Join us for an afternoon in Leeds exploring the thriving contemporary art scene.
The programme will include:
- A curator-led tour of painting show Dirty Pop at &Model, one of the newest gallery spaces to open in central Leeds occupying three floors of a 19th century building on East Parade.
- Time to view the current exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery (Northern Art Prize 2013) and the Henry Moore Institute (Robert Filliou: The Institute of Endless Possibilities).
- A visit to Mexico, a relatively recent addition to the city’s art scene run by artists and curators.
- Studio visits at East Street Arts with young artists David Steans and Harry Meadley who are attracting considerable critical interest.
Furthermore, if you have ever been enticed by the bright lights and shiny colours of a vending machine and then felt wholly unsatisfied by your purchase, we will be introducing you to a highly imaginative project called Art Vend organised by Woolgather which seeks to provide something far more rewarding!
(Please note: due to unforseen circumstances arising from the construction work, we are no longer able to visit PSL at The Tetley as previously advertised, but will endeavour to reschedule this for another date).
Bookings:
Please RSVP by Friday 3 May to Mark Doyle at mark@contemporaryartsociety.org or by calling 07891 880 498 (please state whether you will be bringing a guest)
Studio Visits – Background information
Harry Meadley has a heavily conceptual practice but is concerned with the reality of artworks: as objects themselves, in relation in the wider-World, and to the people who encounter them. The works themselves vary wildly from such things as the volume of the artist in 24 carat gold, a coconut, declaring another artist as his nemesis, and a petrified canvas, to an art prize for Foundation students at Leeds College of Art. Meadley has just finished a period of five months where he made every work he conceived that was able to be realised.
Meadley lives and works in Leeds. Meadley graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2009. Selected solo exhibitions include: Play It as It Lies, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, 2013, Stay Gold, Annet Gelink Gallery (The Bakery), Amsterdam, 2012, No Hands, The Institute of Jamais Vu, London, 2011, and Young British Art, Limoncello, London, 2011.
David Steans is an artist whose output includes objects, drawings, videos and writing. Steans looks to horror and history for inspiration but seeks not to merely emulate or reference but create his own fictions. Steans is currently working on an anthology of original short horror stories that go on to inspire related artworks.
Steans lives and works in Leeds. Steans graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2007. Recent solo projects include The Unkindness of Igraine Hustwitt Skelton, Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 2012 and The Bin-bag, Xero, Kline and Coma, London, 2011. In March 2013 Steans won the VANTAGE Art Prize, and throughout 2013 is participating in The School of the Damned, a free MA project in London.
Meadley and Steans are close friends, occasional collaborators and, together with the artist Matthew Crawley, co-founders of the Leeds Weirdo Club. The Leeds Weirdo Club is the working studio of Meadley and Steans and a project in itself. From 2013 onwards each year the Leeds Weirdo Club will stage an exhibition each quarter, produce an annual and host a series of informal evenings and nights.
Main image: Harry Meadley, Edition of 3, 2012. Image courtesy the artist
