Six New Artworks Commissioned from Emerging Graduate Artists
Hotel Elephant Small Commissioning Program
Private View: Thursday 30th March, 6pm - 9pm
Open: Monday - Sunday 10am - 6pm
Events: 6th, 13th & 20th April, 7pm onwards
Free entry
Please RSVP to Private View
Hotel Elephant is pleased to announce the winners of our first Small Commissioning Program. This program has commissioned six new pieces of work to be made by recent graduate artists; Anthi Kougia, Mafalda Jacinto, Jules Varnedoe, Karolina Magnusson, Leon Platt, Tanya Fryer, Tim Alexander and Valerie Savchits. These new works will be exhibited at Hotel Elephant’s Spare Street gallery and public space between 30th March and 20th April 2017.
Hotel Elephant’s Small Commissioning Program has been funded through Southwark Council’s Arts Grants scheme and forms part of Hotel Elephant’s wider Creative Enterprise Program. The Small Commissioning Program was open to artists who have graduated in last three years and the successful applicants will receive £500 towards creating the new work, along with an exhibition at Hotel Elephant.
Emily Woodhouse, Director and Curator at Hotel Elephant said “We are delighted with the response to our first small commissioning program for recent graduates. We received over 40 applications spanning a vast selection of practices, all were of a very high standard! This really underline for us that not only is there a wealth of talent graduating from Universities each year, but that opportunities such as this play a vital role in helping to establish artist careers”
The exhibition will showcase a vast array of works featuring textile, video, sculpture, neon, abstract painting, performative and participatory events:
Anthi Kougia and Mafalda Miranda Jacinto will produce a performative event: TRAGEDY on the evening of the 6th April. Playing with the idea of being storage containers by setting an unexpected and absurd environment - not really knowing if it is theatre or if it is magic. They would say: always both!
Jules Varnedoe has a research – based practice and will be creating a video installation and accompanying event on the 13th April. Using computer - game creation software, he draws connections between cross generational objects found in the worlds longest archaeological site (the Thames riverbed) and fossilised organisms along the Jurassic coast, Dorset.
Karolina Magnusson and Leon Platt’s process is socially engaged, bordering on democratic. On the 20th April, Karolina and Leon will produce a site-specific screening event, 'A work in progress with the title "Where does the art lie?" which considers the historical and conceptual significance of the Café/Salon environment. Their aim is that participants in the work will be listed as collaborators and receive a version of the final work to own.
Tanya Fryer is a topographical painter and textile artist. She will be translating her yearlong study of the Thames, as seen from Southbank onto fabric, using screen print and hand embroidery.
City dweller and artist Tim Alexander tries to make sense of the complex relationship we have with our built urban environment. His piece: Beyond the White Noise, is a site-specific piece taking the Draper estate as his source of inquiry. The Draper estate was the first to be built in the Elephant & Castle area as part of the post war regeneration programme of the late 1950’s – the same area which, in 2017 is undergoing another huge regeneration program.
Born to a Russian-speaking family near the Baltic Sea in Latvia, Valerie Savchits uses a wide array of materials and techniques - from oil paintings and graffiti to neon installations and spray painted sculptures. Her work explores ideas of identity and reversed aesthetics as well as issues and struggles of a post-soviet generation.
The exhibition and accompanying events are free to attend, but booking may be required for some events. Please visit our website for more details.