A Good Kick Up My Cocky Arse

There is a ‘62 Group’ exhibition coming soon to Farnham. Being a member of said group, I took it for granted that I would be in it. I confidently sashayed to the framer with ‘Jake and Dinos Chapman Have An Idea’ (yes, another prod at the male dominated artworld) the minute I’d cast off. My usual stance is to wait until confirmation before committing to the expense of a frame.

I was rejected.

Seven positives.

1. I got a good kick up my cocky arse. Always good.

2. I was forced (old work wasn’t submittable) to focus. This is the only piece of work I’ve completed in three years. What about last year's Faces? (I hear you cry). Not quite finished yet. 2023’s Faces, then? Not even started. What about that piece in the Royal Academy Summer Show? Made in 2022.

3. I enjoyed the making. The ‘small work’ stipulation proved to be perfectly manageable. I spent Christmas and New Year stitching Ernie Wise’s legs, and enjoyed every minute.

4. I have a new piece of work, framed (not paid for or collected yet, mind) and ready to sell. Well, as soon as I’ve documented the sources.

5. Another artist, hopefully a previous rejectee, has been given a platform. The gallery is small. There is not enough space for everyone. The curators can’t please us all. It can’t always be my turn.

6. I no longer need to take time from my day jobs (I don’t get paid holidays) to deliver, collect work, and pay for train fares to deepest Surrey.

7. It has made me consider, not for the first time, photography. The importance of good photographs was frequently repeated in the instructions. I ignored the advice, blindly doing what I always do, taking snaps with my not-particularly-modern phone.

Joy in the Detail: Small Work from the 62 Group

7th May - 6th September, 2025.

Tuesday - Friday, 10am - 5pm. Saturday, 10am - 4pm.

Crafts Study Centre, Falkner Road, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7DS.

Free.

Artist's Supper

Me and Chef Zeenat Fayyaz are doing this thing called ‘Artist’s Palate’ at Art4Space, in South London, on 9th May. I will be rabbiting on about my art and stuff, and Zeenat will be making a delicious vegetarian feast for you to enjoy. Tickets are priced at £30/£35 and the Eventbrite link is here.

Zeenat is a cooking instructor based in Brixton. She is passionate about her Punjabi heritage and Indian cuisine, focusing on simple, healthy dishes that use locally sourced produce. 

Art4Space is a non-profit community interest company that has been using art to create change and social justice since 1999. With over 25 years of hard work and dedication, its committed team has built a strong reputation for excellence in the arts, focusing on continuous development and community engagement.

Ticket purchase helps fund community arts projects, providing mental health support and promoting creativity for those in need.

With this in mind, I have used some of my fee (the rest will cover my travel costs) to purchase two tickets to this event. If you fancy coming, but it’s beyond your means, please email me (if I don’t reply, I haven’t received the email) or reply to my ‘March Stuff’ newsletter. I will pick two names from a hat on 3rd April. Names will not be drawn publicly, and anyone who messages me regarding tickets will be informed of the outcome in private. If only two people request tickets, the hat thing won’t be necessary, obvs. If nobody requests tickets, I will offer them as an Instagram prize or persuade my kids to come, mood depending.

If walking alone, late at night, is stopping you, there will be a few of us (definitely me, anyway) walking to Stockwell Tube afterwards. You will be doing me a favour, too. Let me know if you are coming.

Big thanks to Jewels Norburn and Adrian Flower for inviting me, and to Leah and Morgane for showing me around, and the friendly welcome. Thanks to Katrine, too. And an extra big THANK YOU to anyone who buys a ticket.

Art Matters

‘With war raging and children dying, and the slow waltz of extremism on our doorstep and within our cities and towns, art can seem ephemeral, unnecessary and the preserve of the lucky few. It may seem indulgent even, and for those of us in city centres and with fancy Wren churches (hashtag Piccadilly Priest), it may seem like a right more than a privilege. But those of us here today do not need to be told that art matters, that it shakes us from slumber, that it keeps us sensitised and sensitive and that it draws us back to question earth-bound mercy, the earth-pretence of who is pure in heart, the earth-renditions of the peacemakers. All of these things are turned upside down by Jesus and all of these things are turned upside down by art’.

This is very, very late ‘Thank You’ to the lovely Jane Chipp, who not only sent me much appreciated photos and kind words during Varnishing Day (I just couldn’t face going) at the Royal Academy of Arts earlier this year, but also posted the notes from the ‘Service For Artists’ (extract above) at St James’s Church on Piccadilly (an annual sermon for exhibitors), given to her its author, the equally lovey (as it turns out) Associate Priest, Mariama Ifode-Bleasein. She is a huge asset to the church, and no mistake.

I get a mention in said service (sort of), ‘For some of you, this will be your first attempt at submitting your work for the Summer Exhibition, for others it will be your thirty-second’.

I’m not a big fan of religions, but Jesus has always seemed like an incorruptible bloke who would make a good job of running the country.

Read the full sermon, ‘The world as it is, is not as the world should be’, below…

Smash Thatcher

Christopher Madden is a County Durham born artist who lives in London. We were born in the same hospital. I was unaware of his existence until a few weeks ago.

In 1979, Chris drew a cartoon of Thatcher which was then used by the Socialist Workers Party for placards and posters. Other people copied the image for their own personal banners. In 1980, one such person drew the image, wrote ‘SMASH THATCHER’ underneath, and carried it to protest against the closure of Consett Steelworks (image above, full credits below). The Steelworks closed in 1980, with a loss of 3000 jobs. One of many closures, as Thatcher continued her axe-wielding across the North. The protest was photographed and printed in the Northern Echo, which is where I found the image. In 2022, I stitched it to ‘Shifting to the Moon’, a piece about greed and short-sightedness, the ridiculousness of the monarchy, how history keeps repeating itself, and how the posh lads are always in charge.

I grew up in Spennymoor which is 10 miles from Consett, and very similar. Nobody in my hometown liked Thatcher. Understandably. I’d never knowingly met a tory until I moved South.

In 2024, I submitted ‘Shifting To The Moon’ for consideration for the Royal Academy Summer Show. It was accepted. Alice Fisher, from the Observer, wrote an article about it, on account of me unsuccessfully trying to get work into the Summer Show for 30 years.

Chris read the article, recognised his cartoon, and got in touch via Instagram. Turns out he has a history of Summer Show rejections, too.

Credits:

Image 1- Consett Steel Workers’ protests, 1980. Northern Echo. Photographer uncredited.

Image 4 - Me with my work at the RA. Photo by Cassie Candle.

Image 5 - Chris’s original cartoon. A screenshot from his Instagram feed.