<h2>JORDAN ANN CRAIG: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS<br>2 December 2021 - 29 January 2022</h2><h2>JORDAN ANN CRAIG: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS<br>Catalogue available from our store £10 + P&P</h2><h2>JORDAN ANN CRAIG: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS<br>2 December 2021 - 29 January 2022</h2><h2>EXPANDING HORIZONSS<br>3 February – 12 March 2022</h2> In honour of Pamela Kember<h2>EDDY KAMUANGA ILUNGA<br>NEW PRINT EDITIONS RELEASED</h2>Now Available From Our StorePerformance: <h2>'Drifting': A Performance by Yong Min Cho<br> Saturday, 5 March 2022. 18:00 – 18:40</h2><h2>DREAM NO SMALL DREAM: The Story of October Gallery<br>Available from our Book Store, £40 + P&P</h2>304 pages, full colour plates throughout. Edited by Gerard Houghton.
 

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Jordan Ann Craig: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS

2 December 2021 - 29 January 2022
Jordan Ann Craig, Nothing Is Enough For You, 2021.
Acrylic on canvas, 152 x 140 cm.
Jordan Ann Craig, Berry Baby; From Cheyenne Bag , 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 114 x 5 x 114 cm.
Your Wildest Dreams is Jordan Ann Craig’s first solo exhibition at October Gallery. Northern Cheyenne artist Jordan Ann Craig creates paintings, prints and textile works which are an exploration of existence, time and space woven from cultural memory and epiphany. This exhibition presents a newly completed series of reimaged hard-edge paintings, which are based on Cheyenne cultural design and autobiographical observation.

Craig draws inspiration from Indigenous textiles, beadwork, pottery and landscapes. Her work shares personal stories through abstraction, colour and rhythm. She engages past, present and future to depict Indigenous design through a contemporary lens. Craig creates new narratives within her work while celebrating her ancestors and Indigenous land.

View Artist Page View Exhibition Page
 

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

EXPANDING HORIZONS

3 February - 12 March 2022
Govinda 'Sah' Azad, Serenity, 2021.
Oil on canvas, 160 x 180 cm.
Tian Wei, Moon, 2017.
Iridescent acrylic on canvas, 155 x 241 cm.
Expanding Horizons pays homage to writer, curator and art historian Pamela Kember, who ardently championed Asian art in the U.K. and further afield.

A body of new works by Govinda Sah ‘Azad’ will be included in this exhibition. In his paintings Sah effortlessly balances traditional eastern metaphysical insights about the nature of reality with visual realisations that are in accord with the latest formulations of contemporary western science. He imagines a cosmos of boundless possibilities. A painter of tempestuous skies and cosmic explosions as well as an avid admirer of J. M. W. Turner, Sah followed in the footsteps of the Romanticist, and now lives and works in Margate.

Tian Wei is renowned for his striking monochromatic canvases in bold colours that explore the written word and the plasticity of meaning. Words and quotations in minute script fill the backdrop of Tian’s paintings, forming a patterned ground on which larger semi-abstract shapes are drawn. The cursive lines spell out simple English words, such as ‘soul’ and ‘red.’ These selected English adjectives and nouns represented in Chinese calligraphic style give the viewer insight into the artist’s lived experience of an emerging synergy between eastern and western sensibilities.

Jukhee Kwon creates works from the printed page quite literally; using abandoned and disused books, she shreds the pages by hand to create magnificent ‘book sculptures.’ The sculptures brim with energy, often flowing out of books in the form of cascading waterfalls. Each book, while destroyed, claims a new life and existence through creation.

As Head of Arts and Learning at Asia House Pamela Kember was instrumental in collaborations between Asia House and October Gallery. Several of Jukhee Kwon’s works were installed at Asia House in collaboration with Kember this included The Book of Galileo (2014) which was created by the artist for the 2014 edition of Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival.

Kenji Yoshida’s monumental works consist of ethereal gold, silver and precious metals on canvas which unite a restrained tradition of Japanese applique work with that of an abstract modernist aesthetic. In 1964, Yoshida moved to Paris, the acknowledged centre of Modernism. This move brought Yoshida’s work into contact with the great artistic movements of the time. He was confronted by the heady shock of the Abstract Expressionists, in particular Rothko and Motherwell, who both employ similarly abstract forms in striving for the transcendent spirituality that characterises Yoshida’s art.

In 1993, Kenji Yoshida became the first living artist ever to be given a solo exhibition at the Japanese Galleries of the British Museum, London, UK. October Gallery has presented regular exhibitions of Yoshida’s work since the late 1980s.

View Exhibition Page
 
 

NEWS, EVENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS


Claudia Boulton (1949 – 2021)
October Gallery and all our friends have been shocked to hear of the sudden passing of our dear ‘Duchess’ Claudia Boulton. Late in October, Claudia suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised, under sedation, for observation. She died, peacefully, without ever coming round.
Claudia Boulton (1949 – 2021)
Read the full obituary here
Photo: Jonathan Greet, 2012.
Jordan Ann Craig
Your Wildest Dreams Catalogue
Available Now.
£10 + P&P
The catalogue to accompany Jordan Ann Craig's Your Wildest Dreams exhibition at October Gallery is now available. 32 page soft cover with an interview with Natani Notah.
Buy Now From Our Store
Performance:
'Drifting': A Performance by Yong Min Cho
Saturday, 5th March, 2022
18:00 – 18:40
£15
As part of Expanding Horizons, in honour of the late Pamela Kember, artist Yong Min Cho has choreographed a special piece exploring the concept of drifting to be performed at October Gallery.

Drifting builds on the project Drifting Dérive’, a series of installations, performances, and artworks curated by Pamela Kember at Asia House in 2014.
See Events page for full details and tickets
Photograph by Paul Hwang.
Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga wins
Charles Wollaston Award 2021
Congratulations to Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga whose work Wetereire – Waiting in the RA Summer Exhibition has won the prestigious Charles Wollaston Award.

Established in 1978 and presented to the ‘most distinguished work’ in the exhibition, it is one of the most significant art prizes awarded in the UK.

Gakunga’s sculpture is informed by her upbringing amongst the Kenyan Kikuyu people. Working primarily with metal and wire, her unique works are created by combining traditional techniques with contemporary processes, in a meditation upon the progression from past to present.
See the Royal Academy Press Release
Photo: Jonathan Greet, 2013.
Pamela Kember (1955 – 2021)
October Gallery is saddened to hear of the sudden passing of our dear friend, Pamela Kember, who was also one of the Gallery’s Trustees. A writer, curator and art historian, Pamela was an inspirational person, dedicated to arts and education.
Pamela Kember (1955 –2021)
At the opening of the exhibition, Present Moment at October Gallery, 2019.
Read the full obituary here
Photo: Jonathan Greet, 2019.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga
New Limited Edition
Prints Released
To accompany Eddy Kmuanga's Ghost of the Present exhibition we've released a new set of limited edition giclée prints.
Image: Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Loss of Power 2, 2021.
Edition of 25, Giclée print, 42 x 46 cm.
Now Available to Order Online
Benji Reid on BBC What’s New / Actu Jeunes
Yvette Twagiramariya interviewed Benji Reid for BBC What's New following the occasion of his first solo exhibition Laugh at Gravity, 2021.

The interview took place at 1-54 London, 2021, Somerset House.
View on the BBC World Service
Gallery Kitchen
Now Open!
We are excited to announce that Gallery Kitchen, run by the same management team as Clerkenwell Kitchen, will be serving delicious seasonal dishes at October Gallery.

Being a sustainable company is absolutely central to Gallery Kitchen's ethos. "We are passionate about the quality of produce that we use and know that highest quality comes from small scale and artisan producers who share our commitment to traditional farming methods, animal welfare and fair trade."

Gallery Kitchen is now open, Tuesday - Friday lunchtimes.
Visit The Clerkenwell Kitchen Website
 

VISTING OCTOBER GALLERY

Bloomsbury, London

October Gallery has been instrumental in bringing to worldwide attention many of the world’s leading international artists, including El Anatsui, Rachid Koraïchi, Romuald Hazoumè, Nnenna Okore, Laila Shawa and Kenji Yoshida. The Gallery promotes the Transvangarde, the very best in contemporary art from around the planet, as well as maintaining a cultural hub in central London for poets, writers, intellectuals and artists, and hosts talks, performances and seminars, see www.octobergallery.co.uk/events

The rich diversity of art presented is an inspiration to collectors and enthusiasts. Institutions such as the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Setagagya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan have all collected works from October Gallery.

Founded in 1979, October Gallery is a charitable trust which is supported by sales of art, rental of the Gallery's unique facilities, grants from various funding bodies and the active support of dedicated artists, musicians, writers and many friends from around the world. The Gallery’s Education Department is inclusive of all ages from under 5’s to PGCE student and delivers a wide range of provision, see www.octobergalleryeducation.com

October Gallery is open from 12:30 to 17:30 pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
The Gallery is closed during official holidays and the entire month of August.



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