Saturday 4 May 2013

Spectrum - Part of the 17th Annual NTU BA Hons Photography Degree Show Festival


May 20th to May 31st 2013
Private View 30th May
Mondays - Fridays 12-6, Saturdays 11-5
Spectrum is the pinnacle of photographic work from final year NTU Photography students that explores the extensive creativity and various adaptations that surround the medium of photography.
This photography collective of ten showcases some of the finest Nottingham Trent University Third Year Photography Students. These creative minds combine contemporary ideas with a high level of skill, visually stimulating the viewers of their work.
This exhibiton features the work of Sophie Ashman, Phebe Donovan, Simon Dutson, Jacob Firth, Louise Henshaw, Tamara Jijiashvili, Jenna Rouse, Steve Tyler, Sally Wood and Nigel Lawrence


Sunday 7 April 2013

With and Without- Lisa Selby



Private View April 25th 6pm - 9pm
Opening Times:
Tue - Fri 12:00-6:00       Sat 11:00-5:00
April 25th - May 9th 2013
Surface Gallery presents a show by Lisa Selby, the winner of the 2012 International Open Show.

The awareness of inevitable loss is central to Lisa Selby’s material and sculptural approach. With and Without seeks to grasp and eternalize what cannot be held firm: Selby re-articulates items from the domestic environment, relaying the familiarity and alienation experienced as one moves physically and psychologically from one home to another.

Whilst she begins with found objects, her sculptural forms effectively make these anew: imperfect copies are alien from their originals, traces of former existence are erased and their function is redefined. The fragile and impermanent works evoke vulnerable homely spaces: materials are far too delicate or look poised to fall, fragrant domestic liquids evaporate throughout the exhibition, and disappearance, failure and melancholy hang in the air.

This atmosphere, along with questions of originality, contingency and duration, will be amplified through Selby’s invitation for two artists to perform during the opening. João Nôro Caldeira’s work presents a still, confrontational body, whilst Hannah Jones’ live and recorded selves converse in a melodic a cappella dialogue.

Opening night performances
João Nôro Caldeira - Everything Becomes Sunday
João Nôro Caldeira’s body of work is grounded in ideas of loss, longing and hope; where the external expresses the internal. His performances mirror a longing for a distant past and future expectations which may never materialise. Presented within specific time frames, not known by the viewer, Caldeira’s pieces echo an undiscovered belief.
Caldeira is from Lisbon, Portugal. Lives and works in London http://www.cargocollective.com/JWOW
Hannah Jones - Scarborough Fair (play)
Hannah Jones’ work is concerned with the moment of live performance where the performer and audience unite in a contract of time and space. Predominantly static Jones presents herself as a living sculpture (and often, living pun), she allows herself to be observed visually and aurally by audience and camera. The presence and intensity from the perspective of the audience, performer and camera is an ongoing investigation.
Jones is from Doncaster, England. Lives and works in London http://www.foxymoron.co.uk
The three artists graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London after studying on the MFA Fine Art course.
Please join us after the Opening Night at Jam Cafe http://www.jamcafe.info/
for ‘Farmyard Presents’ where there will be female singer songwriter types and dancing till the small hours.

Lisa Selby lives and works in London. She studied at Nottingham Trent University and Goldsmiths, University of London. Selby is a visiting lecturer and exhibits throughout the UK and Internationally.


Monday 25 February 2013

Pert & Simple

Holly James and Anna Salmane

March 13th to March 23rd 2013

{title}“Pert” and “Simple” are two adjectives that James and Salmane most frequently use when discussing art. However, the artists cannot agree whether these terms should be ascribed to the aesthetics of their work, the conceptual aspects of their practice, or their personal beliefs as to what art in general should be; the exhibition visitors are invited to judge for themselves. 

{title} 
Fluorescent Weaving by Holly James

Events
Saturday 16th March, 14:00: Both artists will be leading a tour of their exhibition and will be on hand to discuss their practice and answer any questions you might have about their work.
Entry to the exhibition and talk is free.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

NTU FESTIVAL 2013 The Coming Community: The Community... that never comes


Effy Harle, Beth Kettel and Chris Evitts

February 27th to March 2nd 2013
Surface Gallery presents The Community…that never comes, a durational performance piece generated by Effy Harle, with the collective effort of participants including – among other NTU Fine Art students – Beth Kettel and Chris Evitts.
Their assembly ventures into landscapes of uncertainty without the alluring shiny armoury of visual aesthetics. Deprived of the linguistic arsenal of their cant, both performer and viewer stand unarmed, bare to the void of the elevated gallery space. 
Exploiting the limits of human effort we explore the notion of the Sisyphusian labour in respect to regenerating failed ideas of community. Running faster and faster towards inevitable collapse, progress becomes an illusion of all-time political rhetorics. The act of surrender is a vertigo around this fixed point. 
The minimalistic set up of this theatre of the absurd invites the audience to invent new strategies of viewing; to engage with the presented scenario as an ongoing event that shifts and changes as the exhibition progresses. The space transforms into a site of continuous mental and physical activity, indicating retreat as a natural element of growth.
Private View - Tuesday 26th February 6 - 8pm

NTU FESTIVAL 2013 The Coming Community: Revolve


Wain Marriott and Rebecca Scofield

February 20th to February 23rd 2013
The audience are invited to venture and explore the environment that Wain Marriott and Rebecca Scofield have created. With the audience interaction the exhibition is in a constant state of change and work is discovered and rediscovered from various points across the floor. Perception and interpretation is in a constant revolve.
With a focus on notions of the temporary and of duration materials are played against each other across both practices exploring transitional features of a material.
Both practices are bound together through not only materiality but through an interaction that sits at opposite ends of the scale through their physicality. The precise nature of Wain Marriott’s practice sits against the frivolity of Rebecca Scofield’s. The luminosity of Rebecca’s bounces off the natural palette of Wain’s.
The interacting contrasts result in the creation of a narrative that the audience dictates through their movement and interaction with the work and space.
Private View - Tuesday 19th February 6 - 8pm

NTU FESTIVAL 2013 The Comming Community: Process and Produce: Promotion


Paige Ockendon and Hannah Florence Cresswell

February 13th to February 16th 2013
Surface Gallery presents Process and Produce: Promotion. An exhibition and event collaboratively curated by Paige Ockendon and Hannah Florence Cresswell. An enquiry into commercial production and promotion takes place via a display of immersive video installation and performance. The private view presents the opportunity to see an exclusive event where the work is shifted back into its live format. Such actions will examine the sharing of convictions between artist and audience through performance and participation.
Mutual interest in demonstration and distribution results in both artists combining existing and new works which, in this new context, focus on the production and promotion of products: products that emulate the principles of fashionable ideologies and have been chosen for both their usability and vulgarity. A forceful approach to advertising, executed with a subtle mocking tone creates an atmosphere of humour whilst occasionally revealing glints of a more sinister realisation.
Offer available for a limited time only.
Private View - Tuesday 12th February 6 - 8pm

Friday 4 January 2013

January at Surface Gallery

To view the January edition of our newsletter, please click here: 

Wednesday 2 January 2013


The International Postcard Show 2013
16th January - 2nd February
Private View: 15th January, 6-8pm. All welcome.


Surface Gallery is delighted to present our first exhibition of 2013, the International Postcard Show. This long-running annual exhibition is an integral and highly popular feature of the exhibitions calendar at Surface Gallery, and will feature hundreds of original artworks by established artists, students and newcomers from all over the world. The works will celebrate the sheer diversity of practice to be found in international contemporary art.
Following on from the success of last year, all participating artists will have the opportunity to exchange their postcard with another artist selected at random at the end of the exhibition. We hope that this remote exchange will foster new connections and encourage ongoing communication amongst artists from diverse backgrounds and different parts of the world.
All artworks will be priced at £15 throughout the exhibition, so this is a great opportunity for visitors and aspiring art collectors to snap up an original work of art at an affordable price.