2026: exhibit like the world’s about to end
PART ONE
It’s been an interesting year, to say the least.
We’ll stick to the art for now.
February saw the second EXI show at The Crypt Gallery in Euston, London. Evelyn Marshall did a great job of pulling together a disparate group of artists and the Private View was packed. The just-completed Return of the King added a different perspective to a cold, brick wall under St Pancras Church while Mask stared out with tear-filled eyes at the hordes of peering strangers. Funny to think it originated in a sketchbook at my parents-in-law’s house in Caen, Normandy one Christmas, years ago, and now here it was in London.
The EXI Private View at the Crypt Gallery before the rush
One day I might just get a new pair of Doc Martens…
March saw Return of the King travelling again, this time to the North Acton campus of Kings University, for the ‘Dreams and Beyond’ exhibition, with a lovely bunch of students who call themselves the Foundry Collective, led by the multi-talented Anka Kozlowska. As well as art, we had poetry, jazz and Spanish guitar performances. Definitely my sort of scene. ‘Return’ was joined by Whoosh!, Sleeping Dragons (War of the Worlds) and Timewyrm.2
The end of March saw us driving up to the northern end of the island to a gallery in Edinburgh. This was Sleeping Dragons (War of the Worlds) second outing for ‘Collective Voices’ by the JustArt group, another international collective, initially founded in Hong Kong by Jenny Lin but now doing all sorts of interesting things north of the border and in London.
Some folk know how to dress for an occasion
Straight after the Private View I drove back, crossing the border and, thanks to my errant SatNav, navigating narrow country roads and hills in the pitch-black night, somewhere between England and Scotland, to my hometown of Whitby where I was to drop off another artwork - Paean to Whitby - at Flowergate Hall the next day. This was for Whitby: the Great Exhibition, which would stretch into May - a celebration of all things Whitby, curated by Flash Company of Art. The artwork, in case you hadn’t guessed was the very appropriately-themed Paean to Whitby.
The annual Gothic Gathering at the tail-end of April, managed by the very able Raychel McGuin - saw me once again in Whitby, downstairs at The Pavilion. The weather was glorious, my co-traders wonderful and it was all over too soon.
Then, before we knew it, it was June and almost half a year had gone.
5 shows in 5 months: for this artist, that’s a fair number of exhibitions.
PART 2 Coming soon. In which I join an artist collective, discover the delightful Candid Gallery in Angel during a blistering June and play folk songs at an pop-up summer exhibition in Peckham, South London.
