News | The Grey Gallery

Carol Robertson + Trevor Sutton

Heaven Earth and Human Beings

2 November – 8 December 2024

The Grey Gallery, 4 Helmsley Place, London Fields, London, E8 3SB

The title of this exhibition takes its meaning from ancient wisdom, believing Heaven = the Circle, Earth = the Square and Human Beings = the Triangle. (Korean Cheonbu concept of the Dangun era).
London artists Carol Robertson and Trevor Sutton have lived and worked side by side in Hackney for 40 years, producing reductive geometric abstract paintings, prints and works on paper. Both use the circle square and triangle and both artists absorb a take on life re-ordered by careful geometry and associative colour: their work is never entirely disconnected from the real world. Robertson works with a variety of geometric formations but particularly circles, for their ideal power, their aesthetic beauty. Sutton has also worked with many different shapes and forms but is currently using triangles or working within the architecture of the grid. At Grey Gallery they bring together a mix of paintings and works on paper that explore the beautiful geometry of circle, square and triangle.

Circle image (left): Carol Robertson, Phases #4, 2020, 94 x 94cm, oil on canvas.
Square image (centre): Trevor Sutton, Dream 10951, 2017, 99 x 99cm, oil on canvas.
Triangle image (right): Trevor Sutton, The Shaking Tree, 2022, 66 x 76cm, oil on canvas.

Exhibition

Nathan Cash Davidson

Sphere of Clarity

9 - 20 June 2024

The Grey Gallery at 12A Vyner Street, London, E2 9DG

Grey Gallery presented Sphere of Clarity, a solo exhibition of Nathan Cash Davidson’s paintings in Vyner Street, curated by Laurence Noga. Two new works about the Russia-Ukraine war and a painting referencing the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh were shown alongside a survey of ten previously unseen paintings from the last decade.

Nathan Cash Davidson was born in London in 1988 and graduated from Wimbledon College of Art in 2010. He began to exhibit his large vivid paintings in 2007 at a squat in Peckham and thereafter with the dealer Hannah Barry. In 2010 he was the youngest artist to be given a solo exhibition at the prestigious Parasol Unit, one of the high temples of serious contemporary art in London.

Davidson uses imagery from a wide and surprising range of sources; Alan Sugar points from the television screen while Richard the III on his horse trots alongside in a neighbouring work. Characters from myth, history and news jostle for position in these set pieces, the exhilarating juxtapositions are at once confounding and mysterious. The paintings present familiar characters without judgement or hierarchy and once they are removed from context by Davidson's hand a timeless innocence descends on them as they look out from these pictures with a new detachment.

Davidson is also a rapper, the torrent of words typical of that musical genre follows through to his painting. These are intuitive pictures and the imagery comes thick and fast. These new works are Davidson's take on science fiction, the Old Masters and the war in Ukraine among other things. As the age of AI approaches, this work seems prescient and pertinent.

Image: Nathan Cash Davidson, Ukraine Modern Warfare, oil on canvas 120 x 202cm, 2023,

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

Made in Hackney 2

11 May - 16 June 2024

The Grey Gallery, 4 Helmsley Place, London Fields, London E8 3SB

Made in Hackney 2, was a show of landscape paintings made in the artist's studio at London Fields.
Most paintings in the world are made inside, locked away from the subject, as were cave paintings 40,000 years ago. A good thing, as many of McFadyen's works measure 2 x 3 metres or more and would be impossible to cart over fields to do the plein air thing, although the pictures in this show are not huge and most are small enough to hang in a house. Canaletto also worked indoors, those gondoliers and clouds wouldn't have kept still for him. But McFadyen's pictures depict British territory, urban and pastoral, and sometimes they depict nothing much. Empty vistas and beaches hang with fleeting images of the built environment viewed from a train travelling at 100mph and others depict Scottish wilderness with a smidgen of city lights peeping in from the wings.
On this island the sea is never far away and neither is the city.

Image: Jock McFadyen, Westhaven, oil on board, 69 x 94cm, 2024

Exhibition

John Deakin, Jock McFadyen, anonymous_bosch23 & Iain Sinclair

Pariah Genius

26 April - 24 May 2024

Swedenborg House, 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London, WC1A 2TH

Cheerio Publishing, in tandem with their April publication of the mighty Iain Sinclair’s Pariah Genius, announced a month-long takeover of the historic and beautiful Swedenborg House in Bloomsbury for an exhibition of John Deakin’s photographs, Sinclair’s notes and research for the novel, as well as paintings by Jock McFadyen, a film by anonymous_bosch23, and events and talks inspired by the great photographer’s work.

Exhibition

Tom Hunter

Life and Death in Hackney

13 April - Sun 5 May 2024

The Grey Gallery, 4 Helmsley Place, London Fields, London E8 3SB

It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since Tom Hunter made his landmark series Life and Death in Hackney, 1991 - 2001. The work depicts a world completely built over by the London Olympics and the ongoing gentrification of Hackney and adjacent areas. Life and Death in Hackney paints a landscape, creating a melancholic beauty out of the post-industrial decay where wild buddleia and sub-cultural inhabitants took root and bloomed.
To mark this passing of time and place, Tom Hunter showed seven large scale images from the series at the Grey Galley.

Image: 'The Vale of Rest' 2000, from the series 'Life and Death in Hackney', 4ft x 5ft Cibachrome print, mounted on aluminium, glazed and framed.

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen & Jem Finer

Underground

25 Nov 2023 – 18 Feb 2024

The Grey Gallery, 4 Helmsley Place, London E8 3SB

Underground, a two person show. Painter Jock McFadyen RA presents 7 large paintings with accompanying field recordings by musician Jem Finer.
The exhibition features seven large pictures from McFadyen’s Underground series from the late 1990s. These images are culled from various London tube stations. Bank and Elephant border on pure abstraction but are pulled back by the inclusion of familiar signage and iconography. These empty, haunting works are viewed in concert with a visceral soundscape formed of edited field recordings by the musician and artist Jem Finer. Like the paintings, this piece is composed of random sound thrown up by the underground but punctuated by the familiar. Announcements, signals and even a busker draw us back to subterranean reality.

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

Red Yellow and Blue: Five pictures

18 Mar - 14 May 2023

The Grey Gallery at Jock McFadyen Studio, 4 Helmsley Place, London E8 3SB

McFadyen opened his studio in London Fields, presenting for the first time together five recent paintings, including large-scale urban landscapes, along with figurative works.

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

Tourist without a Guidebook

6 Feb — 11 Apr 2022

Weston Rooms, Royal Academy of Art, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD

Bringing together 20 works spanning almost 30 years, this free display in the Royal Academy of Arts' Weston Rooms explores Jock McFadyen’s fascination with London’s changing urban landscapes.

Further details: royalacademy.org.uk

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen Goes to The Lowry:

A Retrospective

16 Oct - 27 Feb 2022

Lowry Gallery, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, M50 3AZ

Scottish artist, Jock McFadyen, displays a range of works spanning 45 years.

Interview

Stark Talk

31 Oct 2021

Edi Stark talks with Jock McFadyen on BBC Radio Scotland.

Length: 36:21 minutes

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

Lost Boat Party

11 Jun - 25 Sep 2021

Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

A major exhibition of over 20 large paintings at Scotland's Dovecot Studios, in partnership with The Scottish Gallery

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

In Conversation

Edi Stark Talks Art

with Jock McFadyen

12 August 2021

In this live, informal conversation, Stark delved into the consideration of landscape and environment that drives McFadyen’s work and his unique, unromanticised reflections on Scotland.

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

Performance

Edinburgh Fringe Opening Event

Little Sparta & Lost Boat Party

6 August 2021

To celebrate the opening of the Edinburgh Festival 2021 Little Sparta performed live their latest album Lost Boat Party.

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

Online Interview

Edinburgh Art Festival Launch Event

with Jock McFadyen & Simon Groom

31 July 2021

Dovecot celebrated the opening of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021 with a live interview between artist Jock McFadyen RA and Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland.

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

Online Talk

Making The Mallaig Commission

with Jock McFadyen

30 June 2021

Discover all the behind the scenes insights of making the rug commission with Scottish Artist, Jock McFadyen.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com

Online Talk

In Conversation

with Jock McFadyen

11:00 – 12:00, 12 June 2021

Discover Jock’s approach to painting the contemporary landscape in this online conversation with Christina Jansen, Director of The Scottish Gallery.

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

VIRTUAL TOUR

09 June 2021

Jock McFadyen

Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures

The Scottish Gallery presents a 360-degree virtual tour of Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures City Art Centre exhibition. Experience the Gallery in virtual reality.

Open Virtual Tour

COLLABORATION

09 June 2021

The Mallaig Commission

Jock McFadyen in collaboration with Dovecot Studios produced a major new artwork - The Mallaig Commission, a fine art textile.

Further details: dovecotstudios.com

Article

02 November 2020

Jock McFadyen: Significant Works

by Sue Hubbard

An article on the work of Jock McFadyen...

Little Sparta and Sally Timms

Lost Boat Party

New EP
Released 29 July 2020

Listen: bandcamp.com
Instagram: Instagram
Facebook: facebook.com

Print Sale

Charity Fundraising Print Sale

Grey Gallery Covid-19 Artists’ Response

May 2020

Grey Gallery artists donate 20% of sales to a charity of their choice.

Talk

Carmen Fracchia and Michael Ohajuru

'Black but Human'

5 December 2019

Eleven Spitalfields, London

A discussion, Slavery and Visual Arts in Hapsburg Spain, 1480 - 1700.

Exhibition

Peter Abrahams, Greta Kirkwood Andresen, Miranda Argyle, Marc Atkins, Jock McFadyen RA, Liz Rideal, Covadonga Valdes

Seven Artists

15 Nov - 8 Dec 2019

Eleven Spitalfields, London

A group exhibition. Over 50 works on display.

Music

29 March 2019

Mekons

Deserted

New album: CD, 12″ LP
Released 29 Mar 2019

Listen: deserted.bandcamp.com
Twitter: twitter.com
Facebook: facebook.com
bloodshotrecords.com

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

Darkness and Light

24 Nov - 3 Dec 2017

The Grey Gallery, London

Graphic works and new digital prints.

Music

May 2017

Waywords and Meansigns

Recreating Finnegans Wake

Little Sparta, with Sally Timms and Martin Billheimer, contribute to the 2017 release of Waywords and Meansigns.

Visit: waywordsandmeansigns.com

Music

Mekons

Mekonville

28 - 30 July 2017

Stonham Aspal, Pettaugh, England

The Mekons announce Mekonville Festival: A unique weekend festival in rural Suffolk.

Music

Mekons

15 July 2017

St John on Bethnal Green, London

An evening of acoustic Mekons music and dark and anticipatory banter in the weeks leading up to Mekonville…

Music

Susie Honeyman

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

Glastonbury Festival 2016

Susie Honeyman performs in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

View more: twitter.com

Music

Little Sparta

2015

Earl Haig Hall, London
Jacksons Ln, London
The Slaughtered Lamb, London

Music

The Revenge of the Mekons

18 Nov 2015

The Bertha DocHouse Screen, London

Documentary Screening and Q&A with the director and past & present Mekons

Music

A Ritual Haunting through Poetry, Images and Music

7 November 2015

Toynbee Studios, London

Readers: Justin Hopper and Shirley Collins; Musicians: Lost Harbours, Jem Finer (Longplayer, The Pogues), Susie Honeyman (Mekons, Little Sparta), Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor Press, Urthona), Cath Tyler (Phil & Cath Tyler, Cordelia’s Dad); Visuals: Stefan Musgrove and Mark Offord

Music

Mini Mekons and Robbie Fulks in Scotland

9-19 August 2014

Venues:
Belladrum Festival, Beauly
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
Stromness Town Hall, Orkney
Gable End Theatre, Hoy, Orkney
Clark's, Dundee

View more: youtube.com

Music

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

18 June 2014

Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Visit: facebook.com/SirHenryShow

Music

One Night Stanshall

An evening of Vivian's Meisterwerk Sir Henry at Rawlinson End and also many of Vivian's songs.

8 April 2014

Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Exhibition

Robert Marsden & Jock McFadyen

20 Feb - 29 Mar 2014

Marsden Woo, London

Music

Mini Mekons v Little Sparta

22 May 2013

Aces & Eights, London

Exhibition

Robert Marsden & Jock McFadyen

6 June 2012

The Prince's Drawing School, London

William Feaver in conversation with Jock McFadyen

Music

Little Sparta

The Garden of Disorientation

An Evening of Music and Conversation

23 May 2012

61 Charterhouse Street, London

Visit: facebook.com/events
Listen: bandcamp.com
Follow: facebook.com/LittleSpartaMusic
Listen in iTunes: itunes/little-sparta

Music

Little Sparta

Inspirations in Scottish Landscape

1 May 2012

The Fleming Collection, London

An Evening of Music and Conversation

Music

Little Sparta

Close: Music for an exhibition

New CD, Album. Released on Grey Gallery Records

Released 1 April 2012

Listen: bandcamp.com
Follow: facebook.com/LittleSpartaMusic
Listen in iTunes: itunes/little-sparta

Music

Mekons

I Have Been To Heaven And Back

20 - 29 May 2011

London and Switzerland

Exhibition

Simon Read

Plots & Plans

19 Sep - 2 Oct 2010

Hothouse, London

An exhibition of drawings

Music

Little Sparta

Close: A Journey in Scotland

22 Apr 2010

Chicago Botanic Garden, USA

Little Sparta's music features in the film accompanying the exhibition

Exhibition

Jock McFadyen

The landscape with its clothes on

15 Mar - 23 Apr 2010

Clifford Chance, London

Music

Little Sparta

An Evening of Scottish Music and Poetry

22 April 2010

The Fleming Collection, London

Exhibition

Simon Read

Drawn Towards

16 Mar - 22 Apr 2010

The Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth, Suffolk

An exhibition of graphic work by Simon Read.

Music

Little Sparta

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

28-30 Aug 2009

The Grey Gallery at Hawke and Hunter, Edinburgh

Listen: littlesparta.bandcamp.com

Exhibition

Bob and Roberta Smith

This Artist is Deeply Dangerous

As part of 2009’s Edinburgh Art Festival

6 Aug - 5 Sept 2009

The Grey Gallery at Hawke and Hunter, Edinburgh

Iain Sinclair and Jock McFadyen

2 April 2009

The Grey Gallery, London

Iain Sinclair reads from his new book Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire and talks with Jock McFadyen about their shared subject, the hidden territories of London's eastern landscape.