Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger is curating this year’s renowned Bow Arts Open Show being staged in an old pickle factory.
Artists selected by Wallinger and Contemporary Art Society trustee Sarah Elson for the two-week exhibition, opening September 13, are a mix of new graduates beginning their arts career and established artists, spanning video, sculpture and works on canvas.
“My selection was simple and clear cut,” Wallinger said. “There is a strong vein of surreal imagery throughout the works, but their simple narative develops into an interesting dialogue through the pieces we’ve selected.”
The exhibition changes format each year, with a high profile guest curator offering a platform for the best in visual, performance, conceptual and realist work from east London’s thriving arts community.
Wallinger won the Turner Prize in 2007 and previously represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001. He was given the largest commission to a single artist ever awarded for a work for every tube station to celebrate last year’s 150th anniversary of the London Underground. He has also had exhibitions at the National, Tate, Hayward and Baltic Gateshead galleries.
The artists he selected for this year’s Bow Arts exhibition are Silke Dettmers, Elena Dimitrova, Jean-Philippe Dordolo, Katherine Fishman, Anna Ilsley, Alyona Larionova, Robyn Litchfield, Kate Murray-Browne, Lucienne O’Mara, Vanessa Scully, Harriet Stripling and Jessica Wilson.
The exhibition is one of two art shows running side-by-side to mark the closing of the Bermondsey Project, which was set up five years ago by the Crisis charity in Whitechapel for single homeless people.
Project director Mick Bateman said: “All good things must come to an end—but I’m glad we’re going out in such style.”
The other exhibition is Made in Bermondsey, by artist Zandra Rhodes, reflecting the unque creativity of the arts hub since 2009, which also runs September 12-28.
The Bermondsey Project has studio space for 140 artists. But the old pickle factory in Willow Walk closes down next March for major housing development.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here