Review of latest show

Here is the review of our opening night at Lotolie Family Hairdressers, as part of the E17 Art Trail:

"The Nomad collective is a group of artists that wander from venue to venue setting up exhibitions and inviting guest artists to join them. This time on the trail they have set up shop in the charming family hairdressers on Orford road: Lotolie. Geoff Gunby, Judy Clarkson, Penny Dampier and Andrew Pegram are the core artists that wander without a set gallery home, and all have work on display but also joining them in Lotolie's is the writer and printmaker Fiona McKieth.

Andrew Pegram's prints of shop fronts and windows give a pop-art glamour to some of the structure of East End buildings. He captures them in glamorous dirt or in clean cut illustrations. These visualizations of East London Landscape fall well with Fiona's lino prints of the changing landscapes in Brick Lane.

This theme of external landscape is flipped with Penny Dampier's three part exhibition. She has the photographs 'Endless Corridor' and 'Traces' displayed which capture impressionistic and dreamlike images of domestic life inside and out. These culminate in the final section which is down the stairs and in the basement entitled 'Fragments'. There is a sofa set up with photographs being projected on the wall in front of you in a soft dim light. It creates a cosy domestic setting where you observe these stills from life as mother. I was quite mesmorised by the whole thing. 

The final artist in the show, Geoff Gunby's work is really interesting. He has 3 completely different types of paintings up. A rich charcoal landscape of the Hebrides as well as more figurative and minimalist landscapes. Both capture a complexity of light in different ways. However the piece I was most fascinated by was Geoff Gunby's large print 'Frankenstein Repeated'. He made this during his time as artist in residence in an art therapy institution, where individuals would come to express their problems and fears through art. It was a moving experience for him, and resulted in the 'Frankenstein' self portrait. The repetition of it in the print however lessens it's personal attachment, making it a group of nameless patients all with the same problem - having a problem." (Hassan Vawda, in www.e17arttrail.blogspot.com ) 

Nomad at Lotolie is no. 131 in the Guide.

The show is still on for the rest of the Art Trail, open every day except Mons, until Sunday Sept 16th. My work is also in Ye Olde Rose & Crown, listing no. 58, open every day. www.e17arttrail.co.uk

The E17 Art Trail also got a mention in Time Out this week!