powell-Williams creates large sculptures that are full of mischievous humour; they bring back memory when “playing” was still the allowed centre of our lives. She is a Slade Graduate who is now studying at the Royal College of Art.

John Routledge's 'Hemisphere' is polished steel and red plastic. The shiny surface reflects the garden, the leaves and the light. It is an intriguing piece of technology that plays with nature, and still points to the beauty of mechanical objects.

Michi Suzuki’s beautiful ceramic sculptures seem to be a perfect imitation of the garden life, but on a second look they actually use the plant life - growth, energy, fertility and decay - as a reflection of the human conditions.

Kay Sentance’s love of theatre can be seen in her installation around the mulberry tree. It shows how something very familiar is seen in a total different perspective when seen in an unfamiliar setting.

Roger Perkins is giving the finishing touches to his "Roman" vases. They will be placed around the water in the garden. The vases are deliberately unfired, there is the possibility of change, of planned failure, that might happen, or might not.

Found Treasures

Found Treasures
Installation and Performance by Katy Beinart

Found Treasures – 8 and 9th of May – will be an exciting event: Visitors will be able to experience an installation and a performance by artist Katy Beinart.  In her work Katy is exploring themes of migration, identity and cultural adaptation.

Her installation - throughout the garden –  is displaying a dozen plants.  The plant labels refer to person, journey and plant, making metaphorical connections between the intentional migrations and accidental transferral of plants by humans in their journeys.

On Sunday afternoon everybody is invited to take part in Katy’s performance “Starter Culture”. The artists will offer bread and salt to the visitors in order to re-create the ritual of Khlebosolny, an Eastern European Jewish ritual observed at the crossing of a threshold to a new home.

Small Obsessions

24 Nov to 24 Dec 2009 

 

Photos of the exhibition 

Notfamousyet presents a selection of highly exciting contemporary works by emerging artists from Germany, China and the UK: paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. All works come in small sizes but are great in impact, quality and fun. 

Small can be big. Small art works can excel in meaning, in impact, in substance. It requires a special skill to create small works that communicate in a concentrated, up-to-the point way. How do artists achieve this? In different ways: Ethan Pollock creates his small paintings with highly elaborated and detailed paintings, his small work of “Untitled Interior 3.1 ” shows perfection of craftsmanship. Other artists – like Jana Schroeder – respond to the challenge of small in a more careless way, showing that a handful of strokes can give more than enough impact to a small size canvas. 

Smaller is harder. Less space demands reduction. Whereas size in itself gives impact, a small sized artwork has to achieve effect with other means … with content, with style, with craftsmanship. 

The exhibition continues the concept of the gallery showing highly contemporary works from emerging artists. The exhibition will be hosted in an empty shop in Oxford, 10 St Clements, OX4 1AB.

Madi Acharya-Baskerville works primarily with found/discarded materials to explore issues around migration and cultural differences.   Mohamed Bushara  has the ability to give traditional techniques a new edge: highly contemporary but still maintaining references to his African roots.   Dan Feit presents a selection of his degree show featuring portraits    James Green surprises. Many know only James Green’s abstract works, but in these works he refers to French masters.    Dominik Halmer shows some of his distinctive smaller gouache works in a unique care-free style.   Ping-Yeh Li invents plants and creates models, paintings, and drawings of his creations. Exciting contemporary work, a whole series for plant and (especially) art lovers.   Ethan Pollock shows works that is reminiscent  of former Dutch masters, but his approach his clearly contemporary. Tiny precious pieces highly crafted, with an enjoyable  naughty wit.   Karen Purple paints with nature, using  ancient natural colours.This creates works that give a meditative sense of calmness, a feeling of being united with nature.   Sam Race tells stories. In addition of being a painter Sam Race is a musician and writer. His art works are full of intriguing stories.   Jana Schroeder normally paints large canvases, but  for this show we have obtained  some very rare smaller pieces in her characteristic style.   Luke Skiffington provides a high impact with abstract works in reduced colours.     Jo Stannard revisited the same location tp collect the colours of every season.  Colour panels were meticulously painted, but then fragmented and re-arranged in a collage.   Chris Succo shows textile prints. For a change. His sculptural work has already won prestigious awards.   Anna Tanner has an  unusual, in fact unique, style  -   highly crafted pieces that tell intriguing little stories. Anna Tanner is an American painter who recently had a solo show at the ZOO fair in London.        Jacob Wolff Jacob Wolff translates modernist ideas into contemporary language. He follows formal aesthetics, carefully orchestrating colours and lines, but injects every-day topics

Ping-Yeh Li in the Garden Shop

21 Oct to 7 Nov 2009 

Click on the image to see more work

Notfamousyet presents Taiwanese Ping-Yeh Li in the unusual location of the old empty Garden Shop in Oxford's busy George Street.

Ping-Yeh Li, who graduated at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art, invents plants and creates models, paintings, and drawings of his creations.

Exciting contemporary work, a whole series for plant and even more for art lovers. All plant models, paintings and drawings are for sale. If you are interested please call 07867900746 or send a mail.