LAURA BODO LAIBER at TEN

The week just gone by at Cultivate then… A week in which the Red Revised  show came to a triumphant end Ten 2 opened, a week in which feathers were (rightly) ruffled – seems some don’t like us artists being smart about our art and questioning their practices.

ZOE CROSSE at TEN

Thursday saw Ten 2 open, ten artists sharing our walls, a particularly good show even if we do say so ourselves.  The second Ten show opened, an enjoyable time was had,  lots of people came along, wine bottles were smashed (didn’t really need that to happen), walls were tagged (really didn’t need that to happen), and then on Sunday, a zeppelin-sized bumble bee arrived and the sun finally properly came out and we enjoyed  a very busy day indeed (been a long hard winter down the street). Sunday was a very good day, the mouths were enjoyed, the latex was enjoyed, Limbo’s style was particularly enjoyed, a rescued piece of Botusk Leer, on a piece of newspaper that was apparently pulled off a wall and then blew down the street, was enjoyed… We enjoyed the thing that was sunny Sunday, upbeat people, curious conversations, positive arguments, healthy debate, painting outside….  Sunday was sunny, Saturday threatened to be…  

Last Saturday started well enough, the morning looked good, the sun was out, we got there early, the gallery was busy in the middle of the day, I enthused on Facebook…

STEVEN RAWLINGS at TEN

“We’re open, Saturday morning, opened early today, wanted to get down here and enjoy the art we currently have on the walls. The Ten:2 show is on, ten artists sharing the space and each others artistic company. The sun is out, the other galleries in the street are slowly waking up – the beauty that is Hada Contemporary, the peaceful White Cube that is Wilkinson, the Mexican drug deal that is the current show at Wayward, the radios in Lime Wharf, galleries, food and more all around

PHILIP FIRZOV at TEN

Yesterday (Friday) I overheard that we should not mix up art like this, and then, later on, that it was inspiring that we did, we had people come in and get all excited (and indeed buy pieces), we had one art school lecturer screw his face up and refuse to follow his students in, we had a lorry driver on his delivery round “I always like to pop in, my mates would take the piss if they knew”, we had an old lady who lives around the corner wanting art to cheer her up after her gas bill had arrived, we had a man wanting a debate about classical formality, another who saw  STEVEN RAWLINGS’ work as looking like an abstract Sweet Toof (I can see that now actually), we had people asking about Alec Monopoly (there’s a slowly deteriorating past up on the building opposite us), we had people picking up SixoneSix art and buying exclamation marks. We’re not allowed to mix things up though, “is this a street art gallery? I can’t work it out” said the man in the white jacket and brown shoes that has seen better days, “I have no interest in any kind of modern art” said  PHILIP FIRSOV, explaining the two large paintings he has on our wall right now. So we’re open today, I’ll be outside painting, come say hello….”

COS AHMET at TEN

And then about an hour later on in to the Saturday that promised so much, the heavy rain arrived and washed out the rest of what had been a rather hopeful day, and left is thinking the second Ten show needed to be extended…

LIMBO at TEN

Really feeling good about this Ten show, it felt good before it was hung, felt like a healthy mix of artists, once it was all up it felt really good. Took some time to find a balance and get the art up in an order that worked. Feels good in the room. LIMBO’s street art to the right. LIMBO at TEN ’s stimulating photography  (and large mirror) to the right, COS AHMET s impressive quartet of  ‘Point of Juncture’ pieces in front, ten artists who probably wouldn’t normally share a set of gallery walls, (or even cross paths?), feels rather good in there, can’t possibly take it all down after just one week, that just wouldn’t feel right….

Last week was a good one at Cultivate then, do come and check out the Ten show, the art and the artists deserve it, you deserve to see it, we’re rather pleased with it… More about the ten TEN artists here

KAVITA SAGAR at TEN

MICOL PIOVOSI ar TEN