WAITING for a Julia Maddison re-up

RE-UP Day 4: Sunday November 3rd – we were half way through the eight day show when the paint started to take hold, just past Barstow (or was it Bethnal Green?). The bats were in the street and, well, every now and then, when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous art and then drive like a buzzard down the middle of the street. Is the fear and frothing nearly over here in east two?

We promised we’d blog about the Re-Up every day, or at least I think I did, never promised I’d keep my promises though and we are rather busy keeping it all fueled, it really does take every moment of everyday.

AGATA CORDOSA at Cultivate earlier this year..

Do you want this space? Is this just fuel for the fire: A re-up? Burn down? Shut off? Fear and frothing down Vyner Street. Day four in the Cultivate house, Sunday bloody Sunday, what went down today then? Sunny start, we opened early, we open early if the sun is out, thankfully the taxi mechanics aren’t burning old tires today, they were yesterday, led to a bit of a confrontation. Today we had blue skies and people eagerly wanting their Sunday morning art re-up – a bit of Vyner Street art, a bit of Columbia Road flower Market. First in today was a Latvian art collector, he told me he lives in Latvia, he drops in every couple of months, always full of enthusiastic chat about the art and artists, occasionally buys a piece, grabbed a couple of artist business cards and a copy of the latest issue of East End Review this time – we like what we’ve seen of East End Review so far, healthy pile of issue two in the gallery right now should you feel like picking up a free copy, most of the art media we encounter disappoints us, this seems like the start of something hopeful. So enthusiastic Latvian art collector man was passed on his way out by a woman politely asking if she could bring in her young daughter to experience her first gallery – of course she could. Next came a man with a dog, dogs like coming in, must be full of exciting smells, the smell or art through our open door….

the other re-up down the street…

Day four of eight then, the re-up goes on – splutters on, surges on, well me, Arthur G and uncle Montana are getting on with it – our Cultivate e.mail in-box is not bursting with exciting artists making me wanting to replace my art with theirs yet, I’ve seen enough of my art in here, the dog from the last paragraph seemed appreciative though. The dog was followed by a guy called Jimmy, a street artist from Melbourne, who wanted to talk about painting on trains and was excited to be in “the famous Vyner Street” for the first time, sent him off to the Derek Jarman exhibition after a friendly conversation about the Re-up show and the underground street art networks – just giving you a flavour of the way a day a cultivate rolls, interesting people and stimulating conversations all day.

A woman with a portfolio (and a bit of a disapproving screwed up nose) disputing the beauty of Tim Goffe’s atmospheric paintings with a guy (with a roll of bubblewrap under his arm) who thinks they’re “rather special”. A girl in impressive red and gold shoes, a couple debating the art rather loudly in German, a man who comes in and asks what today’s theme in, someone who says he’s driven in from Dartford to buy a SixOneSix piece he says he saw in the gallery “a few weeks ago” – things chance quickly in here, the shows and the art on the walls need to constantly change. A passing bus driver, an art student who needs to prove she’s been visiting galleries, a woman who has come specially to see Gareth Morgan’s work. A man who wants the taxi seat, “is it really just £20?” “the price is whatever you want to pay, as long as you collect it, once a piece is finished it needs to go”.

everything must go

Julia Maddison came in late in the afternoon with a piece or two of her wordsmithery that she had contacted us about the evening before, always delighted to have Julia’s work in the space, Julia was our e-up artist on day four of the spontaneous experiment. Meanwhile a few pieces of old vinyl were painted and, well, what will day five of the Re-Up bring us? You’d think artists would want a slice of the forthcoming Thursday night action, might be the last time you get a chance, this space won’t be here forever, might not be here next week unless….

What Julia Made…

TIM GOFFE’s debated beauty

Two at Cultivate – squalor is alive if you want it to be

,…you’d think artists would want a slice of the forthcoming Thursday night action, might be the last time you get a chance, this space won’t be here forever, might not be here next week unless you really really want it to be, unless YOU re-up us…

“Well you’ve given as good as anyone could have – be proud – will try and get down to you tomorrow” said an artist last week, he never made it (again) though. it takes more that hitting the “like” option on Facebook to keep an artist-run space alive.

Today’s Re-Up tune

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