FISHMARKET

STATEMENT FROM NORTHAMPTON ARTS COLLECTIVE – 9 JANUARY 2009
www.northamptonarts.org www.fishmarketgallery.co.uk
NAC WITHDRAWS FROM FISHMARKET GALLERY AND ARTS CENTRE
NAC is extremely sad and disappointed to announce that we will be withdrawing from running the Fishmarket Gallery and Arts Centre from April 2009, although we are hopeful that a consortium or partnership will be able to take some of the activities forward. NAC has enabled a wonderful facility which we hope has a future.
Over the past 18 months we have produced and hosted over 150 events, exhibitions and performances involving many Northamptonians and artists of national standing. This has been achieved with considerable voluntary effort and extremely tight budgets. This project now needs proper support and investment. Since July we have been working to arrange finance which would allow us to develop our programme, fully staff the project and create new arts and community activities from April onwards. This has not been possible.
We currently host 6 designer makers, 5 independent shops and 5 artists. None of whom can afford central Northampton rents (untenable for independent traders considering the footfall in the town centre) so will have to move out unless they are able to achieve wide support for taking the project forward in some way.
We wish to stress that this is not an issue of any single funder or local authority pulling out. We have had, and are extremely grateful for, support from Borough and County, Arts Council England, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd, the River Nene Regional Park, Macintyre Hudson Accountants, the county council’s voluntary sector support unit, SRB6, and the Caspar scheme among others.
However, we need a minimum level of core revenue funding (funding for buildings and equipment is achievable) from local agencies to enable us to pay utilities, meet venue legislation, pay staff to manage the building, events, exhibitions and crucially to undertake further fundraising which is a specialist skill. We wanted to expand our units, to make us more sustainable and less reliant on the public sector. A number of factors have conspired against local agencies’ ability to meet the minimum funding level required or assist in our expansion plans.
We have been committed not only to providing a town/city of ¼ million people with a contemporary visual and performing arts facility, but to raise the profile of Northampton and contribute to the regeneration and diversification of the town centre. Our efforts have received critical acclaim in the local press, the Guardian, Art Of England Magazine, the Saatchi Magazine and the BBC.
We still firmly believe that an artist run gallery space with the very special architectural qualities of the Fishmarket is unique in the UK and could have provided Northampton with a very special arts venue indeed. It is an affordable and accessible space in the centre of town. Testimonies from experienced artists and visitors confirm this. It is nothing short of a tragedy to lose it at the very beginning of its life. The Fishmarket Gallery and Arts Centre, given time to grow, could have become a draw for other cultural and economic activity, a process mirrored all over the UK.
It is disappointing that this project has not attracted the continued financial support it needs and deserves. We very much hope it is a temporary situation which, with some joined up thinking, commitment, and crucially a clear development plan for Northampton, (including at its heart a cultural development plan) could be re-addressed in the future.
Until there is full recognition in Northampton that cultural development underpins economic and social regeneration (as has been proved in the rest of the country and is often funded through economic regeneration routes) there is little hope of a significant change in approach.
Without a healthy contemporary arts and cultural offer in Northampton, we are consigning Northampton to the long list of dormitory towns unlikely to attract good businesses and shops. Is this what people want ? Is this what Northampton deserves ? Art and Culture create confidence, vibrancy, engage the widest community in creative endeavour, make a sense of place, give inspiration, and a meaningful alternative to binge drinking and cheap shopping. We have special and unique attractions in central Northampton; 78 Derngate, Royal and Derngate, Northampton Museum but much more is needed. The arts need critical mass.
We will be presenting exhibitions until the end of March. Do please consider a visit to the Fishmarket to browse our independent shops who will continue to trade Thur-Sat. If the current economic climate has taught us anything, it is that we should all be inspired and empowered to make our own way. The Fishmarket encouraged and nurtured exactly that ethos.
NAC hopes to continue its endeavours after March utilising different venues and spaces. We still wish to contribute to making Northampton a better place to live work and visit for all residents and their guests.
Northampton Arts Collective
www.northamptonarts.org
www.fishmarketgallery.co.uk
Note to editors further enquiries to:
Toni Jones 07809 759187
Office Thur – Sat 10-6pm 01604 639090

The Fishmarket Art Fair

Fri 28 Nov 2008 - Thu 15 Jan 2009
The Fishmarket Art Fair

Following the success of last year’s FREEZING ART FAIR we are delighted to announce that THE FISHMARKET ART FAIR will, once again close our 2008 exhibition programme.

The event will follow the same format of a large scale, selected salon show in our main gallery. Artists working locally and all over the UK will be given the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Harry Pye, Josh Thomson, Hugh Mendes and Louise Clarke and exhibit their work for sale in our spectacular main space. This year the exhibition will be bigger and better and will enjoy an extended run throughout December and into January. THE FISHMARKET ART FAIR is an affordable and eclectic salon show open to 2D & 3D art in any medium and by artists of all levels and ages. Variety in scale and technique is encouraged whether it is classical oils, modern abstract, 3d collage, tapestry, woodcut or photography – and our space is huge so disregard your limits!

“The standard of last year’s exhibition was incredibly high and the effect of the 150 incredibly diverse works hung together was spectacular. I have even higher hopes for this year’s show and look forward to bringing work from all over the UK to the gallery for our take on the RA Summer Exhibition” Amy Pettifer – Programme Manager

SUBMISSIONS
Artists are invited to submit up to 10 pieces of work for selection. There is no guarantee of inclusion so submission of several pieces is advised. Selection may result in showing more than one piece of work by each artist. Please email the following details to submissions@northamptonarts.org by midnight on Thursday 6th November 08.

•Your name, age and contact number along with a short artists statement if desired.
•Up to 10 images of your work in jpeg or gif form. Files should be no bigger that 1MB each.
•Details of the submitted works i.e Dimensions and Media.

ENTRY
There is no entry fee for the show but selected artists will be required to sign up as Friends of Northampton Arts Collective. Northampton Arts Collective is a not for profit, artist lead organization that runs the Fishmarket Gallery and promotes and supports arts activity in Northampton. This costs just £10 for a year membership and offers the following benefits

•Regular updates about Fishmarket Events and Exhibitions including invites to all private views.
•An unlimited upload artists profile within the NAC website.
•The opportunity to attend the NAC AGM and vote to elect the Board and Directors.
•The opportunity to propose events and exhibitions in the space.

Entrants can join as members of NAC at any time, regardless of the outcome of the selection.
For further information about the NAC and membership visit www.northamptonarts.org.

SALES
Although it is not compulsory, all artists are invited to exhibit their work for sale. In the event of a sale (which will be administrated by the gallery) The Fishmarket will take a 30% commission. Prices are at your discretion. Any work sold will be available for collection on two dates - Sat 20th December and Saturday 31st January unless otherwise organized with the gallery.

HANGING RESTRICITIONS
We have a fantastically large space so size is not an issue, however you must state the dimensions of each piece for consideration during selection.

SAFETY OF WORK
The Fishmarket gallery is secured in line with our insurance policy and the space will be invigilated during the show. All art will be covered by our standard insurance

If you have any questions about the exhibition please contact the exhibitions manager. We look forward to seeing your work!

Telephone:
+44 (0)1604 639090

Email:
amy@fishmarketgallery.co.uk

VENUE DETAILS:
Venue:
Fishmarket

Address:
Bradshaw Street, Northampton, NN1 2HL

Telephone:
01604 639090

Email:
admin@northamptonarts.org

Website:
http://www.fishmarketgallery.co.uk

Contact:
Jayne West Director Amy Pettifer Programme Manager Sally Blaise comms and admin

Unrest

Selected works from the UN 2008 Fine Art BA
Fri 05 Sep 2008 - Sat 20 Sep 2008
Unrest

The Fishmarket Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by 9 emerging artists, graduating in 2008 from the University of Northampton Fine Art BA course. The Fishmarket has long seen the importance of making strong links with the University in order to provide a platform for new artists, to support their development and offer an inspiring context for their work within the community and further afield.

For the first time The Fishmarket has invited students to exhibit in the main gallery and create an exhibition that forms part of the 2008 programme. Very much a progression of the degree show, Unrest brings together artists working in a range of media including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and video. Many of the artists have chosen to create new work for the exhibition and several will be creating site specific pieces that respond directly to the space, Unrest offers a unique opportunity to see new work by these artists, charting their development since graduation.

A vibrant diversity of styles exists within the selection but the show is bound together by the multiple meanings of its title. “Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude” These themes are most starkly represented in the grotesque surreality that underpins the work of Stuart Southwell, Jack James and Simon Kitchin working in photography, video and painting respectively, but also through the energetic, brash action of paintings by Gareth Haynes and Nosheen Muhammad. A quieter interpretation is evident in the intense, restless details of drawings by Hilary Stone and Roz Inett, the sense of fragility and impermanence in the sculptural work of Mary Ahmadi and the search for rest and repose in photographs by Lesley Anne Churchill.


Hugh Mendes - An Existential Itch 2001-2008

Hugh Mendes
Fri 11 Jul 2008 - Sat 23 Aug 2008
Hugh Mendes - An Existential Itch 2001-2008

Hugh Mendes started to collect scraps of newspaper in order to paint them as still lifes during his MA. Some he would buy, some he would find, some lift here and there from cafes, or wherever. All about him lay raw material: snippets of history, with images attached, to paint. He started making work for his graduation show, which was scheduled for 9 September, 2001. On one occasion, while walking along Brick Lane, he found a section of an Arabic newspaper that featured a picture of a guy, turbaned and wrapped in cloth, pointing a gun at some unseen target. He painted this anonymous, menacing figure, then juxtaposed this with a portrait of George Bush along with the headline, ‘So Gore did really win Florida’. For Mendes, the juxtaposition meant that, by winning the election, however fraudulently, his prize was the ominous figure on the other panel of the diptych. The two faced each other, opponents in some unknown battle. Then came the events of the 9/11 and all at once this picture, which to Mendes had no specific, historical meaning, became ubiquitous. In the aftermath of the events, it became clear that the gun-toting man was Osama Bin Laden. He subsequently made a series of paintings based on the events of that day, and featured them in his first solo show ‘Into Manhattan’s Memory’, in November 2001.

What came to be called the ‘War on Terror’ is one of the four categories, some overlapping, that Mendes has pursued over the past seven years: The events of 9/11, the march of science and especially cloning, obituaries, and stories related to the art world. And yet, among the strongest works hovers above all four categories, offering a comment on them all. Titled simply World News, it depicts the tangled, fleshy jaws and gnashing teeth of two dogs engaged in ferocious combat. With vivid simplicity and directness, the painting reveals the banality of violence we find depicted everyday in the newspaper. World News always features war, combat, bloodiness, and the painting illustrates our appetite for everything ‘red in tooth and claw’, as Tennyson characterized nature, despairingly. If there is a hint of resignation in this stance, I think that’s true: this is a strangely deadpan picture. But Mendes brings his own intensity to his project. He sees the work as having a critical function, and wants to recuperate these newspaper images in order to re-present them, and so jolt us into reflection.

The obituary paintings, by contrast, have an elegiac calm, and even when Mendes depicts irredeemable villains like Saddam Hussein or Augusto Pinochet, the tone is never mocking. Look at Hussein, for instance, strangely handsome with his full beard and intense glare, or Pinochet, so resplendent in his full military regalia. What one senses immediately when looking at these pictures is the pleasure that the artist took in painting them, as if he takes a keen interest in how these monsters have been depicted in magazines and newspapers, and what the ramifications are of re-presenting them as small canvas tombstones. Keep in mind that Mendes often mixes and matches image and headline: he wants to find the combination with the most friction, the most compellingly ambiguous juxtaposition. Mendes has painted everyone from the Pope, Robert Altman, James Brown, Isabella Blow and an anonymous philosopher to somebody’s pet dogs. Mendes equalises all of these lives suspends them in a new eternity. His pictures offer a kind of resurrection, however modest. Craig Burnett

Hugh Mendes is a British artist living and working in London. Since completing his MA at City and Guilds of London Art School in 2001, Mendes has been making paintings based on newspaper clippings. This exhibition offers a seven year ‘mini retrospective’ and brings together over a hundred of the works for the first time both in the Main Gallery and with an exhibition of his obituary paintings in Gallery Two. Hugh Mendes has exhibited in Tokyo and New York as well as exhibiting extensively in London in both group and solo shows at Hales Gallery, Sartorial Art, Keith Talent and The Foundry. Mendes was awarded the Fresh Artist of the year award in 2003 and has recently curated his 5th exhibition Icon at the Primo Alonso Gallery in Hackney.

Telephone:
+44 (0)1604 639090

Email:
admin@fishmarketgallery.co.uk

VENUE DETAILS:
Venue:
Fishmarket

Address:
Bradshaw Street, Northampton, NN1 2HL

Telephone:
01604 639090

Email:
admin@northamptonarts.org

Website:
http://www.fishmarketgallery.co.uk

Contact:
Jayne West Director Amy Pettifer Programme Manager Sally Blaise comms and admin