"REJECTED" - An exhibition at A-side B-side Gallery

I'll be showing a piece at the A-side B-side Gallery in London on Thursday May 3rd for a show called 'REJECTED'. A great show exploring art and rejection. (Read the press release below)

I'll be exhibiting alongside Darren MacPherson, Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton with whom I've been privileged to have shown work with before in Los Angeles, Orange County and at Debut contemporary Gallery, London and at The Fabelist's Imprint Exhibition earlier this year.

The piece I'll be showing is a collaboration with digital artist Jonathan Ramirez that I did last year, one of five pieces we worked on. Jonathan will be having his first major solo show in Texas on the 18th May called 'Mayan Prophecy', where we have collaborated on a further two original pieces of artwork including a collaboration with Swedish artist Larsa Bondén which will be shown at WAAS Gallery.
  

 PRESS RELEASE:

A-side B-side Gallery presents: Rejected

Private View: Thursday May 3^rd 6-9pm

5-9 Amhurst Terrace

Hackney

LONDON E8 2BT

Artists frequently get rejections from shows and competitions; rejection is part of what being an artist is all about. 

Often an exhibition will have a curatorial concept and the work just simply doesn’t fit the theme, in competitions the judges are subjective and essentially select what they like.  Current trends in the art world might make the work more or less desirable not forgetting the provenance of the artist themselves...

‘Rejected’ seeks to celebrate rejection, through a united force of artists getting together to valiantly display their previously rebuffed work.  The exhibition aims to dispose the issue of whether each individual piece is indeed lesser than that of its contemporaries.  Following an open call, every single proposal to the Rejected exhibition was accepted.  Alongside their rejected artwork, each artist will openly display a list of previous rejections from galleries, competitions and art schools. 

Exhibiting artists:

Alexander Heaton | Amber Sinclair-Ray | Ana Schefer | Banu Colak | Barrie J Davies | Carlos Burgos | Caroline Money | Caroline Tobyn | Catherine Magnani | Claire Atkinson Cos Ahmet | Darren Beatty | Darren Macpherson | Dave Anderson | Enver Gursev Francesca Alaimo | Georgie Grace | Gulzor Sultanova | Hitomi Kammai | Holly Revell Ingrid Berthon-Moine | John Bingham | Kelda Hole | Laura Harvey | Linda Schliebitz Lucas Lobo | Marcus Downe | Marianne Shorten | Melanie Ahmed | Melanie Ward Nadeem Chughtai | Nickova Behling | Oliver Lassalle | Paul Matosic | Peter Cabocky Rabia Aqeel | Simon Kennedy | Tinsel Edwards | Twinkle Troughton

Following the hugely successful launch, a Dazed & Confused feature and live radio interview, A-side B-side presents the first of a series of curated shows from its 2012 exhibition programme.  

SHOW DATES:

Private View: 6 - 9pm 3^rd May

Exhibition will run for two weeks, last day Sunday 13^th May

Opening times: Thurs – Sun 12 – 6pm & by appointment

www.facebook.com/AsideBsideGallery

@Aside_Bside_

For further info or images contact: asidebsidegallery@hotmail.com +447792126195 & +44787634029

Artist of the Month: Darren MacPherson

April is here and spring is in the air, the weather is getting warmer and summer is just around the corner. To get us in the mood I want to share with you the colourful, vibrant, powerful and energetic work and mindset of this months artist of the month, London based artist Darren MacPherson.

Self Portrait - oil pastel on canvas 12" x 9"

"My aim is to communicate energy, passion and desire." 

Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

I've always painted and drawn, although I never went to art school, its just always been a part of my life. I had my first child at 24 and painting took a back seat for the next 10 years, returning with sporadic notoriety on occasion. In 2005, after a trip to New York, it just sort of clicked in my mind and I thought, now or never. So I started to seriously paint, about 3 years ago I decided I wanted to paint for a living which is what I’ve been doing for the last 18 months or so.

How would you describe your work?

Fundamentally its neo-expressionism. Colour plays a huge role in my painting. I have a strong interest in people and the human condition, so my work can be described as figurative, but there’s often more going on than a viewer may first notice. I often use text and layer upon layer of paint. My aim is to communicate energy, passion and desire.

What does being creative mean to you?

Exploring parts of ourselves that have been forgotten or have been latent. We are creative by nature, society drives it out of us. I like to experiment creatively, pushing my own boundaries and those of the materials I’m using. I’m a painter, but what does that mean? Should I be confined to paint in a conformist way? I’m kind of into anti-art in the way that painters in 1980’s New York were.

What inspires or motivates you?

I’m heavily into dereliction, for example the layers of years of posters or graffiti on a wall; old peeling paint and so on. I find it a challenge to replicate this decay in a modern, contemporary way that is manipulated in a studio environment. I can be quite brutal with my work in order to try and make it as authentic as possible. I also seek inspiration from artists both well known and not so well known, it’s about tapping into that vein of creativity that lead an artist to create what they did and trying to learn from it.

What music are you listening to at the moment?

Right now I’m listening a lot to Outkast. They really fit their name as an outfit. They have a fantastic formula for creating original, off the wall tracks whilst maintaining a mainstream appeal. If it’s not Outkast then a whole range of music does it for me from Reggaeton to Moby, Pearl Jam to Tinie Tempah; gotta be loud though.

See more of Darren's work by visiting his website: www.darrenmacphersonart.com
Follow him on Facebook.

Indian Yakuza 100cm x 100cm

Six Yakuza #2 100cm x 100cm

The Lyricist 100cm x 100cm

£6001 and it all dissapears 100cm x 100cm