Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts

Wednesday, 22 April 2020

John Isolation art and profile

John's bed
John is one of the newer members of the Gate and has only been coming to the centre for the last couple of years or so. He's a thoughtful, contemplative guy who can often be found in the "chill out" room at The Gate quietly observing the decidedly unchilled chaos around him. The artwork John creates reflects this close observation and often take the form of depictions of objects around him such as the pictures shown here drawn whilst isolating of his bed and his beloved IPad.
John's IPad.

It was John's Ipad which facilitated his Art book Food, a collection of the food photography which we produced with him in 2018. The book is a collection of some of the thousands of images  John has taking over the last few years documenting his eating habits. John literally photographs everything he eats, meticulously and painstakingly arranging every meal or snack and then photographing but only after very careful consideration and often with much rearranging when the shot doesn't suit. The book was produced in an edition of 200 with an introduction by art critic Kari Rittenbach for the ICA's independent book fair which John attended and was a great success; we returned with only a handful of copies and it's probably overdue a reprint.

John's Book at the ICA Small Publishers Fair 2018

In order to access cash and continue working with Gate artists while the gate is closed and they are locked down we have set up a gofundme to purchase materials - please click following link if you would like to contribute -  https://www.gofundme.com/f/54-the-gate-covid19-lockdown-fund


Tuesday, 21 August 2018

JAMAICA Collective - Live @ Horse Festival, Iklectik. 11.08.18



Jamaica, the improvisation collective from the Gate Art Centre, surprised the audience, artists and organisers of the 12th edition of the Horse Trials festival at the Iklectic on 11th August.
The Horse Trials Festival is organised by The Horse Improvised Music Club. It was established in March 2012, when it held a series of gigs at The Horse pub in Waterloo. Since December 2014 then they have had worked in partnership with IKlectik Art lab. The Club places a strong emphasis on programming established performers alongside new musicians.
Jamaica was born two years ago at The Gate Art Centre in Shepherds Bush. The idea was to fit the ever changing people who attended the music sessions in the weekly improvisation session. Alan Courtis was the first established improviser who led a workshop at the Gate in 2017. Then there has been a couple of rare London performances at Chatts Cafe (Bermondsey) and All Hallows Church (Southwark) in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
On this occasion, Jamaica was formed by five musicians: John, guitar; Brian, keyboard; Mary, home made spring box; Jason, homemade one string fretless stick, and Simon vocals. They surprised the audience with their loose and natural well structured improvisation using everyday objects and homemade instruments. The music was a psychedelic journey guiding by the unpredictable minimalistic guitar of John and the amazing harmonies and chords added by Brian on keyboards. Along with Mary and Jason they travelled into the deepest layers of the mind presented in his unique way by Jamaica’s MC Simon.
The club is organised by Adam Bohman and Sue lynch who are musicians on the London Improvised Music Scene, both of them professed at the end of Jamaica’s performance to be very impressed by the group and they want to invite them back again next year.
These are great news for for Jamaica who are making their way to be part of the London experimental music scene in their own right.
For more info: