Réka Ritt Laklia

An Events Programme runs parallel to the exhibition, from life-drawing to experimental monoprinting; the classes are very versatile.

The Private View and Awards Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 (18.00–20.30). If you would like to receive an invitation, please email rsvp@greenandstone.com

From Linden Hall Studio:
“The Winter Group Show is our biggest exhibition of the year, and certainly a highlight of our exhibition programme. Spread across both floors, the exhibition features a variety of works across the entire spectrum of visual art made by established names and emerging talent.”

The lineup is stellar, as always! A list of artists and artworks and more information can be foundå here.

Garden of Pomegranates explores the symbolism of non-dualistic philosophies, mystical practices and other systems of exploration. Pomegranates symbolise the mystical experience in the kabbalah, with the typical reference being entering the "garden of pomegranates”.

'Friends of' ArtCan will be offered a preview catalogue of set works to purchase before the night of and/or be given early entry on the night as a benefit provided to 'Friends of' in the in person exhibition. Any works sold prior to the night will still be displayed on the evening with a red dot to indicate that they have already sold. Details of the 'Friends of' scheme can be found on the Artcan website Friends' page.

The two postcard-paintings I’ve sent for this event are:
Title of work 1: Where Once There Was A Wood
Title of work 2: Once Upon A Time Until It Burnt Down
Medium: Patina and Acrylic on Copper.

The exhibition is organised under the umbrella of ArtCan, a peer network artist organisation established by Kate Enters. ArtCan is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2023, hence the show's theme, Anniversary.

Participating Artists:
Adele Cloony, Alaa Shasheet, Alison Berrett, Am&lie - Hands' Wisdom, Anjali B Purkayastha, Anna Walsh, Ben Snowden, Caroline Banks, Caroline Lowe, Cat Coulter, Cathy Green, Christina Reading, Claire Cansick, Claire Chandler, Corn Shuk Mei Ho, Dawn Thornhill, Debbie Tearle, Desa Philippi, Donna Loiola, Emma Davis, Emma Price, Fran Fell, Gabor Gyorfi, Hannah Pratt,Harinder Sahota, Henrietta MacPhee, Hilary Rosen, Jan Lee Johnson, Jane Spence, Jess de Zilva, Jessica Dunn, Jo Angell, Judith Burrows, Julia Weston, Kate Marsden, Katya Kvasova,Kerry Zacharia, Kira Phoenix K'inan, Liliana Dobbs, Liz Whiteman Smith, Louise Dale Chalmers,Marc Bodie, Marcia Harding, Marie Connery, Maz Weineck, Miranda Lopatkin, Qin Yue, Rebecca Tucker, Réka Ritt Laklia, Rosemary Burn, Sal Jones, Sally McKay, Sandra Camargo, Sarah Pooley, Sarah Rawlins, Stathis Dimitriadis, Susan Clare, Susannah Weiland, Svetlana Atlavina, Sylvia Bahri, Teresa Schippel Hales, THE DnA FACTORY [MRSS], Tracey Elizabeth Downing, Wendy Brooke-Smith, Zuzana Krskova.

I love the painting’s shadow-plays and jewel-like surface, especially when the sun sets and lights up some parts of it. It reminds me on the poem ‘The Journey’ by David Whyte:

“Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out
someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.
You are not leaving.
Even as the light fades quickly now,
you are arriving.”

JUST STOOD THERE - HOW TO TRAIN A PASSIVIST is a photograph of a wall at Peckham Levels, a unique creative hub occupying a multi-story car park in Peckham, London. Nothing in the image or the scene was manipulated or changed. It is, what it was. The essence of the creative act was the subject selection and its re-contextualisation by giving it a title.

I attended the nearby Camberwell Art College in 2012. The Peckham Levels building was a functioning car park back then, with a bar and some pop-up exhibitions on the top floor. I often wandered around this derelict building and found many interesting scenes. There was a unique interplay between the building's signage, walls, signs of decay and the surrounding built environment. I took an image of a large window with a red 'No Smoking' sign next to it, looking onto an endless row of chimneys queuing on top of the residential houses below.

In 2022 I attended a talk arranged by the Nobel Peace Center, titled 'Troll Factories, Lies and Propaganda' presented by photographer Jonas Bendiksen. He travelled to the town of Veles – a North Macedonian epicentre for fake news production. He talked about his project in conversation with Peter Pomerantsev, a journalist and writer specialising in propaganda and media development. At the end of the talk, the presenter asked the two experts what can help us to tell fake news from the truth; their answer was: context. It is all about context.

This revelation brought back to mind the row of chimneys and the 'No Smoking' sign in the multi-story car park in Peckham. The strange composition of this sight included both the subjects of 'context' and 'climate issues'. So ten years later I returned to re-photograph this image. As it happened, the area went through significant gentrification in the meantime, and the car park was converted into an artist studio compound, closed to visitors.

I wandered around the alleyways surrounding the building at street level, pondering in frustration about overpopulation and the disappearance of all the wild places, both natural and urban, when I found a small enclave, a leftover car park, opening onto the street but part of the building. It still had the old, derelict, wild, decaying atmosphere, and a strange accumulation of graffiti and 'fire exit' signs adorned the walls. This photograph has been made of a wall, stained by air pollution, coloured by random graffiti, and decorated with two 'fire exit' signs mounted at the same spot but pointing in opposite directions.

The scene was first confusing. I just stood there, trying to make sense of it. It was right off the street at a place where you normally go in case of fire, not where you were supposed to escape from. It created a sense that I was standing at a dangerous spot, the only dangerous spot, whereas everywhere else was safe while giving me opposing instructions of how I should survive this situation.

The human psyche is a complex instrument. When it feels intense fear, its decision-making processes often shut down. In fact, it is possible to train the brain to shut down in the face of danger if escape routes are repeatedly aborted or opposing instructions are given on how to find them, overwhelming the system. This phenomenon is called ‘learned helplessness’. The brain is the leadership of the body system. It needs to give the person clear and concise instructions on what to do immediately in a life-threatening situation. When the circumstances make this impossible, it is like a short circuit; the system shuts down. The same happens on a large scale within society.

When government propaganda creates opposing information in frightening situations because the leadership is inadequate, members of the community lose trust. Not only in their leaders but generally in the existence of an escape route, even though it does exist. This is how some governments train people into being passive on a mass scale.

Dimensions: 14 x 14 cm
Archival print.

About LEO:
A unique chemical process was applied to the copper base to create random cellular patterns on its surface. Whilst interacting with these patterns of patina, sometimes following them, sometimes altering them with the paint, a rhythm of surrender and control was created. The painting process became a quest to find remedies for fractures that exist on all levels of human experience and, in a symbolic manner, to perform corrections treating the artwork as a voodoo doll.

LEO explores ideas of non-dualistic philosophies from Eastern spiritual practices and other systems of exploration, like astrology. The Lion is the second sign of the fire triplicity and the fifth sign of the tropical zodiac. It is a creative, sociable, dramatic sign that loves to be in the centre. Leo is archetypally the performer and the artist. It invites us to express ourselves, honour our hearts' desires, and allow our inner child to have fun. Every year, the transit of the Sun through the sign of the Lion encourages us to celebrate existence as divine play and live it to the fullest.

About the painting:
It was inspired by visions occurring in altered states of consciousness, including my experience with the Lucia N°03 hypnagogic light machine. This device exerts wide-spectrum solid and flickering light in varying frequency combinations inducing the brain to visualise highly vivid, colourful, and perfectly symmetric mandala formations melting from one into the other, sometimes in three dimensions. The light produced by the machine is not coloured and has no shape, it is experienced with closed eyes through the eyelids, and the images are created by the brain, unique to the experiencer. It is basically a streamlined version of Brion Gysin’s Dreamachine, another version of which was available to try for the public in Woolwich this summer.

My encounter with the Dreamachine in 2017 sparked the idea to make the images I envisioned visible to the eye so they could be shared. My method of painting is accidental and organic; hence I created symmetry by mirroring the image of my paintings digitally. Due to the detailed cellular patterns, this resulted in intricate and mesmerising images, closely imitating my visions during the above-described experience.

The prints are hand-finished with transparent enamel the same way the original painting had been created, covering the entire surface cell-by-cell.

The natural is defined as 'that which exists in or is derived from nature; not made or caused by humankind' and the metaphysical as 'the reality that exists beyond the physical world and our immediate senses.'

This space shares the work of artists who are examining, dissecting and re-imagining these themes that are so pivotal to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Fern and Glade is curated and run by artist and curator Chisara Vidale.

“Painting is one of arts fundamental mediums, explored and enjoyed by thousands across the centuries. Since ancient Greece, painting has been the most dominant art form; used a way to tell stories, record history, present the self, the world, science, literature and politics. All from the hushed silence on a flat stationary surface.

But what happens when painting no longer wants to be silent? When artists want to expand beyond the flat plane, where the focus is no longer on presenting realism but a move towards conceptual ideas and exploration. What happens when we stop and ask: What is a painting?

This exhibition presents the works of 27 artists who are doing just that: taking a more radical approach to painting and pushing the boundaries of what a painting is, how it is made, what it is made with and how it is presented.

Paintings relevance in contemporary society has been questioned many times over the last century with other mediums such as photography, installation art and digital technologies taking the place where painting would once thrive. However in reference to Titmarsh's publication; this exhibition aims to show that as these formal boundaries tumble, something new and exciting can emerge.”

Exhibiting Artists: Alan Begg | Andee Collard | Celia Johnson | Charlie Franklin | Clara Fantoni | Dan Hamer | Deb Covell | Fiona Chambers | Helen K Grant | Jamie Kirk | Jayson Gylen | Laura Jane Scott | Lisa Denyer | Liz Elton | Luke Skiffington | Luke Parry | Mat Birchall | Mike Chevaz-Dawson | Nicola Bolton | Reka Ritt Laklia | Richard Baker | Sam De Freitas | Sam Owen Hull | Sean Penlington Stefanie Zocco | Stephen Carley | Woo Sun Choi

About the work:
I used acrylic paint to create this work unconventionally, handling it as if it were a sculptural material, formed once dried, more 'arranged' than 'painted'. It is part of a series of interpretations of the actions 'burying and excavating' by covering and exposing layers of paint and metal. Establishing a discourse between the tangible material and unconscious mind, I explored how the actions of burying and excavating can be understood, carried out, felt, and perceived, how can they be experienced both in their literal and metaphorical senses, physically and mentally as fragmenting and unifying actions.

www.airgallery.space/archive.

"We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who visited GHT for our Inspirational Women Artists exhibition! This multi-disciplinary exhibition saw over 100 works submitted by artists both here in the UK and internationally, inspired by their favourite female artists and highlighting the legacy of these artists on the creatives of today. We’ve been overwhelmed by all of your wonderful comments, photos and messages of support and love for the exhibition."

"We will also be celebrating the exhibition and artist community involved at our exhibition closing event. Join us tomorrow evening at our flagship venue God’s House Tower as we come together to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022. This is your last chance to see the exhibition and meet some of the artists involved. We will also be revealing the total figure of money raised for Yellow Door through our silent auction and special guest, composer and sound artist Emily Peasgood, will be sharing her experiences as a female artist and discussing her upcoming exhibition at GHT. The event takes place on Tuesday 8th March from 6pm- 10pm."

A 3D tour of the exhibition at God's House Tower arts and heritage space in the heart of Southampton's Old Town can be found here.

What a beautiful venue! I am so happy my drawing has found a new home there and had a chance to support a cause that is close to my heart through Yellow Door UK!

“Our collaborative project, “COPped Out” emerged from our chosen theme of the global climate crisis. It was contextualised through the COP26 conference in November 2021.

The collaboration took the form of ongoing, and continuously developing, conversations developed through a series of supportive online meetings that facilitated knowledge exchange and critique of practice between the five artists in the group: @teresazerafabyrne @sheilmacneill @sarareevedraws @kvduongart and @rekaritt.

The project was informed partly by images and sounds from the COP26 conference, sourced (shared by local artist and team member, Sheila MacNeill). Each artist created a landscape format work (digital or physical) in their own style and perspective. Through this process each artist shared the personal narratives that connected them to the overarching theme. These narratives were expanded through ongoing group reactions and feedback.

Images of the resulting artworks have been assembled into short videos. Each video combines soundscapes recorded during COP26 (e.g. sound of helicopters, music, singing, drumming) along with a short narrative from each artist about the thoughts, motivations and feelings that led their creative processes.

As our theme is vast and touches on the most basic survival instincts of everyone on the planet, the artworks reflect personal and emotional responses. These can be seen as expressions of the various coping mechanisms the artists utilised to find balance between despair over the global climate crisis, and the hope that manifested itself through the supportive aspect of the collaborative process, and the wider, community driven climate justice movement.”

I have four paintings there:
iLand (28x29 cm, acrylic on copper)
Sipan (30x19 cm, acrylic and enamel on copper)
Dance the Journey (30x19 cm, acrylic on copper)
Hundred Moons (30x24 cm, acrylic ink and enamel on copper)

Curated by @hungarianeuropeanartist
Exhibiting artists: Ervin Dávid, Zsuzsa Gyimesi , Krisztina Lőrincz , Réka Ritt Laklia, Norbert Dávid, Tímea Hadar, Loránd Sipos, Eszter Katona, Attila Juhász

Human Gold: Our Universal Human Values is an exhibition of paintings, presented by a group of leading Hungarian artists, exploring universal human values.

What is that connects us all? What makes our thoughts? What is in our actions? What helps us to make our future? And what helps us live together? Love, the pursuit of peace, compassion and humanity, the pursuit of harmony within our narrower and wider community, and the loving deeds that result from it – these are all our important, universal values.

About the project:
In the afterglow of COP26 we are investigating what we are left with after the event, the lingering frustration, maybe some hope, our reactions to what reached us from it and what should have but didn’t, the imprints that images, soundscapes and written accounts left on our consciousness and how they changed our understanding of the world around us.

It was magical to watch how the sheet metal became alive, moving and stretching, turning into organic forms. I hadn’t planned what I was going to make, just got carried away by the beautiful shapes, surfaces and patterns during the process. My arms got so tired that it felt like they would fall off, but it was so much worth it! Fun, magic, miracles and loads of useful information!

Thank you, @hammer.and.tongs, for teaching us and ensuring we make it through in one piece. The location was a treat; Thames Side Studios, by the river, has a lovely well-maintained industrial aesthetic, with a half sank boat in front of it like a giant decaying artwork.

Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 4 pm.
Contact info: info@lindenhallstudio.co.uk
Tel: 01304 360411

The lineup is stellar as always! Exhibiting artists and artworks can be found online here.

Last year the show had to close due to lockdown, so I had to cancel my plans to visit. This year nothing will be able to stop me! I’m just so excited and look forward to a day trip to the South Coast to see this lovely place, exquisite gallery and exceptional collection of artworks!

"This exhibition aims to collect photo, digital and video works that are capable of catching the essence, the traditional part of our society - e.g. agricultural objects that are not in use anymore, practices or celebrations, folkloristic costumes, ethnic museums and collections. In other words, everything reminding us of our roots, of the most genuine side of the society we live in."

Selected artworks can be viewed on the Loosenart website.

MicroActs is a program of short films, 6 minutes or less, exploring concentrated storytelling through moving image. From bold political expression to delicate personal memories to abstract experimental collages; MicroActs aims to create a thought-provoking, informative and diverse evening of film. Expect a diverse range of short films (narrative or non-linear, experimental or scripted, abstract emotions, comedy sketches, music videos, and more), MicroActs showcases works that share politics, intersectional experiences and tell stories. This edition showcases films from Belgium, Canada, China, Iran, Isle of Man, Latvia, Peru, Poland, UK and USA!

Artist/Filmmaker Lineup:
Bei Yu / Beth Walker / Cara Hagan / Charlotte Clermont / Christian Gordine / Clara Thomine / Daryl Grant / Haplo Zeiger / Hing Tsang & Jose Navarro / Imke Reintjens / Janet Lees / Lisa Bell Roden / Marcin Gizycki / Margarita Ieva Loze / Myriam Rey / Reka Ritt Laklia / Sina Mohammadi / Tilly Wallace / Zoe Chronis / Zoe Jones.

Curated by Liberty Antonia Sadler
Assistant: Daragh McCann

Check out microactslondon.com to see our Filmmaker Archive, featuring all of the artists & filmmakers we've showcased in our events.

Sidecar Coffee Bar at Hotel Elephant
5 Spare Street
London, SE17 3EP

6pm Doors
7.30pm Films Begins (Our Short Film Programme will have an interval, approx. 45mins per half)
11pm Sidecar Closes

The exhibition features 150 artists and 200 works, across the entire plethora of contemporary art. Here you can see a snapshot of etching, print, collage, painting and sculpture.

Most of the collection is available to view on the website, if you are unable to visit. If you wish to enquire about a work, please do contact the gallery.

Winter Group Show 2020/21
At Linden Hall Studio
2nd December - 1st January
Online: lindenhallstudio.co.uk/exhibitions.../
Live: 32 St George’s Road, Deal, Kent, CT14 6BA

In 2017 I was fortunate to be invited to this residency and learnt about the “loop-stitched” method. András Gönci, ARAX Kft invented the technology by repurposing some giant old industrial machinery. It uses recycled fabric fibres to create large-sized tapestry. The thin threads can be arranged by the artist similar to using paint on a canvas. Different colours can be blended or layered just the same way. The designs are then locked in place by this giant machinery that can handle a 2-meter wide work with unlimited length. What a fantastic experience, creating these beautiful large-scale tapestries out of 100% recycled material!

Exhibiting artists: Antal Tizedes Aliz, Bíró Anna, Burián Norbert, Huszár Katalin, Keszerice Tünde, Lőrincz V. Gabi, Meganne Farci, Mihály Marietta, Módra Bettina, Monique Francois, Paczona Márta, Pál Judit, Péter Ágnes, Réka Ritt Laklia, Rumi Kobayashi, R. Török Mária, Sebők Alexandra, Szabó Anikó, Szilágyi Erzsébet, Szűcs Blanka, Tamás Klára

A political and environmental platform to help ignite conversations and spread awareness through visual and written poetic responses. Hope you enjoy reading Issue 5 and experiencing the fantastic creative responses to ‘imagining a better future’ reflecting on current news, movements and world happenings.

Curator Polly Bates; works from Joanna Brown, Sarah Strachan, Mario Loprete, Josie Purcell, Eldar Gantz, Marie Ruprecht, Kathy Bruce, Sam Aylwin, Réka Ritt Laklia, Mia Mai, Katie Pope, Fred Fabre, Patrice Sullivan, Audrey Gillespie, Laura De Moxom, Paul Rickard, Thomas Houlihan, Milena Deparis, Emily Hughes, Bob Heath, Jared Schwartz, Vesna Dobričić, Maddalena Ghezzi, Neta Gracewell, Jane Gibson, Amy Jowett, Irene Andreou, Flo Woolley, Teddy De Souza and Kristina Mygul.

It is an online exhibition that supports artists and the families of those healthcare workers who deceased fighting Covid-19.

50 x 50 cm high-quality giclée prints on paper can be bought via this link for £290 with ​free global delivery in a tube. There’s an option to choose a different size and add frame for extra cost on checkout.

From the selling price, the campaign will donate £100 to the families of doctors and nurses who worked on the front line and have died after becoming infected at work, and £100 will be paid to the artist.

You can find the remarkable selection committee here. There will be more artworks added in the future to the website, and the campaign will continue until 31 December 2020.

You can also find the image on @abstractartists_list, Work ID : 19130-214, Artist ID : 19130, Title: Rising up, Original Media: Enamel on copper. If you like the idea, please spread the word about this campaign.

About the image: At the beginning of the pandemic, I noticed my increased need for symmetry. I started to explore how a symmetric image affects the mind and suggests stability and safety, examining visions occurring in altered states of consciousness, including my experience, trying the Lucia N°03 hypnagogic light machine during the 2019 Breaking Convention event. The device exerts wide-spectrum solid and flickering light in varying frequency combinations inducing the brain to see extremely vivid, colourful, and perfectly symmetric mandala formations melting from one into the other, sometimes in three dimensions. The light produced by the machine is not coloured and has no shape. It is experienced with closed eyes through the eyelids. The images are created by the brain and are dynamic, indescribable, non-reproducible and unique to the experiencer. And I so much wanted to share them. Since then, I have been incubating the idea of making these images visible for the eye. My method of painting doesn’t allow the creation of symmetry as it is accidental and organic, so I created the effect by mirroring the image of the 80 x 80 cm middle panel of the triptych Ember Ember Ember (enamel on copper, 2020). The colour is the inverse of the original painting. This is the closest I could get to the Lucia N°03 light machine experience. HOPE you enjoy!

Expired Map of Paradise eatures a fraction of a map of an industrial area in Budapest. This area was very popular during the Cold War as there were many factories and war shelters to provide some sense of safety. It is now deserted. The well refers to a children’s poem from Weöres Sándor, a wonderful allegory of transformation.

Narrow way, big wide way (English) Narrow way, big wide way, between them a well like cave.
When you peek in take good care:
hundred holes and cracks are there.
If you're looking very long
you might find me until dawn.
Small walnut, big walnut, between them a hazelnut.
Here was built a fancy house,
hundred rooms and hundred spires.
If you're walking long enough
you might find me in twelve months.

Translated by Szabados Tamás
(via www.babelmatrix.org)

The painting has originally been a celebration of trans-generational recovery from the trauma of war, a tribute to the transformation that enables forgiveness through remembrance. It seems to me now there is some sort of a second wave when it comes that recovery as if the remembrance wasn’t clear enough. So much about second waves.

What an intense year this is turning out to be! Bringing opportunities of transformation, asking those questions that with the words of David Whyte “can make or unmake a life, questions that have patiently waited for you, questions that have no right to go away…” (Sometimes by David Whyte)

Well, they have been lingering around for long, needed a pandemic to hold a flashlight on them while creating space, away from distractions, to discover them if I dare. Not an easy call, a lot of compassion is needed to oneself and others in moments when it gets super tough.

We were all invited to look at closer to our relationship with ourselves, with others, with nature and with technology, to do the necessary reparations through acknowledgement, anger, courage and honesty. It is still in the distance, but I now have a sense of the light at the end of the tunnel and lots of hope in my backpack to make it through.

As for me, healing majorly comes from art. This year it was time to repair my relationship to technology, particularly VR.

Thanks to the bursary I received from a-n The Artists Information Company and Arts Council England I was finally able to learn creating cinematic VR / 360 video from beginning to end with my equipment. I had the ideas, the equipment, experience in recording and displaying, but I needed to learn post-production, editing and stitching to produce this kind of unique artistic content.

I’ll attempt to lay down my entire journey with VR here: https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/journeys-into-virtual-reality/

There were and are so many unexpected turns, trying challenges and empowering support, it is hard to believe life can create such a meaningful narrative.

A short version of the above VR work from 2016 and its installation views at the Crypt Gallery can be found on this website in the VR & Short Film section. When you look at it, consider, that the film is a VR installation within another, a physical installation. They are parallel and complementary to each other. The swing is used as a vehicle, like a spaceship, to connect the two realities and transport the experiencer from one to the other and back. With this in mind, the snippets on the website might be easier to put in context.

Whereas The Furthest Mirrors and The Furthest Reflections series were focusing on the notion of giving, this one focuses on the notion of taking. Brought together they question the harmony, investigate and weigh the equality of these two notions that manifest within one’s actions on a personal and social level. They are examining greed, the condition which arises when the two notions are out of balance. This is a mental condition created by fear of not being enough, not having enough, not being safe; a loss of trust caused by some sort of past trauma. A person living with this fear needs to integrate the feeling of safety to be able to cure greed.

The line that dissects the surface of the painting follows the map of Pangea to reveal the warm reflection of the copper base that shines like a treasure beneath. The shape of it is similar to an embryo pulsating through the seven panels like a non-linear period of development, getting ready to be born or reborn spontaneously.

Pangea, the single continent can symbolise the analogous unity of all humanity and, by extension, the unified individual. This symbol can inspire the desire to create a unified, global civilisation where each of its members feels connected to all others. Similarly, to mirror that unified quality in the individuals themselves.

The four elements of nature are brought together. The crusted texture of the paint evokes earth. The engraved line is like a river cutting its way through the land, evoking water. The copper below evokes fire. The blue edges that envelope the images evoke air.

Pieces of a broken clock are scattered throughout the landscape; there is only the present moment. It seems to be the right time to recreate the utopian paradigm of Pangea where conflicts need not be resolved because they have not been created. Perhaps this is the right time to realise Earth is a limited resource, but there is plenty for everyone. It is a closed system, one within which an individual’s actions have a ripple effect on the whole of humanity. It is also the right time to realise the Universe is an unlimited resource, but there will never be enough for greed.

Two Separation is a 4 minutes site specific VR film and installation that explores the phenomena of lucid dreaming, the concept of personal space and the concern of existence outside one’s cognitive beliefs.

Ticket holders only. Please book your 10 minutes time slot and arrive in time, otherwise you may have to wait until the next empty slot.

The Furthest Mirrors; I Am, The Furthest Mirrors; Vulnerability, The Furthest Reflections; Peace and The Furthest Reflections; Strength are four paintings that were created to examine a metaphysical concept which can be best illustrated by the infinity mirror; two mirrors turned toward each other creating endless reflections within each other, cast ever further from the centre. If someone stood between these mirrors, their image would be reflected further and further from the person themselves, on into infinity.

The essence of this concept is the idea that each person’s life experience follows the structure of such mirrors: the individual, in the centre, sees their reflection scatter in all the mirrors, like white light projected through infinite prisms. The closest mirrors represent the closest relationships, like family and friends, further ones represent wider communities one belongs to, even further ones represent the largest communities like nations or religions and onward toward totalities like humanity and the cosmos.

An entailment of the infinity mirror, is that conflicts found in the larger communities reflect conflicts within those individuals who are affected by them. An individual at the centre of the infinity mirrors cannot, by direct intervention, change their own reflection in a more distant mirror. That reflection will automatically change only when the person resolves his or her own tendencies and internal conflicts which, in the social context, became amplified - for instance, into Law and into War. The paintings, themselves, are the results of the artist acting out this internal quest.

The lines that connect the series of paintings are fractions of maps, maps of locations that are considered ‘problematic hotspots’, areas that require intervention, protection, communication and many forms of political, economic and humanitarian investment. These are areas where the Open Society Foundations focuses its attention. The paintings take particular areas which exhibit complementary problems such as aggression and victimhood in their direct political and indirect economical and cultural manifestations. Each of the maps is represented by a specific colour. The colours connote healthy behavioural patterns these locations are struggling to integrate based on colour psychology, colour symbolism and the colours of the seven chakras in the human body.

To understand the dynamics of the political forces in these areas, the same forces and patterns have been examined on a personal level. According to the logic of the infinity mirror concept, the personal is the only level from which an individual can gather direct information, learn and act, hence being the only level where changes can be carried out. This reflects a belief that every political structure and tendency one experiences already exists within the individual's psyche and can be only understood and changed by turning inward and finding those patterns. It is a view that creates personal responsibility for social problems, at the same time providing an opportunity to act; to act in ones daily direct encounters. Without this view, attempting to act as a single human being facing a social-scale problem often leads to paralysis or despair.

This personalisation of communities/nations/cultures also allows examining social tendencies with the tools of psychology, proposing the possibility of finding solutions with the knowledge of modern psychotherapy.

Through this process of personalisation we can explore the larger social level - communities / nations / cultures - using the insights of psychology and seeking solutions through the tools of modern psychotherapy. For instance, we might explore how the aggression of nations and factions is mirrored in our interactions with the people we come across in our daily life. Can we expect peace at the scale of a society if we are not acting respectfully on a daily basis with the ones that are closest to us? Similarly, we might see our willingness to tolerate, on a social scale, manipulation and aggression on the part of a government or commercial interests, and yet expect others to respect our personal boundaries.

When asked, “What can we do about the crazy havoc in which we live?” the Dalai Lama said, “Attend to the crazy havoc inside yourself first.” Maybe it is the right time to realise that changes can be initiated inside our own consciousness; they can then be pursued in the outer world.

The infinity mirror concept becomes concrete in the series of paintings: Whilst interacting with the fractures and imperfections of the surface of the painting, sometimes following them sometimes forcing through them, a rhythm of surrender and control is created. The motions of engraving the lines represent the response of the human mind to its surroundings. A process of moment-to-moment relating where every millimetre expands consciousness. It resembles a shamanic ceremony, an open state of mind where every action and every coincidence is considered symbolic. It is a quest to find remedies for those fractures and injuries that exist on all levels of human experience and, in a similarly symbolic manner, to perform corrections. It is a process of discovering those patterns which run across the layers of reflection, as they show up in the process of creation, enabling curative corrections and adjustments that treat the artwork as a voodoo doll.

The Furthest Mirrors; I Am:
My hand is trembling as I proceed inch by inch, slowly, drawing the line on the rough surface. It needs to be imprinted deep into the material, like a riverbed. I bump into an edge with the blunt pencil that transfers the path of the Hungarian border onto the orange painted landscape. I force it to cut through the lump like the border river once did through the rocks. The rougher the surface, the slower and more painful it is to proceed. I am longing for rest, but I want to see it accomplished in its sharp, deep beauty. I want to see its birth. I shake myself and continue. When it is done, I cannot stop wondering at its depth and clarity.”

The dominantly orange colour of this painting represents ‘self-definition’. This is exactly what is needed in a case of borderline personality disorder, a condition that develops when one's own needs and boundaries are not respected during the early period of development, whether this is caused by neglect or abuse. This parallels the situation of a country whose borders have been demarcated by others, or that has repeatedly been invaded throughout its history. An example of this borderline personality disorder, at the national level, is Hungary as illustrated by its reactions to the recent Syrian refugee crisis.

The Furthest Mirrors; Vulnerability:
“This time the pencil is traveling through turquoise waters following the shores of England. The waves create an unpredictable rhythm. It is all so easy; suddenly I bump into an edge that knocks me off my path. I could not see the next wave under the paper. I need to go back and try to ride it again, this time slower and more consciously. Yet it happens once more. I promise myself I will keep it slow even when it is calm. Mistakes are corrected, and the waves get smoother.”

The turquoise colour of this painting symbolises vulnerability, open communication between the heart and the spoken word, that Britain needs to integrate, overcoming the fear that its problems cannot be resolved without aggression or separation. For a healthy being, vulnerability is safe; it means a peaceful way of sharing ones needs, thoughts and feelings without the fear that they won’t be heard. When the cause of borderline personality disorder is neglect/isolation, it manifests in aggressive/invasive behaviour, and the Freudian repetition compulsion, gravitating toward further isolation. This personality cannot integrate the trust that its needs will be met, that it can achieve safety without taking from others in an invasive way. It cannot express its needs peacefully or respectfully because this openness of communication, this vulnerability, does not feel safe for the person. This syndrome manifested on a larger scale during Brexit in Britain and in the recent elections in the United States.

The Furthest Mirrors; Peace:
“Green is like a highway that has no history. I feel it rejects the past. Thin ground, all flat and even. The pencil goes on with rocket speed, driven by the energy accumulated from the previous struggles. I feel like a superhero until realising I am following a totally wrong direction. Due to the pace, I end up miles away from where I wanted to be. Another attempt and another wrong path. This goes on until the initial energies settle into a peaceful flow. I pause and take a deep breath. Reality check. Where is the real path? Now I focus and slow down, regaining control, finally finding my way along the streets of Kiev.”

When a psyche is repeatedly exposed to aggression it can respond in two ways: taking on the tendencies of rebellion or conformity. This aggression can be direct or indirect. Indirect aggression manifests as manipulation. The conformist can be manipulated by an authority figure, as can a rebel who automatically reacts against what they are told to do. Repressed pain, if allowed to accumulate, might burst out in rage toward a perceived aggressor. By definition, manipulation is ‘controlling something or someone to one's own advantage’. This can take various forms: the distortion of facts, creating ambivalence through the use of terms which switch their meaning, unwarranted assumptions of causality, etc, the whole panoply of rhetoric, all of which, at a social level, is amplified through the media.

Green is the symbol of self-compassion, a perspective that can prevent suppressed pain from turning into destructive anger. Self-compassion is a quality the rebel needs, in order to maintain their focus on their own interests, interests which differ from those of their opponents. In this painting, the dominant colour, green, has been paired with the map of Independence Square and its surroundings in Kiev.

The Furthest Mirrors; Strength:
“Yellow is the most alien. I start slow but why? It is all too easy to settle into an even pace, no pain, no hindrances, no highs and lows, an uninterrupted and steady voyage until my mind completely switches off. Only at the end do I realise I missed a turn, left out a part that can never be retrieved. It was a sneaky lullaby that carried me away, took me on a journey to Mexico, traveling atop the train, La Bestia. In the meantime, it has stolen a part of my path. Now I know. I am awake.”

The basic colour of the fourth painting is yellow. Yellow is the symbol of self-esteem that conveys the message: ‘I am enough’ or ‘I have enough’. It is a perspective that can prevent suppressed pain from turning inward against the self. Self-esteem is a quality that the conformist needs, in order to maintain their social and political autonomy against the threats of cultural and economic invasion, that is to say, consumerism. This manipulation leads to economic and financial imbalances where conformists adjust their behaviour, on a personal level, and their economy and culture, on a national level, to the interests of the aggressors.

The line on this painting follows the railway of the ‘Death Train’, La Bestia, on the top of which citizens of South American countries are migrating to North America, despite a high risk they will become victims of human trafficking and abuse.

3 - 5 March 2017, 10 - 7pm
PV: 2 March 2017, 6 - 9pm
5th Base Gallery
23 Heneage Street, London E1 5LG

The exhibition is part of ‘First Thursdays’ organised by Whitechapel Gallery.

The Gallery is the Crypt of St Pancras Parish Church that was designed and used for coffin burials from 1822, when the Church was opened, to 1854, and the crypts of all London churches were closed to burials. In both World Wars, the Crypt was also used as an air raid shelter.

This exhibition explores the walls of this history and on the days when other cultures celebrate ‘Dia de Muertos – Day of the Dead and western Christian traditions celebrate ‘All Saints Day’. The idea that a calendar can be marked by birth and death and ideas can illuminate memories and tradition is expanded as the individual artist tackles the confined concepts and ideas around Dust. A Being of mysterious matter lingering around us, stirred by our every gesture, that we consume with every breath and emit with every action. As the well-known Buddhist saying goes: ‘Since dust, there is no void’.

The exhibition consists of artworks utilising a variety of mediums, projection, interactive virtual reality installation, sculptural installation, expanded painting practices, music and performance.

2nd - 6th November: 12:00 - 18:00
5th November PV: 18:00 -21:00
Crypt Gallery
Euston Road, London NW1 2BA

Participatory practices and Artist Conversations are aimed at including audiences of all ages.

Participating artists:
Amber Booth, Henry Burns, Louise Camrass, Ivy Chan, Sun Chang, Flora Duley, Rachel Egan, Andrew Hart, Bin Bin Hong, Ekaterina Luzgina, Mike McShane, Nikoleta Martjanova, Lydia Moss, Janek Nixon, Elizabeth Prentis, Reka Ritt, Siannon Saunders, Jane Yang, Leda Yang.

It incorporates objects, useful and useless, precious and junk, artworks and everyday items and everything in-between.

Some spaces might appear to be familiar and cosy while others seem alien and uncomfortable.

While walking from the well-known to the disturbing and back again, there is a lot of work to be done by the visitor: observe, touch, listen, smell, feel and understand.

You might be BARE you might be HOME.

2015 Judging panel of art professionals are:
Dr Christina Bradstreet (National Gallery, previously Director of Careers at Sotheby’s), Zoe Whishaw (Photography consultant, previously Getty Images), Sajid Rizvi (Founder & Publisher of EAP Group International Media), Angus Pryor (Head of Art & Design, University of Gloucestershire), Sarah Ryan (Founder New Blood Art), Thorsten Overgaard (Photographer & Writer), and Vanessa Champion (Photo journalist & Director PhotoAid Global)

I am really excited to be part of Art Gemini Prize exhibition for the second time, as Just Stood There And Watched has been selected from an amazing 956 entries from 34 countries. The finalists’ exhibition will be held at the Menier Gallery between Tuesday 22 and Saturday 26 September. The gallery is situated within the historic Menier Chocolate Factory, minutes from London Bridge, Borough Market and Tate Modern.

On the judging panel were painter Ian Davenport, Saatchi Gallery Chief Executive Nigel Hurst and Griffin Gallery Director Becca Pelly-Fry.

I am happy to confirm that "Let Me See" has been selected to be exhibited at Griffin Gallery from the 23rd of July until the 21st of August 2015.

Bare Hill Publishing was started in 2012 to specialise in the publication of Art Books for individual artists, solo exhibitions, group exhibitions and open exhibitions. Their books are available online in softback and downloadable PDF formats and will soon be available as eBooks from Blurb and the Apple iStore.

'The State of Art' art books will provide a snapshot that represents current contemporary art practice and will present a selection of artists’ personal portfolios as well as provide details of their artistic practice and illustrate their ability to present ideas in a variety of media or alternative artistic techniques.

A selection panel of five jurors viewed nearly 2,000 submissions, distilling the entries to just under 200 artworks. Everything the jury selects after a stringent 2 stage judging process, whether iPad paintings, egg tempera landscapes, resin sculptures or large format photographs is then hung together in harmony, offering visitors an exciting visual symphony.

Not only is the artwork diverse, the experience and reputation of the artists is equally varied providing an opportunity for collectors to purchase art ranging from £110 to over £10,000. A wire mesh sculpture by the well-established David Begbie, may cast its velvet shadow beside the painting of a debuting young artist or an emerging octogenarian.

The first Cork Street Open Exhibition was launched six years ago. The mission was two fold, to give emerging and established artists worldwide a platform for showing their work in the heart of Londons art dealing centre and to raise funds for charity.

There has never been a theme for the August Cork Street Open Exhibition; other than the literal interpretation of contemporary of this time. Artists were able to submit up to 6 entries as long as they were created within the past 18 months.

I am delighted to announce that my works Time for this, Under Pressure, Another way to let go, Let me see and Excavation have been selected by the panel of judges and excited to be part of the final Cork Street Open Exhibition.

Exhibition runs 9th - 16th August 2013 Daily from 10-6.
The Gallery in Cork Street
28 Cork Street
Mayfair
London
W1S 3NG