USUAL BUSINESS, a contemporary gallery on Camden Road, London, opens this week. The project, founded and curated by Miles Tuddenham, gallery manager of GALLERY46 Whitechapel and BA Fine Art student of Central Saint Martins, aims to provide spaces, opportunities, support and representation to under-represented and emerging artists. The aim is to adopt contemporary strategies in order to engage with audiences, express work, promote sales, and develop the disciplines of practising artists involved. The space shall additionally be the host of a prospective monthly sculptural class for young people in the local area, currently in the process of organisation, allowing youth to learn, create, and reflect through the production of works from found materials.
The debut show ‘A PERPETUAL STEW’, opening with a private view on Thursday 2nd December, 6-9pm, will host works by Boys Don’t Cry collective member Harry Hugo Little and Wimbledon College of Art graduate Sam Nicholson – two young and promising artists with a focus on painting as a general medium, delving into heavy emotional issues, substance abuse, loss and trauma.
In the case of a medieval perpetual stew, the pot is never or rarely emptied entirely, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary, using whatever one can find. As described by the late historian Reay Tannahill; “The cauldron was rarely emptied out except in preparation for the meatless weeks of Lent, so that while a hare, hen or pigeon would give it a fine, meaty flavour, the taste of salted pork or cabbage would linger for days, even weeks”. Wattana Panich, a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, has continued to maintain the broth from the same perpetual stew for over 47 years, as of 2021.
With the modern concept of ‘emotional baggage’ being at the very core of mental health issues and emotional stress, the perpetuation of past issues seems to be an ever-occurring problem, and one that tends to develop through repetitive negative situations. And so, consequently, the ‘emotional’ perpetual stew is produced. A cauldron of problematic memories being forever churned by a world of consistent issues. As traumatic ingredients deplete, further ingredients will always be ready.
Spawned in London during the summer of ‘95, Harry Hugo Little has meandered through the past twenty six years fabricating sorrowful and despondent works wholly imbued with his pitiful outlook. Following the tragic and untimely passing of his dear younger brother Julius in 2019, Little was compelled to descend on his staggering waltz to dystopia. His work defies the constringencies of normality using a ham-fisted smorgasbord of techniques whilst maintaining a constant of visceral apprehension. Little states that no matter the artist’s defence, paintings never want to be silent. Upon observation, his certainly scream.
“My work as a painter starts first and foremost as a written practice, a personal mythology curated from a panoply of stories deriving from conversations with friends and an active engagement with my own dream-space.
Sam Nicholson
Short stories, poems and nonsense literature, such as ‘consuming one’s spine’, help form a powerful image to
transfer onto canvas. The often large scale oil paintings act to me as illustrations and manifestations of a surreal
world I wish to create, that harbours the confusions and humours of this world, such as suffering, sexuality and
the fragility of our everyday. “
‘A PERPETUAL STEW’ 2nd – 8th December 2021 USUAL BUSINESS Floor -1, 63 Camden Road London, NW1 9EU Private View, Thursday 2nd 2-9pm usualbusiness.co
USUAL BUSINESS to present a programme of regular showings by emerging and under-represented artists within and around London.
