Please note this article was originally published while this publication was called Funland.
WHAT? The exhibition for this year’s Made In Arts London collection, the official shop of the University of the Arts London’s student union.
WHERE? TM Lighting, Farringdon
WHEN? 7th September 2023 (but it’s still available to view most of this week)
WHY? Because I curated it (alongside two other icons)!!!
I accidentally became the Happy Gang there. Truly the dregs of 00s kids telly, yet tot me saw them at the Fringe in ‘01. Maybe they’ll be the curatorial focus of my second exhibition…
Back in May, I spent an entire day in front of my computer, surveying the work of forty-or-so anonymous hopefuls from the UAL dream factory (successful products: Steve McQueen, Alexander McQueen, a bunch of other artists and performers who may or may not have the surname McQueen). Halfway, me and Asma Istwani were given the most extravagant lunches from Sketch (I am still drooling over that blackberry marshmallow); but poor Ellie Short was, well, left a bit short.
Twenty got through; ten had spectacular work but couldn’t sell their showstoppers over here because of their visas; ten just weren’t good enough.
Not only did I take my Mum to show the fruits of my (and Asma and Emma)’s labour(s), but I also took my current bosses (Katie and Max from KIND) and former boss (Marianne from Creative Lives in Progress) to mingle and meet. It worked and everyone loved it, yet we all fought over the supposed goodness of Nutella.
As it had been four months, much of the art I selected became forgotten over time, with few exceptions. One such exception was the work of Nikolaos Giannakakis – his gorgeous paintings inspired by gay voyeurism and Fassbinder’s Querelle were unfortunately limited to a single piece. (Not to mention the brouhaha as he currently studies his BA at rival uni Goldsmith’s.)
Another memorable moment was seeing the creations of Kate Shorey, who queers the cyanotype with moss and mushrooms. I made sure that she knew her work was the type of thing to ping my bosses’ radars.
Other standouts include textiles grad Aliza Akbar’s acrylic paint-smear stunners; Omisha Gandhi’s post-Corporate-Memphis detour into the mind; and Oscar Ling-Cottey, whose One Bad Day strip reminded me of those old Love Is… cartoons that somehow ended up at Tube stations 20 years ago. (And, yes, he is that handsome IRL…)
Finally, I have to shout out two artists who prove that you don’t have to be a bright young thing to be, well, a Bright Young Thing. Karen Maley’s Cold Porridge series is a bit “I go to Sleaford Mods concerts” on the surface, but with her wit, to say you’ll see and respect the vision is an understatement. Plus George Dyer’s collages on Black masculinity just hit the spot. There’s hope for the tea-and-biscuits set yet! (I’m two days away from becoming One Of Them. I have to lull myself into a sense of security.)
As of time of publication, you’ve still got five and a half business days to view it and lust (which you WILL) – but please bear in mind that the TM Lighting gallery is about the size of a thumb and being at the launch did feel near-sardine-y. Obviously it won’t be for you, but I’d still tell claustrophobics to brace themselves a little.
Click this link for more on this exhibition. I was between names here, I apologise!
