MUNICH
My new exhibition opens in Munich next Thursday. Facebook event.
Category Exhibitions
READ MOREMUNICH
EMPIRE AIR
I’ve been invited back to Germany by Positive Propaganda to open a travel agents outside the National Theatre in Munich later this month. 19th – 29th April. I’ve started an Instagram for the project you can follow at @empireair. More details on the project as they arise will be posted on the project page. You can find the Facebook event here.
FINLAND
The Action Man: Battlefield Casualties toys and film (as well as my Thomas the Tank and Blood Soakers toys) are part of an exhibition in Finland at Vantaan taidemuseo Artsi about childhood, war and peace, open now. Thomas the Tank Blood Soakers #ActionMan
NUCLEAR MUSEUM
I was quoted in this article about two of my anti-Trident posters being featured in the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s new permanent exhibition about nuclear weapons. Read it here. “Museums are an important record of the peaks and troughs of human civilisation. I hope this exhibition is housed deep enough to survive the Royal Navy’s plan to destroy civilisation entirely if Britain loses a war.” “Nuclear bombs are suicide bombs – it is impossible to use these weapons without also killing ourselves. They are an expression of a genocidal and suicidal, not to mention very expensive, form of national insanity.” Here’s the two posters that are in the collection:
UPCOMING SHOWS
Got a few imminent group shows coming up! This Thursday in West London: Brexmas @ The Crows Nest Gallery. This Saturday in Bruton: Shangrilart @ Bruton Art Factory. Next Friday in Newington Green, London: Tomorrow’s World @ Atom Gallery.
LONDON EXHIBITION
Photos from my solo exhibition at my gallery/studio WAR in south east London. Thanks to Tom Straughan for his very generous assistance installing the show. No way I’d have been able to display the Shell ‘Emissions Reduction Technology’ installation without his help. The show ends Sunday 3rd Dec, open every day 11am-7pm. If you’re interested in buying any of the work in the show, you can contact me here.
SHANGRILART @ THE OTHER ART FAIR
Last weekend I hammered a lot of my work onto the walls of The Other Art Fair as part of the ShangriART area, (a new outsider-art print off-shoot of Shangrila, Glastonbury). Enormous thanks to Justin Carroll and Hannah Logic for helping so much with the set up and tear down, and thanks too to ShangriART crew and The Other Art Fair for getting me involved. I was also able to finish a sculpture I’d been working on for the last month or so, Golf Cart One. I’ll have some better photos of it up soon, once I finish adding a few more details. More photos after the jump.
THE WORLD TRANSFORMED 2017
I made this installation for The World Transformed 2017, a politics and arts festival/conference held by Momentum and related groups at the same time as the Labour party conference. This year it is in Brighton and ends on Tuesday. More photos after the jump! After finishing the installation I ran into this guy in the street. I also had some of my other anti-Tory election work on display at Fabrica. This one I drew while on the Positive Propaganda artist residency. All these are still available to download from toriesout.co.uk
ART THE ARMS FAIR
I’ve new work in The Opening Night of Art the Arms Fair group show on Monday. Cassetteboy is playing too. Tickets are available from artthearmsfair.com or the event page above. All proceeds go to Campaign Against Arms Trade . This Thomas the Tank sculpture will be on sale as well as a bunch of prints, comics & postcards to raise enough money to really #stopDSEI next time. We’ve also just heard that some stands setting up at the DSEI arms fair are up to 4 days behind schedule thanks to the actions of everyone who have been helping Stop The Arms Fair. Anyone who has put on any kind of exhibition before knows that being even one day behind schedule is a nightmare. I’m so happy.
SHELL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS ROADSHOW
Shell’s Climate Solutions Roadshow at Glastonbury, showcasing all the ways oil & gas companies can save the world from oil & companies. Using the past to #burnthefuture. Click here for photos/video of inside.
GLASTONBURY 2017
Very happy to say I’m doing a new installation at Glastonbury this year. I finally cracked and built a corporate showroom for Shell oil. If you’re going, come down to Shangri-La and have a look.
THE OTHER ART FAIR
Had a great time at The Other Art Fair last week. Massive thanks to the organisers for getting me involved, especially Sophie, Gina, Ryan and Jessica and for the life-saving and ridiculously generous help from Justin Carroll, Alison Johnson and Hannah Logic, and also hello to all the amazing people I met (including the brilliant Pandemonia, see below) and all the advertisers I tried to convince to quit their jobs. #PocketMoneyLoans
LONDON
I’m bringing Pocket Money Loans to The Other Art Fair this month. #PocketMoneyLoans
HIDDEN CIVIL WAR – NEWCASTLE
I’m going to be bringing Pocket Money Loans to Newcastle on the 14th/15th of October as part of The Newbridge Project’s Hidden Civil War arts festival. #PocketMoneyLoans
LIVERPOOL EXHIBITION – THE WORLD TRANSFORMED 24/09/16
I’m going to be exhibiting work at The World Transformed festival organised by Momentum and taking place in Liverpool during the Labour Party conference. #TWT2016 – Four Days of Politics, Art, Music & Culture. “#TWT2016 is about practising the new politics. We believe in a positive, future oriented approach to changing society. We believe in amplifying unheard, grassroots voices. We believe in broadening the definition of politics to include art, music and spoken word. We believe that politics isabout more than just PMQs and Westminster.” – Facebook event
POCKET MONEY LOANS @ GLASTONBURY
Many thanks to everyone who came to the Pocket Money Loans store at Shangri-La, Glastonbury 2016. Also massive thanks to everyone on the Shangri-La crew, especially Simon Vaughan, Kaye Dunnings, Moses, Willy, and the utterly brilliant Spider. Met some absolutely superb human beings and had an impossibly great time amid the mud and the misery. And of course gigantic super-thanks to everyone on the Pocket Money Loans staff who saved my life and my sanity on several occasions, David Jones, Hannah Logic and Justin Carroll. Smashed it. MORE PHOTOS
SAFARI FESTIVAL
I’ll be doing a stall of my wares at Breakdown Press‘s excellent Safari Festival in east London later this month.
ROSKILDE FESTIVAL, DENMARK
Just two days after Glastonbury, Pocket Money Loans opened a new store at Roskilde Festival, Denmark, which has also unfortunately just had to close due to lack of child-customers interested in mindlessly expensive financial products. That said, it was a fantastic festival in a brilliant country. I can’t tell if I’m more tired from work, booze or laughing. Massive thanks to everyone who visited and especially those who helped run the shop and kept me on the verge of sanity especially David Matthew Jones, Gary Barber and Kirstie Fleck off of Is Tropical and her brother Tom Fleck. MORE PHOTOS #PocketMoneyLoans #Exhibitions
GLASTONBURY
I’m going to be taking Pocket Money Loans to Glastonbury this summer, setting up a payday loan shop for kids in Shangri-La. If you’re going to be at the festival be sure to bring any unaccompanied kids along for an unholy baptism into the world of high interest consumer debt.
ROSKILDE 2016
Pocket Money Loans is coming to the legendary Roskilde Festival, Denmark this summer!
EVENTS
Thomas the Tank, work in progress. Follow my Instagram for more half-baked updates of unfinished artwork. I’m going to be giving a short talk at a couple of events this month. Firstly on the 21st April at Rich Mix, London for The Finnish Institute’s evening on culture jamming and anti-advertising art, alongside Jani Leinonen, Sara Kärpänen and Mel Evans. Starts 18.30, with drinks afterwards. https://www.facebook.com/events/584254161736946/ Then on the 28th April I’ll be talking about my work at ‘Subverting the War Machine’ a meeting organised by the people behind last year’s anti-UKIP Cabaret about what we can actively do to resist militarism over the coming months including protesting/preventing the Red Arrows planned fly-by of the London Pride march this summer. Other speakers include Ruth Barnett, activist, author and Holocaust survivor, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Bilal Ahmed journalist and migrant rights activist, and Gareth Hardy. https://www.facebook.com/events/1710626165821086/1716759788541057/
WAR
Last week I opened my studio/gallery/shop in Lewisham, south east London: WAR. I was primarily looking for a studio space and ended up finding this shop front, an old barbershop with a big front window in “the worst shopping centre in the country”, and figured I might as well do the front as a gallery and flog my comics while I’m at it. Then I realised I should get some other people who’s work I like so I started calling round and it’s now stocked with STRIKE! Magazine, Breakdown Press, Wobbly Rock and David Peter Kerr, with more to follow. Follow WAR on twitter / facebook
DISMALAND
I’ve revisited my Pocket Money Loans project at Banksy’s Dismaland Bemusement Park in Weston-super-Mare, which opens this weekend. Tickets: dismaland.co.uk UPDATE: PHOTOS
ACTION MAN EXHIBITION
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties exhibition on this weekend for Armed Forces Day, at Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London (Map). Open 12-8pm. Includes the toys themselves, dioramas and a screening of the film. Closes 2nd July. www.battlefieldcasualties.co.uk #ActionMan
ELCAF
I’m going to be doing a stall of my work at this weekend’s ELCAF festival, both days, at The Laundry, Hackney. Tickets available on the website. It’s going to be great.
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES
For the last year I’ve been working with Veterans for Peace UK and the director Price James (Agile Films) on turning my Action Man: Battlefield Casualties toys into full blown toy adverts. The three short films for PTSD Action Man, Paralysed Action Man, and Dead Action Man will be released on the 23rd of June and we’ll be having a launch exhibition and screening at the Red Gallery in east London that night to celebrate. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/922910557747669/ The show will run until the 2nd of July and I’ll be posting more details, photos and trailers in the next few weeks.
SUNDAY
This Sunday the 29th March I’ll be doing a stall of my wares at the DIY Art Market in East London. I’ll also have copies of the new edition of ‘Join the Army’ for sale. More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/689894394463499/
POCKET MONEY LOANS
Today I opened the Pocket Money Loans shop in Finsbury Park I’ve been working on for the last few months or a year or something I’m not sure. I’ll be sat behind the counter giving out child loans for the next two weeks, Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm. It’s at the new Atom Gallery, 77 Stroud Green Road, N4 3EG. There’ll be a closing exhibition evening next Friday the 7th from 6pm. Here’s the facebook event. #PocketMoneyLoans #Children
JOIN THE ARMY EXHIBITION
This Saturday (29th March) from 6pm I’m putting on an exhibition in my soon-to-be-demolished home. You’re more than welcome. It’s simply going to be almost everything I’ve made over the last four years. I’m making hundreds of wine too. Here’s the FB event. But in case you’re allergic to Facebook the address is simply: 1-15 Leswin Place, Flat C, London N16 7NJ. Please feel free to spread the word!
PLAN AND EXECUTION
I spent the last week in Brighton as part of an art residency at CaC Gallery where I made the above rat gallows/cat scratching post and a few other bits and pieces including the below cyanotype blueprints. (No rats were harmed making any of this, they were bought pre-harmed.) Editions of the blueprints can be bought in the shop.
JOIN THE ARMY LAUNCH EXHIBITION
So the good news is I found a printer that wasn’t offended by the comic and it’s currently being made into a real thing right now. This is after it was rejected by another two separate printing companies for the same reason. As for the actual launch I’ve had to put it back to the 24th October but there will be an exhibition showing work from the comic in London, check the Facebook event for details. You can also pre-order the comic here. I’ve been in contact with a few ex-servicemen who have been (surprisingly?) enthusiastic about the book. Joe Glenton, (first British soldier to refuse to return to Afghanistan) and Ben Griffin, (ex-SAS resigned from service in Iraq after witnessing war crimes, and who now runs Veterans for Peace UK), have both expressed their support for the project and have been helping me promote it. It’s reassuring to know that the comic isn’t just a case of me ignorantly heckling from my ivory tower, and it makes sense to people who have actually been in the middle of it. If you have a bit of time I fully recommend you watch Joe being interviewed on BBC’s HardTalk and Ben addressing the Oxford Union as to why he would not fight for Queen & country. Actually brilliant. And there’s now a website for the comic! www.bethemeat.co.uk If you’re interested in that type of thing, I’m also selling army themed mugs over at my online shop. #BeTheMeat #Military
SUNDERLAND EXHIBITION
Here’s some of my work in the Moral Holiday exhibition at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art which finished in January.
EXHIBITION
I have some work in this upcoming group show at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland. I’ll be showing about a dozen prints as well as Baby’s First Baby and the Placebo/Nocebo’s. I’m very excited about this; some of the other artists in the show are big favourites of mine.
