Show.me.up X Paradise Works @ The Manchester Contemporary, Manchester, UK (12 - 14th Oct 2018)
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​Paradise Works invited Show.me.up to curate its booth at The Manchester Contemporary 2018, selecting from their studio membership. The booth features four artists; Robin Broadley, Richard Hughes, Louise Giovanelli and Cherry Tenneson.
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Robin Broadley, Richard Hughes, Cherry Tenneson, Louise Giovanelli
Cherry Tenneson, Robin Broadley, Richard Hughes
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The Pang, 2018. Richard Hughes
Dead End Desires, 2018. Richard Hughes
Billyo I, 2018 and Billyo II, 2018. Louise Giovanelli
Billyo I, 2018. Louise Giovanelli
Pain in the Arse, 2018. Robin Broadley
Pain in the Arse, 2018. (Detail) Robin Broadley
Out Here on the Mountain Top, 2018. Cherry Tennneson
Untitled (Unknown Meeting), 2018. Cherry Tennneson
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Prop me up, Show.me.up @ Bankley Gallery, Manchester, UK (13th-22nd July 2018)
The exhibition features five artists exploring the narrative and theatrics of making by using performative constructs within staged environments to create a flux between reality and illusion. Props highlight the absurdity of their own structure and commentary with work that physically holds itself up, mimicking and distorting its own sensibility. Within the works teeters fragility and a softness that balances on rigid edges. Throughout the show kinetic elements are echoed by graphic representations of cartoonised motion. There are hints of exaggerated functionality and furniture from the everyday, elevated to administer theatrics and action, evoking presence yet absent of the puppeteer.
​Artists: Nancy Allen, Katrina Cowling, Rose Nicholas, Genevieve Slater and Emily Woolley.
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Rose Nicholas, Genevieve Slater, Emily Wooley, Nancy Allen
Roughcast, 2018. Katrina Cowling
Rose Nicholas, Genevieve Slater
Rose Nicholas
The Pocket Sculputre, 2017. Nancy Allen
Emily Wooley, Genevieve Slater
The Last Words, 2018. Genevieve Slater
Thigh, Configuration 2, 2018. Genevieve Slater
Thigh, configuration 2, 2018 (Detail). Emily Woolley
Thigh, configuration 2, 2018 (Detail). Emily Woolley
Party Hands (Helping Hands), 2018. Genevieve Slater
Nancy Allen, Katrina Cowling, Rose Nicholas
Roughcast, 2018. Katrina Cowling
Katrina Cowling, Nancy Allen
Roughcast, 2018 (Detail). Katrina Cowling
Katrina Cowling, Nancy Allen
Shavings Bag, 2017 (Detail). Nancy Allen
Genevieve Slater, Emily Wooley
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Tipping the Scales, Show.me.up @ Paradise Works, Salford, UK (2nd - 31st March 2018)
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Tipping the scales was the inaugural exhibition presented by Kieran Leach and Precious Innes under the moniker Show.me.up. ​With an emphasis on sculptural work, the exhibition features UK based artists at various stages in their careers. Throughout the show there is a sense of art imitating life, as the artists tackle notions of work, play and societal pressures. From daily routines and ingrained behaviours to social tropes and leisure pursuits, the group show concerns the perfect balancing act we all aim to achieve in life. The use of humour runs throughout, exposing coping mechanisms we use to deal with the uncertainty of an unstable existence. Elements of the works induce a sense of nostalgia, a look back to simpler times perhaps, exemplifying notions of childlike escapism. The show acts a survey of our collective consciousness, and endeavours to physically manifest our attitudes towards matters that sit upon the scales of life.
​Artists: Corey Bartle-Sanderson, Alexander J Croft, Richard Hughes, Precious Innes, Kieran Leach, Sam Porritt, Sara Procter, Gwyn Williams and Alistair Woods.
Alexander J Croft, Alistair Woods, Gwyn Williams, Sam Porritt
Kieran Leach, Alistair Woods, Richard Hughes
Hyslop Office Supplies, 2017. Sara Procter
Richard Hughes, Corey Bartle-Sanderson
The grant or failure to grant such approval or the making of or failure to make such objection or any such inspection of or failure to inspect, 2018. Precious Innes
Muscle Memory, 2018. Sam Porritt
Tech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself, 2018. Kieran Leach
The Slacker, 2018. Richard Hughes
Do You Come Here Often? (Cherry B), 2018. Corey Bartle-Sanderson
A Portrait of Jack Charlton, 2017. Alistair Woods
Homage to the Shelf Stacker pt. 2, 2017. Alexander J Croft
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Paradise Works @ The Manchester Contemporary, Manchester, UK - 27th - 29th October 2017
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To coincide with the launch of the Paradise Works Gallery and Studios, Kieran Leach curated a booth at The Manchester Contemporary comprising solely of Artists based within the Paradise Works studios, which sit on the boarder of Manchester and Salford. Throughout the booth traditional artistic practices such as painting, drawing and cast sculptures are given contemporary twist. Digital influences, tongue in cheek modifications and playful modes of display brings about an intriguing dialogue between the works, united by common colour palette.
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Artists: James Ackerley, William Hughes, Precious Innes, Hilary Jack, Kieran Leach, Jo McGonigal, Robin Megannity, Richard Shields, Cherry Tenneson, Claire Tindale.
William Hughes, Robin Megannity, Hilary Jack, Precious Innes, James Ackerely, Jo McGonigal, Kieran Leach (Left to Right)
Robin Megannity
Precious Innes
Kieran Leach
William Hughes
Jo McGonigal
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Stick or Twist, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK - 2nd - 12th February 2017
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Stick or Twist, the title of the show, is derived from the process of making the exhibition, whereby after making his selection of art works, Leach gave the individual artists the option to ‘stick or twist’ – either exhibit a work chosen by the curator, or swap and include a completely new work. He relinquished all input as curator, avoiding dialogue with the artists, leaving them to disrupt his ‘vision’ – for better or worse.
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Appropriated and manipulated objects accompany bronze casts, alter egos, Jesmonite, and a girl dressed as a frog – Stick or Twist included nine artists from across the UK who each demonstrate a plethora of approaches to contemporary visual art. In places, elements of online, social media and the ‘art world’ cultures are satirised, abstracted or condensed; reflecting the aesthetic impact and pervasive reach of digital and screen-based technology.
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The original selection of works will be installed as intended momentarily in the closed gallery and documented with a 360° camera, before swapping Leach’s selection as the curator, for that of the artists. During the exhibition 360° videos viewable on VR headsets will be installed in situ, presenting the curators original vision alongside the final 'anti-curated' exhibition. Time will tell if this produces some kind of compromise between artist and curator, a means for chance encounters, or a comic rendition of the exhibition making process.
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Artists: Phoebe Baines, Joel Chan, Aaron Clixby, Daisy Forster, Richard Hughes, Kieran Leach, Richie Moment, Rebecca Moss and Jeremy Willett.
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https://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/event/launch-pad-stick-or-twist/
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Jeremy Willett (right) Kieran Leach (left) Image: Annie Feng
Joel Chan and Phoebe Baines Image: Annie Feng
Aaron Clixby
Kieran Leach
Richard Hughes Image: Annie Feng
Daisy Forster Image: Annie Feng
Rebecca Moss