Flat Exhibition - Article by Alison Oldham -
Published in the H&H Series arts and Features July 28 2006 London.
What does the phrase “International domesticity’ convey to you? Spouses living in different countries? Multicultural furnishings? A transatlantic league of housewives?
The words come from Chris Follows',s statement accompanying his video work, 71 Ranelagh Road, in FLAT, tile first exhibition in Camden Town's newest art space, the Arlington Gallery. After explaining how he captured "home" video footage from the internet between June 22 and 30 this year, Follows says: "The found footage has been reworked into a new narrative that leads, the viewer through a uncanny maze of international domesticity," The resulting four-minute DVD, in which empty dining rooms, washing-up, open-lidded toilets and beds strewn with clothes hove shakily in and out of view, would be a good deal less intriguing without the nagging need to give a meaning to "international domesticity'. In creating this unease, Follows seems in tune with curator Anna Lewis's agenda for FLAT. She invited seven artist to' respond to the residential nature of the upper part of the gallery' premises -'the flat above the former Regent.s book shop in Parkway.
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Morning Star - Home truths (Tuesday 18 July 2006) See full review
CHRISTINE LINDEY looks at a charitable gallery that bucks the trend of worthiness with a show of punchy political art. THE Arlington gallery is easy to find. A lace curtain is not something you would expect to find across the window of an art gallery. It used to be in a home above Camden's Regents bookshop and the new space, a shop with flat above, retains an element of the residential. Imaginatively, the curator has invited seven artists to respond to this domestic space for its opening exhibition at the new site. This is appropriate as the gallery is one of three run by the Novas group, a non-profit-making organisation which helps the homeless by providing accommodation but also by encouraging its residents to regain self-esteem by telling their own stories. Future exhibitions here will consist of their works. A sculpture studio is being built in the gallery's namesake, the nearby Arlington House, a massive, still functioning Edwardian hostel for homeless men. Like commercial galleries, sales are split 50-50 with the artist, but, in this case, the profit is ploughed back into the charity. Such projects can often be worthy but amateurish. This one isn't. Rather than smugly crying crocodile tears for the homeless, the artists examine the frustration and oppression as well as the seduction and security of the idea of "home." Don't we all have a competitive neighbour, whose whiter-than-white nets accuse our own domestic slovenliness? Artists include Noa Lidor, Garry Martin, Chris Follows, Petra Hudcova, Nawfal Salman Dexter Dymoke and Jeff Sawtell.
“As one of the Novas group’s three London galleries, this exhibition in the Arlington Gallery impacts nicely with the work Novas does with the homeless. The Novas Group aims to empower people and communities by creating opportunities for change through support, specialist accommodation, work and learning, enterprise and cultural expression.”
“We anticipate that these works will both excite and stimulate gallery visitors and see the professionalism and energy of those involved as a taste of things to come in future exhibitions.”
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