'Nostalgia' in London exhibition by Art Number 23

Haydn Albrow Rebecca Bradley Michael Gatzke Giovanna Iorio Andrea Robinson Nikki Allford Rino Comitangelo Felipe Ferreira Maggie Milner Stephan Claudie Nicula Kuzana Ogg Elsie Phipps Jhonatan Pulido Sophie Zhang

Exhibition Catalogue

Nostalgia

May 2018

V.23 - The Old Biscuit Factory 100 Clements road, Block F, SE16 4DG

...in London

INDEX 1. Rino Comitangelo 2. Sophie Zhang 3. Nikki Allford 4. Andrea Robinson 5. Rebecca Bradley 6. Elsie Phipps 7. Maggy Milner 8. Stephan Claudie Nicula 9. Jhonatan Pulido 10. Kuzana Ogg 11. Michael Gatzke 12. Felipe Ferreira 13. Haydn Albrow 14. Giovanna Iorio

‘Nostalgia’ This is the second part of our traveling exhibition ‘Nostalgia’, that will take place in London.

In this exhibition, artists of various mediums and from different backgrounds are called to depict their remembrance of people, locations, experiences and feelings through their work.

The exhibited artworks, cover subjects that relate to memories and the past, such as childhood and family bonds; experiences in abusing relationships; references to the music scene and the night life in the 90s; the exploration of our identities through our traditions; and more.

Painters, sculptors, printmakers and photographers are expressing some of the private sides of their past, as they reveal their personal stories, and share them through their art.

info@artnumber23.uk / www.artnumber23.uk

rinoarchitect@gmail.com / rinoarchitect.weebly.com

Rino Comitangelo Nostalgia has been described as a sad and painful feeling made of memories, fears and atmosphere which let the essence of each emerge between past and present. The poetic nature of the gesture of the three dark brushstrokes cutting the white pictorial background is obtained by tearing the wood material with thin razor like incision, recessed holes and torn black / white images (papier collè) like the time spent.

‘NOSTALGIA I’ acrylic paint, twine and papier collè on wooden panel cm. 29,5 x 100 h

The word nostalgia is composed of the two words of Greek origin, return and pain (pain of return).

The white painted wooden surface is reminiscent of the old peeling walls, containing a series of punched numbers (the time spent) and the low-resolution image of a wooden boat on a dark background, waiting to start again. The slow change of materials, the citation of old technologies and the use of black / white want to poetically recall this poignant feeling.

‘NOSTALGIA II’ acrylic paint and papier collè on wooden panel cm. 28 x 67,5 h

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www.sophiejwzhang.com / sjzhang1205@hotmail.com

Sophie Zhang

The Melancholy of Departure belongs to a body of work that initially referenced 17th century Chinese ink-and-wash landscape paintings. I was infatuated by the abstract, modernist details of traditional Chinese paintings, in particular the peculiar lines and forms of nature that derived from the artist’s memory and imagination.

This painting was carried out before and after an unfortunate incident. Whereas the first layer was rendered in a bright, hopeful shade of cobalt blue and emerald green, it later became increasingly gloomy and melancholic. The mountainous forms evolved into figures dodging each other in dismay, while mimicking overwhelming skyscrapers.

The Melancholy thus emerged out of strife between oblivion and recollection: for each mark or shape there are traces of lines that cannot surface visibility yet are somehow retained. The forms both stand and float; they expand and contract but always hold a feeling of the absent centre.

“The Melancholy of Departure�, Oil paint on canvas, 2017

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nnikki.allford2@gmail.com

Nikki Allford Mapping the Body was made during a short residency, in response to the Edwardian Cloakroom,Bristol.The work in this space with its atmosphere of melancholic beauty and decay being a connection between the past and the present, the living and the dead. Ideas of Memory and Place are explored.

As a maker and Installation artist , Nikki Allford works with time consuming processes. She frequently works with found or throwaway materials, transforming and manipulating materials with a twist that injects the familiar with new insight and unsettling expectations She investigates the way repetitive actions can result in the formation of a work. Structures are built from the accumulation of lines and tape .The resultant pieces can be read as abstract or as hinting at other qualities- reminiscent of the innards of the body .

Tape rolls are left in place. This simple gesture contextualises the forms so the materiality of the piece- the very products that it is

“ Mapping the Body�, Masking tape, 2017

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andrearobinsonartist.co.uk /andrearobinsonartist@gmail.com

Andrea Robinson Andrea Robinson is a visual artist working with printmaking, text, installation, performance and poetry. Her prints and artist books are held in private and public collections and archives, including Scarborough Museums, Tate Britain and the V&A; her work has been exhibited at venues throughout the UK, and internationally.

She takes family histories, memories and artefacts as a starting point - birds often appear. He guides the sun to the sea and Beach boys are part of Handed-down histories, a series of miniature prints which incorporate maps of the place where her father’s family settled for several generations, found images, hand drawn elements and family photographs - they represent a nostalgia for a time she can no longer ask about, a place she has never seen, people whose names she can no longer learn - so she has made new stories for them, gathered them together and re-spun their tales.

“He guides the sun to the sea�- Handed Down Series Screen print, 2017

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www.rebeccabradleyartist.com / Info@rebeccabradleyartist.com

Rebecca Bradley Rebecca Bradley’s Illegible Frontiers is a series of oil paintings on birch ply wood. They reference railway journeys and the fleeting, momentary glimpses of unfamiliar landscapes afforded by train travel. As viewers, our engagement with these passing vistas is often fragmentary and distant, allowing for a particular kind of contemplation and speculation.

The unfolding, flickering landscape becomes a palimpsest for our inner thoughts and dreams. It is the ephemeral and transient nature of these insulated encounters with the landscape that interests Bradley, particularly in their power to provoke memories and imaginings, and a longing for a connection to place.

‘Postcard-like in format, Bradley’s paintings are miniaturized epics. Vastnesses pulled down to tiny formats, they give us expanses condensed. Hanging like ultra- high-res thumbnails, these Lilliputian landscapes are dense with sensual data, and littler than seems possible.’ (Sarah Hayden, 2017) This body of work is also the subject of a collaborative book, with text by Sarah Hayden.

“Flickering”, Oil on birch ply, 2017

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elsieclarephipps@gmail.com / www.elsiephipps.co.uk

Elsie Phipps These paintings are part of a series which explore feelings before and after the end of a relationship. Building up a personal language of references to the events of this period in a dreamlike progression the paintings interweave a series of moments, observed and recorded, charting a gradual internal shift. ‘Lisbon’ presents a scene in which things merge into one another- the sense of embodying that particular time and place, held, suspended - conveying the ephemeral, fleeting nature of the scene depicted which is based upon an image of a moment in the past.

‘Beachcombing’ captures a glimpse of the everyday, looking for shells and discarded objects during that period of contemplation, emblematic of the impermanence of things and alluding to the ever present and changing effects of time and memory.

“Beachcombing”, Acrylic and water mixable oil on canvas, 2017

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magsmiln@sky.com / mm@maggymilner.com / www.maggymilnercom

Maggy Milner The Utopian view of the house defines an aura of safety and privacy. The house is a place in which we choose to eat, sleep, dream and determines our territory, both as individuals, and in cultural terms.

This empty house was between occupancies, poised between past and present, with the scuffs and stains of previous use. My aim was to place significant objects in various spaces. As in a film or theatre set, these objects could suggest possible narratives or scenarios. The resultant images hang between the artifice of staged still life, installation and the inherent realism of photography.

The potential of human activity is inferred while themes might suggest loneliness, confinement, sorrow, expectancy or playfulness.

In each interior the viewer can discover peaches. In these worn linear spaces their perverse fleshy presence implies the present providing a paradox or even irony.

“Demolition�, Photography, 2013

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www.cezarartstudio.co.uk / stefanclaudiunicula@yahoo.co.uk

Stefan Claudiu Nicula Adam lost in a concrete jungle - inspired from a piece of work of Michelangelo (the Creation of Adam) People are lost in a confusing history, wasting their short lives asking themselves questions like: Who I am ? Where do I come from? Where will i go?

“ADAM LOST IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE�, Sculpture: aluminium wire, wood, copper and concrete, 2017 8

jhonatan.pulido@network.rca.ac.uk / @ jhonatanepulido

Jhonatan Pulido The objects and places speak to us, and if it is the time of war they do it with more noise, they are witnesses of what remains, they represent a before and after, they remind us of the friends who left to come back never again and the emptiness that this brought to us.

Two simple and old chairs that you would find in any small farm in my country. Here the starting point are memories of my childhood in the Colombian countryside, where the armed conflict sowed a seed of terror and uncertainty in the existence of many of us. The fear and pain have diminished their effect, maybe they are gone, but the images are still intact, they are an album that is now part of my identity.

“Witnesses�, Oil on canvas, 2018

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www.KuzanaOgg.com

Kuzana Ogg In these works, abstracted botanical forms flow under, sprout from, dangle decoratively and otherwise mirror their corporeal counterparts. Water is represented both in form and surface. It is indicated by lingering marks, a glassy surface, and glazes of color. It is present in the shape of ripe mangos and in the stems of aquatic plants. The mysteries of plant life echo the workings of the human body. These processes offer a glimpse into the divine.

“Adesar�, Oil on canvas, 2018

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m.gatzke@t-online.de / www.michael-gatzke.de

Michael Gatzke

My series “At an unattainable distance” are based on an attempt to capture the slowness of images, countering the tempo of electronic picture noise. My pictures are missing everything colorful and loud. Ostensibly only little happens, but everything seems possible at any time. There are no really real pictures of landscapes to be seen, but open wide horizons, but they come from the abstraction.

The few people and animals appearing in collage form seem archaic and concentrated. They do not really participate in their activities.

“At an unattainable distance II”, Mixed media on canvas, 2018

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felipe_ferreira@live.com / www.iamfelipeferreira.com

Felipe Ferreira

Felipe’s work is a process of seeking and questioning urban landscapes. He aims to create a reflection of the movement in and of the city.

These two pictures are part of a series “beyond what it seems”, produced from 2013 to 2017, inspired by memories of his hometown Belo Horizonte. Felipe tries to capture the strange beauty of the city, looking for fragments in this movement, the time who had passed through the lenses.

The result is an overlap of subjects, which he believes is a kind of visual poetry and creates a sort of nostalgia about the place. This was his last work produced in Brazil before moving into the UK, so it’s considered something really personal, a kind of ‘farewell letter’.

As a voyeur of the city, he always wants to look beyond what it seems.

“DRAMA CITY”, Double exposure/Long exposure/Experimental Photography, 2013

“Untitled 1”, Double exposure/Long exposure/Experimental Photography, 2013

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hralbrow@gmail.com / www.haydnalbrow.co.uk

Haydn Albrow ‘All That We Cannot Imagine’ is a series of works created during a 4 week residency as part of The London Summer Intensive. The series explores the tangibility of memory, consciousness and time as well as our experiences of the world; how they determine the ways in which we are capable of thinking.

The series started as an investigation of how my own personal experiences are translated into memories and how I often memorise and even start to romanticise the more mundane experiences of day to day life.

The pieces act as monuments to our everyday memories; the ones that we often overlook or perceive to be insignificant. Instead the works act as a celebration towards the infinite memories that are constantly being created, as well as beginning to explore a correlation in these narratives of collective mundane memories.

“All that we can not imagine”, Plaster, photography wax and cellophane , 2016/17

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www.facebook.com/Installazioninelbosco / giovannaiorio96@gmail.com

Giovanna Iorio This photographic series aims at questioning objective and subjective photography, questioning truth and evidence through a series of constructed self portraits evoking an unknown identity in a real decaying private space.

In this series the photograph is used for a subjective desire to reconstruct memory of an ancestor in her real past, private space. It also relates to the personal nostalgia of the photographer, for the memories experienced in this decaying space.

This project therefore include elements which may seem more real than others, question evidence and objectivity in photography, also offering different subjective interpretations.

“fRAMes�, Video, 2017

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Nostalgia Art Exhibition

V.23 - 100 Clements road, Block F, SE16 4DG