<h2>VITAL FORCE<br>
5 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2024</h2>
<h2>VITAL FORCE<br>
5 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2024</h2>
<h2>OUR BLUE WORLD<br>Film Screening and Discussion with Dr. Mark Nelson<br>
Friday, 27 September 2024
7.00 – 10.00 pm</h2>
<h2>ALEXIS PESKINE: FOREST FIGURES<br>
3 October – 9 November 2024</h2>
<h2>ALEXIS PESKINE: FOREST FIGURES<br>
3 October – 9 November 2024</h2>
<h2>ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ at the 60th Venice Biennale<br>
20th April – 24th November, 2024</h2>
Photo © Jacopo La Forgia.<h2>ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ at the 60th Venice Biennale<br>
20th April – 24th November, 2024</h2>
Photo © Jacopo La Forgia.<h2>EDDY KAMUANGA ILLUNGA<br>Available from our Book Store, £45.95 + P&P</h2>248 pages, 200 full colour plates throughout. Published by Rizzoli.<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

5 – 28 September 2024
LR Vandy, Resistance, 2024.
Manilla rope, wood and metal 128.6 x 32 x 29 cm.
Golnaz Fathi, When the rain comes we can be thankful, 2021.
Acrylic, ink and spray paint on canvas 170 x 130 cm.
October Gallery presents Vital Force, an exhibition that includes striking works by El Anatsui, Kenji Yoshida, LR Vandy, Romuald Hazoumè, Golnaz Fathi, Jukhee Kwon, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Govinda Sah ‘Azad’ and Elisabeth Lalouschek amongst others. Vital Force gives space for the innate energies of each unique artwork to manifest before bringing them together in a powerful drama of luminous interactive forms.

Highlights include Kenji Yoshida’s magnificent large-scale work, La Vie (Life), 1993, which employs an elliptical language of coloured forms rendered in gold and silver leaf. This extraordinary piece marries modernist abstraction with the delicate gilding techniques of Japanese tradition. This large-scale panelled work will be juxtaposed with a shimmering wall-hanging by El Anatsui. Created from recycled bottle-tops, intricately stitched together, the work will be hung in such a way as to allow the viewer to explore the range and composition of colours on both sides of the mesmerising metallic installation.

Romuald Hazoumè will be represented by one of his signature masks. These provocative works, assembled from found objects, operate as impromptu portraits of individuals, highlighting the artist’s astute social commentary. Adopting the ubiquitous plastic petrol cannister as his iconic signature, Hazoumè’s work is deeply rooted in the political and cultural context of Benin and its interactions with the wider globalised world beyond. Taken from her Hulls series, LR Vandy’s Resistance is an impressive large-scale wooden work that incorporates manilla rope tied into knots set delicately into its frame. These knots evoke the clenched fist, a symbolic nod to the Black power salute, the feminist movement of the 80s and the braided African hairstyle of Bantu Knots. Vandy’s use of hulls and knotted rope allude to the complex histories of transatlantic trade, and, more specifically, to the transport of migrants as commodities.

Jukhee Kwon creates her intricate sculptures out of unused and abandoned books. By skilful slicing and cutting, she transforms these tomes into sculptures bursting from the books’ spines, streaming out in cascading waterfalls, to explore ambient surface areas. While Govinda Sah’s latest canvas comprises subtly interwoven layers of acrylic marks and traces. Sah is fascinated by the universes within and beyond our earth-bound vision. Similarly, Iranian artist Golnaz Fathi’s bold gestural work, When the rain comes, we can be thankful, 2021, presents interwoven layers of enigmatic meanings.

Also on display will be Nierica - Caressed By Fire, a vibrant work by Elisabeth Lalouschek painted in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Lost to sight for thirty years, the painting will be shown for the first time since 1990. Finally, ink and spray paint works by artist and author, William S. Burroughs, are exhibited in conversation with longtime collaborator and fellow artist Brion Gysin’s work De la Cité des Arts..., an abstract ink on paper, depicting the artist’s unique perspective from the window from which his studio overlooked the Ile Saint Louis in Paris.
 

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

3 October – 9 November 2024
Alexis Peskine, Séetal, 2024.
White and black paint, archival varnish,
24k gold leaf and nails on wood, 150 x 111 cm.
Alexis Peskine, Kékéréké, 2024.
White and black paint, archival varnish, 24k gold leaf and nails on wood, 150 x 110 cm.
October Gallery presents Forest Figures, a much-anticipated solo exhibition of new works by Alexis Peskine. This, the artist’s third show at October Gallery, will intersect with the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, taking place at Somerset House, in London, from 10th – 13th October.

Forest Figures delves into the rich, healing powers inherent in ancestral African spirituality; exploring deeper aspects of interiorised abundance and wellbeing found amongst the individual figures he portrays to represent the diversity of the African diaspora. Peskine’s large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, with pin-point accuracy, into wooden ‘canvases’. Inspired by Afro-Brazilian spirituality, Peskine draws upon attributes and aspects of the Orishas – or spirits – which act as a conceptual framework underpinning these recent works. The exhibition will also include new photographic works and a segment from REVERSE, an emotive apocalyptic film.

Peskine’s new works show an expansion of his creative process, employing the natural forms of tree trunks, leaf patterns and shells. Some of these works adopt the form and white colour of the cowrie shell – an integral part of the iFá divination ritual – symbolising the prophetic ‘mouth of the Orisha’. Although considered a spiritual object, the cowrie has many historical links to trade and currency. White is also a colour traditionally linked to peace, spiritual cleansing and renewal. Various aspects of Peskine’s sustained investigation of the Black Experience can be seen in his selection of materials and colours: for instance, his use of Indigo pigment is a direct reference to its production by enslaved Caribbean labourers.

Based in Paris, Peskine continues to pursue various artist residencies around the world, most recently in Brazil and Cameroon. His sensitive portraits of the people he meets inform the rich diversity of subjects adorning his sculptural pieces. Peskine’s acute observations of people from many places and all walks of life have led him to the conclusion that today, more than ever, we live in a time that requires us to come together in ‘oneness’.
 

 

NEWS, EVENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS


ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ at the 60th Venice Biennale
20th April – 24th November, 2024
Romuald Hazoumè has been selected as one of the four major artists to represent The Republic of Benin for the 60th edition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Entitled Everything Precious Is Fragile, this exhibition will explore the rich history of Benin, touching on themes such as the slave trade, the Amazon motif, spirituality and the Vodun religion. These themes are tied together by Benin's exploration of African feminism and pay tribute to women's versatility whilst envisioning a world where differences are seen as a source of richness and strength.

Acclaimed worldwide for his masks made from used plastic petrol cans, Romuald Hazoumè is an artist whose work is firmly rooted in Benin's social, political and cultural context and the globalized world.
Photo: © Jonathan Greet, 20016.
AUBREY WILLIAMS at Frieze Masters
Stand S03
9th – 13th October, 2024
October Gallery is delighted to exhibit paintings by Aubrey Williams in a first-time presentation of the artist’s works at Frieze Masters, London. Aubrey Williams' distinctive contribution to 20th century British art was last year recognised, when Tate Britain dedicated a room to works by this master of painterly abstraction, in their rehang of significant examples of British art.
Aubrey Williams, Time & Shadow, 1964.
Oil on canvas, 71 x 114 cm.
October Gallery at 1-54 London
Booth W1
10th – 13th October, 2024
For this year’s edition of 1-54 London, October Gallery will present new works by Zana Masombuka, Alexis Peskine, LR Vandy and Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga. The Gallery’s booth brings together vibrant photography, sculptural works and painting. In addition, Theresa Weber will present a new installation in the West Wing Corridor of Somerset House.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Envahissement 2, (Invasion 2), 2024.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 199 x 188 cm.
Gallery Talk:
The Artist as Curator: The Curator as Artist
Saturday, 21st September, 2024
3.00 – 4.30pm Entry: Free
How are exhibitions created and artworks juxtaposed to form powerful interactions, resonate with meaning and represent more than the sum of their parts? What happens when Curators collaborate with Artists over prolonged periods? What is creative about the process of hanging an exhibition? What resonances, harmonies and visual dynamics are at play?

Join Artistic Director of October Gallery, Elisabeth Lalouschek, in conversation with Director of Special Projects, Gerard Houghton, for a talk which aims to unpack these intriguing questions, using the works in Vital Force to highlight 45 years of October Gallery’s partnership with some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists.

Disabled access is available as the talk will take place on the ground floor, within the exhibition, Vital Force.
Romuald Hazoumè, Rossy, 2022.
Found objects, 54.5 x 26 x 26 cm.
EL ANATSUI at Talbot Rice Gallery
29th June – 29th September, 2024
Talbot Rice Gallery presents a major exhibition of El Anatsui, spanning five decades of his work and extending to the building’s façade, transforming it into an open-air gallery this summer. Titled El Anatsui ‘Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta', the exhibition will showcase a substantial selection of Anatsui’s iconic large-scale sculptural wall hangings made from reclaimed aluminium bottle tops. Additionally, the exhibition features a collection of carved wooden reliefs spanning over thirty years, as well as printed works on paper that narrate the intricate production process behind his monumental metal bottle tops installations.
Exhibition View of El Anatsui: Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta.
Photo courtesy of Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh.
Photo: Sally Jubb
AUBREY WILLIAMS at Hepworth Wakefield
22nd June – 3rd November, 2024
Hepworth Wakefield's new exhibition, titled Ronald Moody: Sculpting Life, will explore the evolution of Jamaican-born sculptor Ronald Moody's art and will feature over 50 of Moody's works, ranging from large-scale figurative sculptures to his post-war experimental pieces. These works will be contextualised alongside artists with whom Moody exhibited, as well as members of the Caribbean Artists Movement, such as Aubrey Williams, — a revolutionary group of which both Moody and Williams were founding members of.
Govinda Sah 'Azad', Rising Hope, 2023.
Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 140 cm.
Photo: © Mark Blower, 2024.
OUR BLUE WORLD
Film Screening and Discussion with Dr. Mark Nelson
Friday, 27 September 2024
7.00 – 10.00 pm
Entry £8.00 (Booking essential)
Location: October Gallery, Theatre (2nd floor)
Join us for the first-ever London screening of Our Blue World, a visually stunning film that explores the transformative power of water through the lens of modern science and ancient wisdom.

Dr. Mark Nelson, Chairman of the Institute of Ecotechnics, will join the event live via Zoom to introduce the film and following the screening, will participate in a discussion and Q & A with Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at October Gallery
Defrost: October Gallery Presents
LR Vandy and Kenji Yoshida
at Honey & Smoke Grill House
24th September – 2nd November, 2024
In celebration of Frieze Week, October Gallery is delighted to continue their collaboration with Honey & Smoke Grill House with an exhibition of striking works by LR Vandy and Kenji Yoshida. This vibrant exhibition opens 24th September ahead of Frieze London and continues until 2nd November and is situated on Great Portland Street moments from the art fair in Regent’s Park.
LR Vandy, Decoder, 2023.
Wood, metal and plastic, 45 x 25 x 14 cm.
Kenji Yoshida, La Vida (meditacion) 2, 1997.
Silkscreen print, 64 x 45 cm. Edition 14 of 100.

 

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.



October Gallery Education supported by: