DIY LONDON SEEN – An exhibition documenting the work of, and inspired by, the Artists featured in Aaron Rose’s ‘Beautiful Losers’ will take place in the heart of London’s Covent Garden this summer; an area committed to supporting emerging new talent. The exhibition will coincide with the film’s UK release at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and its subsequent DVD release.
DIY LONDON SEEN will include work by Ivory Serra and Cheryl Dunn, who photographed the origins and rise of the Alleged Gallery and its Artists in the US, alongside a group of emerging Artists living and working in London, who are currently creating work with a similar freedom of spirit. Harmony Korine, Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Jo Jackson, Thomas Campbell, Deanna Templeton, Stephen Powers, Chris Johanson, Mike Mills and the late Margaret Kilgallen were part of a seminal artistic movement in 1990’s American suburbia, creating their own artistic subculture and a unique form of ‘outsider’ art that laid a foundation for many young artists working all over the world today. Their doodles and artistic experiments began on the streets of their individual hometowns as a sideline to the skate and drug culture that was part of their teenage years, often in the form of graffiti, signs or tags on trains. Having been brought together by Aaron Rose in his now legendary ‘Alleged Gallery’ in New York, their powerful artworks were soon making their mark not only in the US but across the globe; becoming an inspiration for a new generation of Artists working all over the world today.
Curated by Bakul Patki and Lee Johnson of ‘Watch This Space’, the show ‘DIY London Seen’ brings together twenty young Artists, whose work encapsulates a similar naivety, freedom and energy to that of the original ‘Beautiful Losers’, and a shared willing to create art for art’s sake. Whether they be painters, photographers, illustrators, sculptors or filmmakers, the Artists have in common an inbuilt passion to produce work that is neither defined by the art market, nor any factor other than the desire to express their innate creativity; reflecting the society they inhabit and the emotions they experience, through their preferred artistic medium.
Artists contributing to DIY LONDON SEEN include; Arran Gregory, Aidan O’Neill, Best One, Chrissie Abbott, Clare Shilland, Charlie Woolley, Cheryl Dunn, Gustav Eden, Graham Hudson, Harry Malt, Ivory Serra, Jethro Haynes, Marc Silver, Marcus Oakley, Robin Clare, Sam Ashley and Toby Shuall.
The exhibition forms part of Covent Garden’s Art Tank movement, which provides gallery space in the heart of the West End to diverse forms of art. Recent partners also include the London Miles collective who exhibited the innovative new-to-London LOWBROW movement in the Market Building, as well as RCA graduate Matthew Plummer-Fernandez who displayed his work ‘Ink on Paper’. From the birth of some of the UK’s most prolific design studios in Neal Street in the 1960’s, to hip hop and graffiti events outside the Royal Opera House in the ‘80s, there is a long history of support for emerging artistic talent in the area; in recent years Covent Garden London has supported emerging talent such as from Fashion Fringe and the Design Festival, as well as partnerships with institutions and collectives such as Designer’s Block and Somerset House.
DIY LONDON SEEN hopes to illustrate the growth of the movement inspired by the ‘Beautiful Losers’, which is now a global phenomenon, by showcasing the work of local artists whose work takes the ethos of the Alleged gallery Artists and runs with it.
DIY LONDON SEEN runs from 17th August – 5th September 2009 at 11, The Market Building, Covent Garden, London WC2 8RF
