Last day of October, we’re pleased enough with how the month has gone, as artists first and curators second, we’re kind of happy with our online activity and the Cultivate situation right now. We do say somewhere on this website that Cultivate is mostly about physical shows but the reality is that the hit we took at the start of Lockdown combined with the lack of affordable physical space here in gentrified coffee-bound East London, means we are mostly focussed on on-line shows now and really, we’re kind of liking it like that. We’re liking the space it give us to focus on our own art, to get involved in other non-Cultivate things, we’re liking the way the on-line shows get us out beyond the London art bubble and that new networks are forming, were content with it all for now.  Two shows in October, the latest Three x Three exhibition and our most recent online group show Mixtape No.1 have gone well, Mixtape, in the first couple of weeks of being open, has once again been viewed over 20,000 times by people from all over the globe, response once again has been very positive and as always the online shows will just stay open so the viewing numbers will keep on going up.

We like the idea of a Mixtape, it works online, of course we’d never mix things up in such a cavalier manner in a physical space,  the walls would be at war with each other! The conversations paintings have with each other in physical group shows have to be the right ones, the 40 artists and the 200 or so pieces of art that work in well in terms of the online show and the simple slide format, if same artists and the same pieces of art were to be hung in a physical gallery the results would be a disaster of a dog’s dinner, we know that! There is an art to putting together a group show, there is an art to compiling a diverse mixtape, these shows are very considered, we are very picky, a lot of care is taken, a lot of attention is paid in terms of what we choose to show and the order in which we show it, the way we “hang” it.

And so we are working on more online shows, we do plan to make more mixtapes, we do intend there to be more Three x Three shows, indeed Mixtape Number Two is well underway, as is Three x Three (part Seven). and we, as artists are busy painting and working on our own art rather then being stuck for days on end invigilating or dealing with gallery administration – there are lots of things we miss in terms of physical shows and running spaces but there are as many we don’t miss.  What we do enjoy is going through all the submission that do come in in terms of open calls, I have no idea why galleries and curators complain about that bit, indeed why they charge?! And I certainly have no idea why any artist would be fool enough to pay to take part in an online open call process? bring on the submissions, the only time it gets annoying is when artists don’t follow the simple instructions and don’t have their acts together, and of course having to say no is never enjoyable but then we do have to be very picky for the good of the shows and the artists taking part.  

Deadline for submissions to Mixtape No.2 is end of day Sunday 6th November, the show will open on Tuesday November 15th 2022, open call details here

So yes, beside the very sad loss of Peter A. Leigh, one of our regular artists, October has been a good month and now we’re thinking about the November shows and the fact that there’s only a week until the Mixtape No.2 open call closes, that and who the other two artists in the next Three x Three show will be?