‘Silent Movies’: art exhibition in an underground car park

‘Silent Movies‘: Art Exhibition 16 – 18th October 2015

Recently I’ve been following the work of street artists as they’ve moved indoors to established galleries. Meanwhile the fine artists and sculptors are moving to pop-up venues in spaces that feel more exterior.  Last month I went to an art exhibition in London’s West End, held in an underground car park.  Yes it was still an indoor venue but the vast space of the car park gave a sense of freedom and adventure.

The exhibition was being held as part of Frieze London, a 5 day annual contemporary art fair.  According to Q-Parking website, 20,000 sq ft was available to 100 artists.  And all the work had to be in black and white, suggested by the exhibition title, ‘Silent Movies‘.  Two friends of mine were exhibiting and that is how I heard about the show.  It was curated by artist Geoff Leong and two art curators Vanya Balogh and Cedric Christie.

This post shows a selection of photographs to give a flavour of the show.  Out of the 100 artists it only features 25 artists.  And I also wanted to capture the atmosphere and ambience of an art exhibition held in an underground car park.

 

 

 

War Bucks by Maslen and Mehra with street artists Shuby and Delete.  (The decorated stand was also part of this work but has not been featured here.)

 

Into the Orchard (Golden Chain) by Danny Pockets 2015

 

 

Sleepwatchers card deck by Damien MacDonald 2015

 

Colony collapse disorder by Ruth Noam 2015.  (an animated art installation)

 

This exhibit also moved and you can watch a short clip of it in action on vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘I wanna be your dog‘ by Saskia Edens 2015

 

When I first arrived this exhibit was moving.  The dog’s tail was linked to the turntable and as it revolved the dog wagged its tail.  I recorded an 8 sec clip ‘I wanna be your dog’ which you can see on vimeo.

 

 

Artist Moonassi – 3 paintings of 8 exhibited.

 

This work was censored or the show would have been cancelled.

 

 

I was offered a quick peak under the cloth by the artist but I couldn’t really see what the work was. And I thought no more about it until the end of the night…

 

Cabinet by Gunwoo Shin 2015

 

 

Silver Screen by Sara Willett 2015

 

Silver Screen by Sara Willett 2015

 

21 Grams – a series of images by Paul Tecklenberg

 

21 Grams – a series of images by Paul Tecklenberg

 

Artist Melissa Alley discussing her work

 

Art work by Melissa Alley 2015

 

 

Islands: Dark Matter Flowers by Richard Ducker 2014

 

Around 9.30 pm the evening started to wind down and we all started getting ready to go home…

 

 

I roamed around looking for photo opportunities and was intrigued by this lovely old model merc which hadn’t been cleared for the exhibition. And then I spotted the art work in front it.  It was the exhibit that had been censored earlier but was now on display.  It used a 4 letter work which you can read in reverse in the picture below.

 

 

And collaged within those four letters were these images…

 

 

And after that I noticed that other work had been censored too. Such as this work.

 

Dirty Laundry by Michael Cole

 

Detail of Dirty Laundry by Michael Cole 2015

 

Then I spotted this hanging and I wondered if it had escaped the censors…  And the moving ant took on a phallic resemblance, especially in the clip where it gently rises and falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was an eclectic mix of paintings, drawings, photography, textiles and sculptures.  And surprisingly considering the exhibition title there were no moving images or video installations.

I have tried to credit all the artists but some names are missing when I couldn’t find a label on the night.  If anyone reading this wants to supply missing credits please comment below and I will be happy to add them.