PYE TV

Harry Pye loved watching television in the 1970s and 80s. There were just 4 channels and most people you knew watched the same shows.

Above: John Cleese and Graham Chapman on chatshows (90cm high, 120cm wide)

Above: Kenneth Williams as Wilo The Wisp

Above: Avon from Blake's 7

Above: Vila and Orac from Blake's 7

Above:

Travis from Blake's 7 Above: David Frost Sir David Frost (1939 - 2013) once observed that "Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home." I liked the fact he did cheesy TV shows like, Through The Keyhole but of course his big achievement was to interview 8 British Prime Ministers and 7 U.S presidents. Sir David Frost once phoned Peter Cook and asked if he'd care to join Prince Andrew and himself for dinner. Cook replied: "Checking my diary I find I'm watching Television that evening."

Top Trumps exhibition at Ramagate's Wooden Box Gallery opens on Saturday 18th April at 1pm

Address: Wooden Box Gallery, 92 High Street Ramsgate, Kent CT11 9RX Opening party:

Above: 'Trump' by Rebekah Sunshine. Rebekah is part of Turps Margate and recently had a solo show at Margate's The Pie Factory. Rebekah is known for her raw, personal, expressionist work as well as for curating shows at The Wooden Box Gallery.

Above: 'Trump' by Twinkle Troughton. Twinkle Troughton recently graduated from the City & Guilds MA course, her work has featured in Graham Crowley's Secret Disco show and was also selected for Aesthetica Art Prize in 2013 and shortlisted for Contemporary British Painting Award in 2023.

Above: 'Trump' by Adam Dant. Adam Dant  is a Jerwood Prize winning artist. His drawings are in the V&A collection, and have been exhibited at Tate Modern, and Hales Gallery.

Above: 'Trump' by Raksha Patel. Raksha Patel (has previously been selected for The Royal Academy Summer Show, The Jerwood Drawing Prize and been artist in residence at The Whitechapel Gallery)

Above 'Trump' by Suzanne Spiro. Suzanne has recently had a solo show at The Chelsea Arts Club and also exhibited at in Kadriorg Galleri, Estonia. In her artwork for this show her dog has an embroidered Donald Trump face and is surrounded by re-named countries  - VenUSAla, Donald Sea, Candona, Orangeland, Riviera Gaza, the Ocean of Trump, Idon and, from the Disunited States of Trump orange men hurl people encased in ice out of the country.  Threads of oil and gold pour into Trump the Dog's food bowl.

Above: 'Trump'by Martin Rowson. Martin is a celebrated satarist, political cartoonist, and illustrator whose work is often published in both The Guardian, and The Morning Star.

Above: Bula Chakravarty Agbo

Above: Lyndon Hayes

Above: Jonas Ranson ‘Staffordshire Pug After Trump’ (Digital Salt-Glazed Stoneware & Gilding Facsimile) Giclee Print On 350gsm Archival Paper.Edition of 5. 40cmX30cm. Unframed £80 Framed £120 (1 only)

Above: 'Pug' by James Lawson

Blakes 7 Return To Herne Bay

There's going to be a group exhibition at The Sarah Baulch Gallery, The old Church, 104 Mortimer st, Herne Bay CT6 5EB. The Private View will be on Friday the 10th April from 6-8. The gallery will then be open Weds till Saturday 10-4pm The show is called ‘Other East Kent Artists’ - The show is organised and curated by Dan Bass.Follow Sarah Baulch Gallery on Insta: HERE The names of the 29 artists exhibiting in the show are Maud Whatley, Pete Woodhead, Gav Toye, Ben Philips, Philip Gatward, Steven Alan, Harry Pye, Hannah Lees, Julian Doyle, Sharon Page, Lucy Crispin, Grace Ayson, Dave Frankle, Paul Crawley, Martin Daubney, Timothy Winkworth, Robert Norman, Derek Greenan, Adrian Day, Katie Byrne, Nessie Big, Jack Lavender, Matthew de Pulford, Roy Eastland, Joe Fenwick Wilson, Philip Page, Dan Bass, Mai Buckingham, and Esme Bone.

Above: Avon

Above: Travis

Above: Orac and Vila

Above:Roj

Above: Servalan

Above: Del Tarrant

Above: Soolin

Above: Danya ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Notes on what Blake's 7 is and what's special about it? Terry Nation invented the Daleks for the series Dr Who he also wrote scripts for Erik Sykes, Frankie Howerd, and Tony Hancock. He went on to create the 1975 TV series Survivors and then create Blake's 7 (which ran from 1978 to 1981). The cast included'Gareth Thomas as Roj Blake' Whose most famous line is "I am not insane... I am not insane... I am not insane." Blake wast he ruthless Commander of The Liberator who becomes obsessed with destroying the Federation Computer Control. Blake dies on Planet Gauda Prime. Blake's enemy is Servalan whose best line is:"But first, there is the matter of that degrading and primitive act you subjected me to in the control room... I should like you to do it again." The most popular chracter in the series is Avon whose best line is: "I am not expendable. I am not stupid. And I am not going." Avon takes Blake's place as the central charcter in the series. Between November 2024 and Jan 2025 Harry Pye and Rowland Smith painted characters from the show (acrylic on 16 by 20 inch sized canvas)They have never been exhibited before now. Episode 7 of series 2 was called 'Bounty' This episode was filmed at Waterloo Tower at Quex Park, Birchington (very near to Herne Bay)

Harry Pye C.V. and statement

Harry Pye was born in London in 1973. He graduated from Winchester School of Art in 1995 after completing a degree in Fine Art Pritmaking. As part of his course he undertook an artist placement with the sculptor Bruce McLean. From 1995 to 2000 he edited and published his own zine, Harry Pye's Frank Magazine. He then curated exhibitions of other people's paintings for 5 years. At the age of 30 he began to paint again. Since then his paintings have been selected for shows at The Barbican, Calvert 22, The Discerning Eye Mall Gallery, The Bankside Gallery, The Creekside Art Gallery, festivals such as Elefest and Deptford X and The Royal Academy Summer Show. His paintings were also selected for two shows at Tate Modern ('Save Our Souls' and 'Inside Job'). Pye paintings have appeared on record sleeves for Roland Gift, videos for Francis Macdonald, Neil Innes and Nigel Planer, posters on the London underground and on the cover of the Tate Staff Handbook. His work has also appeared in numerous publications including; The Times, The Guardian, The Evening Standard, Frieze, and Turps Banana. His collaborative exhibition with Jasper Joffe ('Joffe et Pye') got a rave review on BBC Radio 4. Speaking on Saturday Review, Ekow Eshun's response to the show was: "intense feelings about love, loneliness and fear, anxiety, desire and hope and ambition all came into play in these paintings. Very powerful I thought. What could have been fey, arch, or game playing was actually very warm." Pye was the winner of a Daily Mirror 'Paint Tony Blair' Competition judged by Gilbert and George. The Week magazine said of Harry's work: "Pye's apparent naivety is accompanied by a strong sense of construction and design. Their directness and humour are appealing." The critic Ana Finel Honigman described him as one of "London's premiere puckish artists and curators" whist the author Stephen Ellcock believes: "Harry Pye’s playful, skewed and slyly subversive visions of a brighter , better reality are the perfect antidote to a world of woe. His paintings are a delightful and, at times , poignant riposte to all the po-faced, cynical and joyless cultural landfill cluttering up the place." Pye had a solo show at the Thomas Cohn Gallery in Sao Paulo. His work has also been included in group shows at Tom Christoffersen's gallery and David Risley's gallery both in Denmark, The Westend Projekt Space in Holland, The Hell gallery in Australia, and the Charlie Dutton Gallery in China, Platform Projects in Greece. Later this year he will have a painting included in a show at The M Galleries in Washington, USA. Artist statement: "My paintings are about my feelings. I don't always paint alone - my paintings of people I love are often made in collaboration with people who have been my closest friends for decades. I paint to distract myself, to educate myself and to cheer myself up. The paintings are postcards to the world. I think a few of my paintings are sad and quite a few of the paintings are funny. Recently the critic Neal Brown told me my work was "compelling" because he felt it contained "fun, laughter, pleasure, poetic sentiment, intimacy, and bittersweet reflective melancholy." Last year I co-curated a group show called 'Nature' in Estonia with August Kannapu. I made a series of paintings of cows because I'm fascinated by the way they are seen as comical or something you can use to make hamburgers by some and worshipped like Gods by others. I'm interested in life's ironies and how life is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel."

Above: Image One: 'William Blake and his Tyger' (2025) Acrylic on canvas credited to Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Image Two: 'Sometimes A Cigar Is Just A Cigar' (2026) A3 screenprint credited to Harry Pye and Chris Tosic

Above: Image Three: 'Whatever Works' credited to Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Image Four 'King Harold' credited to Harry Pye

Above: Image Five: 'Live Long and Prosper' credited to Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Image Six: 'Secretary Bird' (2021) 65cm x 90cm acrylic on canvas credited to Harry Pye

Above: Image Seven: 'Today Deptford, Tomorrow The World' (2026) acrylic on canvas 65cm by 90cm. Credited to Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Image Eight: 'I'm Joan Collins and You're Not' acrylic on canvas credited to Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Image Nine: 'Willy Wonka' (2021) Acrylic on canvas credited to Harry Pye

Above: Image Ten 'Flowers' (2023) 15cm by 21cm acrylic and marker pen on canvas

The TOP TRUMPS exhibition in London and Ramsgate

Top Trumps is an exhibition that features artwork by Magda Archer, Peter Blake, Bula Chakravarty, Adam Dant, Edie Flowers, Georgia Hayes, Lyndon Hayes, John Hegley, Alice Herrick, Jumpei Kinoshita, James Lawson, Francis Macdonald, Julia Maddison, Raksha Patel, Martin Rowson, Adrian R. Shaw, Rowland Smith, Suzanne Spiro, Rebekah Sunshine, Twinkle Troughton, Sandra Turnbull. 

William Hogarth owned a pug that he named Trump. Hogarth included Trump the pug in several of his paintings including his famous 1745 self portrait which is often on display at Tate Britain. 25 years ago a statue of  Hogarth and Trump (made by Jim Mathieson) was unveiled outside Hogarth's House in Chiswick. Sir Peter Blake wanted to help raise funds for the Hogarth Trust so he made prints of  a drawing that he had made of Trump. Curator Harry Pye invited artists he admired to produce a pug portrait of their own. It's up to the viewer to decide which dog is best in show. The collection of Trumps will feature as part of a big group show called 'Smiley Smile' happening at hARTS Lane gallery, 17 Harts Lane, New Cross, SE14, 5UP in March and will then tour to The Wooden Box Gallery, 92 High Street, Ramsgate CT11 9RX in April.  ‘Smiley Smile' opens on Wednesday the 11th of March and there will be an opening party from 5pm till 8pm. On Thursday the 12th, Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th, the show is open to the public between 11am and 6pm. 'Top Trumps' then travels to Ramsgate. The show, at Wooden Box Gallery, will be hung on Friday 17th April. There will be a special lunchtime event on Saturday 18th. The gallery will then be open on Sunday 19th, Monday 20th, and Tuesday 21st from 10.30am to 3.30pm, but please call ahead: 07990596674.

Above: Pug portrait by Georgia Hayes

Above: Pug portrait by Martin Rowson

Above: Pug portrait by Rowland Smith

Above: Pug portrait by Jumpei Kinoshita

Above: Pug portrait by Suzanne Spiro

Above: Pug portrait by Sir Peter Blake

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About the artists...

Follow Jumpei

https://www.instagram.com/jumpei_kinoshita/

Follow Rebekah

https://www.instagram.com/rebekah.sunshine/

Follow James

https://www.instagram.com/james_lawson_art/

Smiley Smile

 

Smiley Smile is based around four different artists: Fabienne Jenny Jacquet, Pierre Julien, Harry Pye, and Kelda Storm. The title of the show comes from the name of an old Beach Boys album which featured the hit single 'Good Vibrations'. The aim of the exhibition is to keep hope alive and give people some reasons to be cheerful. 

"The more I find out about people, the more I like my dog." Mark Twain

"My paintings are acts of love." Francis Picabia

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Fabienne Jenny Jacquet creates dark, sensual and moody figurative art with a touch of humour based on her experience as a female outsider. Her subjects are often awkward and uncomfortable, their bodies twisted in unnatural poses or stumbling, limbs distorted and flesh exposed. They might be breaking apart or teetering on the edge of the abyss, but they are also triumphant challengers of the status quo clawing their way to freedom. Beautiful losers and angry waifs. These paintings tell stories of isolation, otherness, body shaming, sex, beauty, ugliness and death. To articulate her vision of the world, the artist explores the physicality of paint through thick, luscious layers and tactile textures. She uses expressive brush strokes, dripping paint and free, broad gestures to create instinctive compositions with loose outlines. Her work conveys a mixture of fragility and strength and an ongoing sense of urgency. Source material for her paintings include images from vintage magazines, photographs taken by the artist and references to popular culture and art history which are then merged with her own memories and emotions. This gives the work a feeling of relatable universal longing and of hope against all odds. 

Pierre Julien has been painting portraits of people he works with at the Tate Gallery since 2022. So far over 100 friends and colleagues have posed for him. The images can be seen on social media platforms such as Insta and Facebook. Pierre started working at the Tate in 2013 with the company Wilson James and has worked for Tate directly since 2016 as a Visitor Assistant. Pierre describes working at Tate as being a privilege because there is a "constant influx of artists and legacies."   

Harry Pye is presenting 'Top Trumps' which is his collection of artworks made in response to  William Hogarth's painting of his pet pug. (At time of writing) The esteemed artists lending a work are; Bula Agbo, Magda Archer, Peter Blake,  Adam Dant, Edie Flowers, Georgia Hayes, Lyndon Hayes, John Hegley, Jumpei Kinoshita, Peter Jones, James Lawson, Lee Maelzer, Raksha Patel, Adrian R. Shaw, Rowland Smith, Rebekah Sunshine, Suzanne Spiro, Twinkle Troughton, and Sandra Turnbull. 

Kelda  Storm makes vibrant and playful artwork created from her colour-saturated world; every image, every artwork carries meaning, or narrative elements. Lips feature heavily as they are the ultimate feminine iconography that serve to sexualise and sensualise and are also a symbol of voice and freedom. The artist says "I present a duality that sits between the joyous and serious. Along with my brash colour palette, the artwork I produce is deliberately minimal; almost stripped to just what you need to see…"

Image above:

Title: ‘’Like a fish out of water” by Fabienne

Medium: oi on oil paper

Size: 30 x 35 cm (framed)

Year: 2025

Find out more about Fabienne: HERE

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Image above:

Title: ‘’Doublespeak” by Kelda 

Medium: Screenprint

Size: 50x70cm (Edition of 10)

Year: 2025

Find out more about Kelda: HERE

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Image above:

Title: ‘’The Artist's Pug" by Sir Peter Blake (from the collection of Harry Pye)

Medium: Signed art print

Size: 

Year: 2000

Find out more about Harry: HERE

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Image above:

Title: ‘’Derek Jordan' by Pierre

Medium: Acrylic on mountboard

Size: 45cm by 60cm

Year: 2023

Find out more about Pierre: HERE

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We set up and hang all the work on Wednesday the 11th of March and have a party from 5pm till 8pm. On Thursday the 12th, Friday the 13th, Saturday the 14th we are open to the public between 11am and 6pm. On Sunday 15th we have everything taken away by 12 midday.