30 photos from the Push The Boat Out opening party taken by Richard Barr

'Push The Boat Out' is a group show curated by James F. Johnston and Harry Pye with Amelie Lindsay that's on at The Art Academy, 155 Walworth Road SE17 until the 30th of July. The organisers were delighted Richard Barr attended the show's opening party and that he brought his Canon E0S 600D camera with him. Originally from Bangor, County Down, he is now based in South London. Richard Barr is a very versatile and talented photographer with a knack for capturing magic moments. These 30 images serve as a good introduction to the exhibition and will hopefully whet your appetite enough for you to come and see the work for yourself. Today (Sat 28/07/18) at 3pm, the esteemed critic Sacha Craddock will be discussing the show with the curators plus Nicola Hicks, Corin Johnson, Cedar Lewisohn, and Kate Murdoch. This event is free and open to all (please try to arrive a bit before 3pm). You can also see the show on Saunday 29th of July (from 11am till 5pm) and on Monday the 30th of July (from 10.30am till 6.30pm).

Above: 'C is for Cactus' by Nicola Hicks

Above: 'Sleepwalker' by James Johnston

Above: Happy people

Above: More Happy People

Above: Bored baby

Above: Harry Pye and Dan Flowers. 'Magpie' by Corin Johnson.

Above: Artist and co-curator Harry Pye with Simon Ould.

Above: Harry, Derek, Judith standing in front of paintings by Gordon Beswick.

Above: A bit more 'C for Cactus'

Above: paintings by James Johnston

Above: A funsize painting in the gift shop by Harry Pye

Above: Drawings by Cedar Lewishon

Above: Chromatic by Morrissey & Hancock.

Above:'Dancer' by Corin Johnson.

Above: 'Couple with Owl' by Corin Johnson.

Above: 'Black History Month' by Harry Pye

Above: 'A Starry, Starry Night in Southampton with Chris Packham' by Team Beswick & Pye.

Above: ArtistKate Murdoch invites you to help yourself to free spam.

Above: painting by Gordon Beswick.

Above: "I demand more booze"

Above: From Cedar's sketchbook

Above: Tate mates, Priya and James

Above: Harry Pye with Loretta Wall

Above: dear oh dear

Above: Let's go outside

Above: James Johnston with Adrian Jones next to 'C is for Cactus' by Nicola Hicks

Above: Russell Carr interacts with 'Piper' by Corin Johnson.

Above: Sukie Smith & her chums

Above: Charlie

Above: Rob Mumby with his 'Harry Skateboard'

The Art Academy (formerly Newington Library) is a 5 minute walk from Elephant & Castle station.

Push The Boat Out with Sacha Craddock Saturday 28th July, 3pm

Critic and curator Sacha Craddock has judged art prizes such as The Turner Prize (in 1999) and The John Moores (in 2008). She has also written about art for both The Guardian and The Times, and been chair of Bloomberg New Contemporaries. At 3pm on Saturday 28th of July Sacha will be talking to 5 of the artists who feature in the Push The Boat Out Exhibition.(The fantastic five are; Nicola Hicks, Corin Johnson, James F. Johnston, Cedar Lewisohn, Kate Murdoch, and Harry Pye). This event is free and open to all - you don't need to RSVP.

Image Above: 'C is for Cactus' by Nicola Hicks

Image Above: 'Couple with Owl' by Corin Johnson photographed by Toby Winter.

Image Above: 'Blindfold' by James Johston.

Image Above: Untitled Sketch Book Drawings ('London Knife Crimes' 2018)by Cedar Lewisohn.

Image Above: 'Nana's Curlers' by Kate Murdoch.

Image Above: 'Stick To What You Don't Know' by Harry Pye.

Sacha's chat with Nicola, Corin, James, Cedar, Kate, and Harry about their contributions to Push The Boat Out will take place at The Art Academy, (formally Newington Library), 155 Walworth Road, SE17 1RS. The Art Academy is a 5 minute walk from Elephant & castle tube. Please try to arrive before 3pm.

Please note that on the day of the talk we will also be selling affordable sculptures by Nicola Hicks in the Push The Boat Out gift shop

The "Push The Boat Out" exhibition gift shop.

James F. Johnston's 'Wrapped Head' sculpture and the 'Harry Pye Skateboard' are just two of the astonishing bargains some lucky person will be able to buy from the gift shop at the upcoming Push The Boat Out show.

Push The Boat Out is a group show taking place at The Art Academy, 155 Walworth Road SE17 1RS (a 5 minute walk from Elephant & Castle tube). The exhibition features work by Gordon Beswick, Nicola Hicks, Corin Johnson, James F Johnston, Cedar Lewisohn, Morrissey & Hancock, Kate Murdoch, and Harry Pye.

Above: 'A Harry Pye Table Tennis Bat' Other bargains you'll be able to snap at up includ a 6 by 8 painting by James Johnston called, 'Ruins and Birds'

and this fun sized sailor by Harry Pye

YES! Go to the cash point now. More news soon.

A Pride event happening in Margate on Thursday 12th of July

(Image above: Marsha P. Johnson drawn by Harry Pye) Some great artists are taking part in The Sex Show including; Alex Nobel, Mel Cole, Shaun Stamp, and Jay Rechsteiner. The exhibition at The Viking Gallery goes on until Sunday the 15th.

The Tom Thumb Theatre is having a party / night of performances (Tickets are £5 on the door)

PRESS RELEASE for "Push The Boat Out"

“Push The Boat Out” is an exhibition curated by James F Johnston and Harry Pye with Amelie Lindsay. The show takes place at The Art Academy, 155 Walworth Road, South London in the last week of July.The private view is on from 5pm til 9pm on wednesday 25th July - everyone is welcome to attend.

Every artist in this show brings something different to the table...

Harry Pye offers three possible replacements for a painting by Vincent van Gogh that went missing during the 2nd World War. The work reflects Pye's interest in the thin line between happiness and delusion.

Nicola Hicks has enjoyed international success as a sculptor for more than 3 decades. Her very personal contribution to the exhibition is about saying goodbye to a year of illness which still leaves a big shadow.

James F Johnston started painting a year ago. He's been inspired by both folk art and the expressionists. He creates dreamlike images informed by both daily life and the unconscious.

Corin Johnson has the same influences as James but he uses marble, stone, wood, plaster and clay to captures the wonder of people and nature instead of paint.

Cedar Lewisohn is an artist, writer and curator. His recent studio practice has used drawing and large scale wood carvings as way of exploring museum collections and issues of decolonialism in relation to Modernist art history.

Kate Murdoch is an artist whose work is also based on research but in her case, the emphasis is on class. She assembles and collages but her work is more likely to involve treasures found in a charity shop or food than paint and canvas

Gordon Beswick makes abstract paintings. The starting point of his work is photographs he takes of the patterns he observes in the buildings he sees around him.

Morrissey & Hancock are contributing just one sculpture to the show. The title of the piece is Chromatic. The artists aim to induce in the viewer, a visual and physiological saturation of consciousness.

Quote from co-curator: Harry Pye "From as far back as anyone can remember people have built boats that are too big for any one individual to push out to sea. There has been an element of collaboration and team work in getting the boat to take off and set sail. James Johnston and I have carefully picked a team of artists. Each one has a way of looking at the world that appeals to us or has a story we want them to tell. We hope this show features enough wit, warmth and wisdom to delight and inspire you all. Please note this exhibition is only here for a few days so come and see it before it sails away into the sunset.”

Quote from writer and critic: Sacha Craddock: "A group exhibition can be rationalised in any number of ways. It can be made up with things that look alike, for instance, or appear to say something like the same thing in the same media and tone. Perhaps work carries attitude, or has blue in it. Anyway, the work in 'Push the Boat Out' has come together because of the respect two artists carry for artists they admire and like, as well as their own work. From spiky cacti, through the combination of numerical logic and decorative history, to bald, blunt, painting, all the work carries consistent individual, or collective, quality. As Buildings around Elephant and Castle shoot up and the pub opposite stocks untried unknown beers, the featured artists who all live in South London, work with media and approach that displays a breath of intention and seriousness that overtakes any 'professional' narrative. Recently restored , the space on the Walworth Road retains a glow of civic pride and municipal common sense which in turn allows sophisticated artists to do their own thing and shine.

On a hypothetical walk around this show, before it is ever installed, we might gain the sense, at first, of a fleeting approach to movement pattern and place in London. Then there is painting done apparently to find, or gain experience, an act in itself that desires meaning to emerge from practice. Something light and funny can be found in this manifestation of collecting, with the detritus of every day life collaged into humorous vignette. The sense of every day painting, also, in a simple display where colour is placed, monosyllabically, onto the ground in the manner of a block print, suggests an attempt to evoke the lure and lore of ancient language. Instead of the flowers that bloom, temporarily, in the desert the free standing cactus has somewhat surprised and uncomfortable, cat attached , and nearby, perhaps, a strange combination, in paint, with the touch of an over packed primary school crafts cupboard, implying a static state with deliberate fumbling, strips of paper, crazy felt, and added pointillism . Across what used to be the main floor of the local library, you might be aware of a precarious balance between two and three dimensions, with the sway of perhaps a rope ladder bent over a precipice. And so it goes, on , this three dimensional play of work by artists, some who can work absolutely full time and others whose worlds morph between music, art gallery, and film making, shows a stimulating display of individual and collective pursuit."

For more info on each contributor... http://therebelmagazine.blogspot.com/2018/05/push-boat-out.html If you’re a journalist who needs images by artists in the show please e-mail: harry_pye@hotmail.com Nicola Hicks is represented by Flowers: https://www.flowersgallery.com For more info on The Art Academy: https://artacademy.org.uk/our-mission/

Peter Harris & Friends at New River Studios 24/06/2018

The legendary Peter Harris has organised an astonishing music and art event that is taking place this coming Sunday.The Rebel magazine were cock a hoop when Mr Harris agreed to answer a few questions for us...

The Rebel: Are you an artist who makes music as a hobby or do you see your music as being of your art? Peter Harris: "I see the music as being the same as the art, it's all about trying to find original ideas and expressing them as well as you can, whether it's a painting, film, a play or a song."

Who is in your band and why did you select the musicians you did? "The people in the band came together naturally through the long journey that started out with me playing slide guitar and peddle steel with the Arthur Brick Band ( which is were I first started playing with Thom Driver and Rick Carbone) and then that became the Piper's Son Band with Thom, Rick and Jared Fisher on drums and Victor Bock on bass. Dylan Bates (Stanley Bad) is on violin, I knew him from playing in the flea pit orchestra and collaborated with him way back on an e.p. I made, he played on a track with J.J. Burrell from The Stranglers, so I always had him in mind for playing with me, I’m Lucky enough to have a dream team of crack musicians and consider myself well blessed because of it! I began writing loads of songs that unfortunately (for people who like good voices) I had to sing as the content of the words was so personal ( a sort of self-portrait in song) so I began recording demo's and through a Rasta connection (Jah Youth) I started recording with David Fullwood who is a brilliant trumpet player who plays with Zion Train. And then Victor suggested I send my demo's to Trashmouth Records who then got back in touch and we started working together.

What can you tell me about this venue? "The venue (New River Studio's) was a place I used to rehearse in and then realised they had a concert area, so for my album launch I used it and also exhibited art works too, it seemed to work well, so i am putting on regular art and music events, rather than slogging away on the pub scene, which is expensive and a bit depressing! the art world also seems like a dead place, so this approach in combining my main interests seemed like a natural thing to do."

What other musicians are playing at this event? "The other musicians playing are BLINOV (their first gig I believe) who are a synth duo, Me with my band who for this event will be scaling it down a bit and will have Jah Bunny on percussion and hopefully (if it's now fixed) a vintage 1970's synth drum! oh, and Warren Mansfield from Meatraffle with be spinning some discs too! plus from The Fat White Family and Insecure Men the legend that is Saul Adamczewski will be playing solo and showing some of his great drawings!"

What would be your desert Island Discs? Which records mean the most to you? "The records that never seem to get old and bore me are: Miles Davies Dark Magus, David Bowie All Saints, Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon, Yabby You Jesus Dread, Lee 'Scratch' Perry Disco Devil (the 12 inch disco mixes), Keith Hudson Playing it cool."

Listen to the music of Peter Harris on bandcamp: here

For details on how you can buy Peter's album from Rough Trade click: here To find out about Peter's past project click: here For info on New River Studios click: here Address of venue: New River Studios, Unit E, 199 Eade Road. N4 1DN The event starts at 7pm. No tickets required.