1. COMPLICITY Artifice & Illusion

2. Gallery
Complicity - Artifice & Illusion
3 March - 7 June 2016
Hermione Allsopp
Guy Bigland
Sasha Bowles
Mel Brimfield
Alastair Gordon
Andrew Grassie
Justin Hibbs
Debbie Lawson
Peter Liversidge
Gibson/Martelli
Helen Maurer
Damien Meade
Marion Michell
Clare Mitten
John Richert
Virginia Verran
Joella Wheatley
Curated by Rosalind Davis, Zeitgeist Arts Projects
Collyer Bristow LLP
4 Bedford Row
London WC1R 4TF
“A cracking show … brilliantly curated, superb artists” - ArtTop10
collyerbristow.com
zeitgeistartsprojects.com
@CBGallery1
@ZeitgeistAP
#Complicity
Photography pages 3-17: Michaela Nettell
Photography pages 40-48: David X Green davidxgreen.com

4. Introduction
“The question is not what you look at but what you see.” Henry David Thoreau
‘Complicity’ is an exhibition examining the relationship between illusion and artifice in art. It looks
at the inevitable complicity between audience and artist, both integral to the game of viewing an
artwork. Forging, faking, imitating, camouflaging and counterfeiting are all accepted as valid tools
of the artistic process, used to create new ways of looking at the world; subverting space and place,
objects, identity and image and re-imagining and questioning our perceptions of reality in unexpected
or subversive ways.
In the context of art and its reception, the viewer from the very outset plays an integral role in the
complicit act of accepting an art object’s artifice and illusion; suspending reality and disbelief. Artist
and audience share a conscious desire to engage in holding the differences between art object and
reality in mind simultaneously and so knowingly acknowledge the game of complicity.
“Art is a lie that makes you realise the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand. The
artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.” Picasso
‘Complicity’ brings together a group of artists who share the desire to push boundaries in ambitious,
playful and subversive ways in a variety of mediums that continually slip back and forth between
reality, illusion and fiction
In Helen Maurer’s installations and Hermione Allsopp’s sculptural works, existing objects are
reconfigured, subverted and experimented with. Allsopp’s works are created through undoing objects
and furniture, reforming them into audacious and bold compositions. Maurer works with glass and
projected light creating shadows and reflections, distorting and creating alternate realities.
The borders between the real and the illusory are blurred in Justin Hibbs’s installations which
disorientate and subvert our perceptual experience of space. Combining analogue and digital modes
of representation, production and display these environments negotiate the changing terms of our
engagement with the reality of the modern world around us. “Hibbs’s works are worldly, imperfect at
the outset,” writes Martin Herbert.
Virginia Verran paintings suggest other-worldly battlefields and virtual warzones that show the traces
of action and process, of a personal world of invented motifs and symbols. Multiple perspectives,
aerial scanning and surveillance, lines and motifs track back and forth between nodes.
Gibson / Martelli create an illusory world of virtual reality, where the artworks are activated
through the visual codes of dazzle camouflage. Unlike traditional camouflage which operates on the
principle of concealment, dazzle camouflage uses complex arrangements of high-contrast, interrupted
geometric patterns that confuse the calculation of a ship’s range, speed and bearing in an enemy’s
optical gunnery rangefinder.
Relationships between language, knowledge and visual experience are drawn attention to in Guy
Bigland’s work. Each work is generated through a system of arbitrary rules, which combine familiar
and ubiquitous systems leading to unexpected results.
Joella Wheatley opens doors into the complexities and voids of solitude, through the projection of
perspective. Focusing on the seclusion of a place, whether interior or exterior, the objects within
symbolize the idea of isolation. Desires are visited in the works of Sasha Bowles, who intervenes onto
the reproductions of Old Masters works creating a mischievous metamorphosis, subverting classical
narratives into new possibilities.
The dialogue between object and image is at the heart of Clare Mitten’s practice; painterly objects,
constructed from packaging, paper and other stationery, function as three-dimensional sketches
whereby the original is transformed through flattening, editing and error. The three dimensional
works then inform the two dimensional paintings. Debbie Lawson’s work takes the form of a series
of episodes that invite the viewer on a journey through the landscape of the domestic interior, where
popular narratives and personal histories are intertwined so that the imaginary and material reality
seem inseparable. Visual codes collide, giving form to new animated hybrids with a quietly sinister
inner life and aspirations to be bigger than themselves.
Marion Michell interrogates inherited memory and childhood, which are interwoven as a physical
experience or object. Intense intimacy, humour, pathos, ambiguity and contradiction abound.

5. Andrew Grassie, Damian Meade and Alastair Gordon through exquisitely rendered paintings
address associated themes with notions of authenticity and illusion lying at the heart of their collective
enquiries. Gordon renders the materials and process of painterly production such as masking tape
or paper on wooden panels in a form of trompe l’oeil that refers to a specific form of illusionism that
proliferated in 17th century. Meade’s paintings of sculptures, are artifice within artifice; the inanimate
appearing reanimated and uncanny - the actual real collapses into an illusion of the real. Grassie
“makes an unnerving comment about art’s tendency to look in the mirror and be captivated by its
own reflection,” writes Skye Sherwin. Often rendering other artworks or exhibitions in the traditional
medium of egg tempera with a convincingly ‘double-take’ level of realism - here Grassie creates a
doppleganger of a past painting of his own making. In Peter Liversidge we witness another set of
doppelgangers. Imagining a different kind of human interaction with nature, Peter Liversidge’s Winter
Drawings are delicate renderings of trees, made from cut black masking tape, which embody the
quiet elegance of the least adorned season of the year.
Gender stereotypes and conventions are wittily pulled apart and challenged with Mel Brimfield’s
performance works and paintings referencing recognizable art world figures and dismantling them.
Finally, John Richert’s works sum up the artifice of contemporary art, of consumption and the desire
in an endless loop around re-negotiation of design and art, presentation and display. Richert’s
fabrications accurately reproduce the materiality and irresistible allure of contemporary fine art - and
so become immaculate objects of desire in themselves.
Rosalind Davis, March 2016

9. Review
A cracking show. The private view was absolutely packed with an eclectic combination of lawyers and
artists, all rounded off by Nicholas Serota arriving to look closely at the artworks while dressed in his
customary long grey raincoat and briefcase.
I’ve always thought this grey business uniform has an element of surreal, Magritte-style subterfuge. It’s
like he’s dressed as the illusion of normality while in reality being this king-pin of the art world. And
we all then accept this illusion for what it is - and it just so happens that this acceptance of illusion was
the premise for the show which was entitled, Complicity: Artifice and Illusion.
The idea, put together brilliantly by curator Rosalind Davis, is that all artworks have fakery, forgery
and imitation to them. They are valid tools of the artist, but we the audience accept this when we look
at them. As Picasso said: “Art is a lie that makes you realise the truth.”
My favourite piece exhibiting this artifice and illusion was one of Andrew Grassie’s extraordinary egg
tempera pieces. I remember the first time I saw one of these small paintings. From a distance it looked
maybe like a photograph, but as I approached it that illusion fell away and you could see gorgeous
dots of paint. His painting After Jan Merta which is in this show had just the same beauty, in particular
the subtle paint variations in the red circles and the sensitive detail to show the glint of light on the
right of the painting he had painted.
Of course the painting is superbly clever as well. The image includes the colour checker chart used
to ensue photographic representations get the colour right in reproduction. Not only does this allow
Andrew to slip a little abstract formality into the picture, but it allows us to appreciate this is a painting
- of a photograph of a painting - that would be used to make a reproduction. What masterful loops of
artifice and illusion.
I also really liked Alistair Gordon’s paintings that seemed like a brilliant contemporary take on 18th
century trompe l’oeil paintings. Most of the paintings from a distance looked as if they had masking
tape on them. But up close it became apparent that the masking tape was actually painted on.
Countless people peered up close to the works to try and work out if it was actual masking tape or
if it was paint. What I particularly liked was that up close it looked like some of the painted strips of
masking tape had been painted with the use of masking tape - another lovely loop.
There were some great small ‘drawings’ of trees by Peter Liversidge. Of course these were not
drawings as they were actually made with super tiny cut up pieces of black tape. There were also
some intriguing cardboard collages, maybe that’s the way to describe them, by Clare Mitten. I liked
them as I thought they had a sort of unhinged modernist feel.
It’s a great show with loads of superb artists, I’ve only had time to discuss a few here, and a theme
that’s clearly demonstrated by the works on show. Don’t miss it.
Robert Dunt, ArtTop10.com, March 2016

10. List of works
Hermione Allsopp
Blockapillar Tower
Expanding filler, charity shop ceramic and
glassware, legs and varnish
167 x 27 x 30cm
2013
Guy Bigland
All the Paintings in the Museum
Book and slideshow
19.05 x 19.05cm (book)
2015
Sasha Bowles
The Inquisitors
Oil on book page
26 x 22cm
2015
Hermione Allsopp
A Last Dance
Double mattress, chair, cord
124 x 125 x 128cm
2015
Hermione Allsopp
Sedimentary Archive
Headboards, bookcase
143 x 114 x 17cm
2014
Hermione Allsopp
Sofa Roll
80 x 88 x 56cm
2011

11. Sasha Bowles
Ideas Man
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016
Sasha Bowles
Flare
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016
Sasha Bowles
A Woman of Trimming
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016
Sasha Bowles
Pomposity
Oil on book page
26 x 22cm
2015
Sasha Bowles
Consciousness
Oil on book page
26 x 22cm
2015
Sasha Bowles
Forethought
Oil on book page
26 x 22cm
2016

12. Mel Brimfield
The Love Lives of The Artists -
Abramovic and Ulay
Gouache on mount board
55 x 70.5cm
2014
Mel Brimfield
The Love Lives of The Artists -
Frida and Diego
Gouache on mount board
68 x 80cm
2012
Mel Brimfield
The Love Lives of The Artists -
Between Genius and Desire
Gouache on mount board
68 x 80cm
2013
Sasha Bowles
The Pumpkin Fool
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016
Sasha Bowles
Mr Gyration
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016
Sasha Bowles
Swathed Infant
Oil on printed postcard
15 x 10cm
2016

13. Alastair Gordon
Rack Painting 1 (Studio Remains)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2015
Alastair Gordon
Rack Painting 2 (Tabula Rasa)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2015
Alastair Gordon
Sacrament (Langston 80gsm)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2014
Mel Brimfield
The Love Lives of The Artists -
Antony Gormley’s One is Fun
Gouache on mount board
68 x 80cm
2013
Mel Brimfield
Between Genius and Desire -
Vincent (After Kirk Douglas)
Digital film, 7min 38sec
2012
Alastair Gordon
Fifteen Paper Planes
Oil on Gaboon ply
120 x 90cm
2016

14. Alastair Gordon
Vibac (Perimeter Blue, Red and White)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2014
Alastair Gordon
Rack Painting 2 (Tabula Rasa)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2015
Alastair Gordon
Vibac (Perimeter Red and Blue)
Oil on Gaboon ply
50 x 40cm
2014
Alastair Gordon
Rack Painting 3 (Tableau)
Oil on canvas
41 x 51cm
2016
Andrew Grassie
After Jan Merta
Tempera on paper on board
15.9 x 20.5cm
2010
Andrew Grassie
Doppelganger
Oil on canvas
52 x 77cm
1989 / 1996

15. Justin Hibbs
Modular Synthesis
Enamel and oil on linen
200 x 150cm
2015
Justin Hibbs
Anti Alias (Version III)
Mirrored Dibond
Dimensions variable
2015
Justin Hibbs
Gradient Map (Glitch Version I & II)
Etched mirror Dibond
220 x 122cm each piece
2015
Debbie Lawson
Persian Bear
Carpet and mixed media
190 x 140 x 55cm
2016
Debbie Lawson
Persian Boar
Carpet and mixed media
186 x 114 x 43cm
2013
Peter Liversidge
Winter Drawing 15 vs 15
Winter Drawing 18 vs 20
Black masking tape on found book pages
47 x 37cm each
2011

16. Helen Maurer
Arch
Acrylic paint on wood, glass
36 x 22 x 16cm
2015
Helen Maurer
Tired House
Acrylic paint on wood, glass
36 x 22 x 16cm
2015
Gibson/Martelli
Tropical Left Back Thigh Wire
EB Flute, vinyl
47 x 142cm
2016
Gibson/Martelli
Upper Arm Battle
EB Flute, vinyl
47 x 142cm
2016
Gibson/Martelli
Snow Right Back
EB Flute, vinyl
68 x 148cm
2016
Gibson/Martelli
Chest Bites
EB Flute, vinyl
106 x 157cm
2016

17. Damien Meade
Bust
Oil on linen on board
65 x 44cm
2015
Marion Michell
Tickled with love
Crochet
85 x 65cm
2013
Marion Michell
Every day we tried to be good
Crochet
80 x 51.5 7.3cm
2011/2
Marion Michell
Foundling 3
Crochet
22.5 x 27cm
2012/13
Marion Michell
Foundling 7
Crochet
18.5 x 27.5cm
2012
Marion Michell
Foundling 1
Crochet
24 x 28cm
2011/12

18. Marion Michell
Foundling 2
Crochet
24 x 27.5cm
2012
Clare Mitten
The Pollinator
Gouache on paper
95 x 69.5cm
2015
Clare Mitten
Carousel
Gouache on paper
85 x 69.5cm
2011
Clare Mitten
Counter II
Cardboard, paper, glue
86.5 x 53.5 x 32.5cm
2015
Clare Mitten
Babbage Tally (Calculator)
Cardboard, paper, glue
5.5 x 23 x 12.5cm
2013
Clare Mitten
Babbage Tally II
Greyboard, cardboard, paper, pencil, glue
25.5 x 38.1 x 6cm
2013

19. John Richert
eh? is for art
Sealed book
30 x 25cm
2015
John Richert
Bona Fide Arts
Plastic, paper
75 x 155 x 25cm
2015
Virginia Verran
Grey-Blue (Intimation)
Oil, pigment pens on MDF
60cm diameter
2015
Virginia Verran
MDV Space
Pigment pens and photo on watercolour paper
60cm diameter
2012-14
Virginia Verran
Bonner-space (Demur)
Oil, pigment pens on MDF
106cm diameter
2013
Virginia Verran
Grey/Blue (Corralled) diptych
Oil on canvas
244 x 182cm
2009-13

20. Virginia Verran
Black-Red (Intonation)
Oil, pigment pens on MDF
106cm diameter
2015-16
Joella Wheatley
Beyond Us All
Oil, acrylic and pen on canvas on board
35cm diameter
2015
Joella Wheatley
Born
Oil, acrylic and pen on canvas on board
35cm diameter
2015
Joella Wheatley
Inline
Oil, acrylic and pen on canvas on board
35 x 40cm
2015
Joella Wheatley
The Intellectual
Oil, acrylic and pen on canvas on board
35 x 35cm
2015

23. Biographies
Hermione Allsopp makes sculptural work by collecting objects and furniture and re-creating them
into new forms or compositions. She studied MA Fine Art at UCA Canterbury (2010-2012). She had
her first solo exhibition ‘Accumulated Comforts’ in 2014 as a result of winning the Void Open and
more recently ‘Risen up from Dream Land’ (2015) at Bank House, St Leonards on Sea. Recent group
exhibitions include: ‘House of Life (A Collage)’ (2015); ‘Kiss Chase’, St Leonards on Sea (2015);
‘Bread and Jam II’, London (2015); ‘Disturbance’, London (2015); ‘Deptford Stories’, London (2014);
‘Everyday Illusions’, Paper Gallery, Manchester (2014); and ‘We could not agree’, Cavendish Sq.,
London (2014). Recent awards: Winner of the Void Open Exhibition 2013 and shortlisted for the
Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2013. 2014: Long/shortlisted for SOLO Award, Anthology Open and
Beers Contemporary Open. She is an associate artist with Paper Gallery, Manchester.
www.hermioneallsopp.com
Guy Bigland acquired his MFA at Bath Spa University in 2014. In 2015, his book Things You Have
Done won the Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize. He has exhibited across the UK and in
France, Switzerland and the USA and has work in private and public collections. Recent exhibitions
and events include: ‘Art:Language:Location’, Cambridge (2014 & 2015); ZAP Open, London (2014);
‘By the Rules’, Salisbury Arts Centre (2015); Sheffield International Artists’ Book Prize (2015); ‘Re:
follow-ed (after Hokusai)’, Cabinet Du Livre d’artiste, Rennes (2015); ‘Volumes’, Zurich (2015);
‘Counter’, Plymouth (2015); ‘Arctic Fox’, Vulpes Vulpes, London (2009).
www.guybigland.com
Sasha Bowles lives and works in London and completed her MA at Wimbledon College of Art in
2013. In recent years she has been selected to exhibit in various opens including: The Crash Open
and Photo and Print Open (Charlie Dutton), ‘Discernible’ (Zeitgeist Arts Projects), Barbican Arts
Trust, The Lynn Painter Stainers Prize, The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (invited artist) and The
Discerning Eye (winning the Benton Prize). In 2014 she was selected for Oriel Davis, The Open West,
Future Map and Discerning Eye. Bowles co-curated and exhibited in ‘Bodies That Matter’ at ArtLacuna
and co-produced The Bodies That Matter 3 publication. She also exhibited in a 4-man show ‘A Virtual
Topography’ at Husk Gallery. In 2015 Bowles exhibited in group exhibitions at Standpoint Gallery,
Husk Gallery, Day + Gluckman, The Crypt Gallery, Lubomirov Angus-Hughes and The Display
Gallery. In 2016 she co-curated COUNTER_FITTERS at the Geddes Gallery, King’s Cross. Bowles has
work in private and public collections in Britain, Europe and America.
www.sashabowles.co.uk
Mel Brimfield (b. 1976). Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘Death and Dumb’, John Hansard Gallery,
Southampton, UK (2013); ‘Between Genius and Desire’, Ceri Hand Gallery, London (2012); ‘This
Is Performance Art: Part 2: Experimental Theatre and Cabaret’, LICA, Lancaster (2012); ‘This is
Performance Art: Performed Sculpture and Dance’, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield and Mead
Gallery, Warick (2011); ‘This is Performance Art: Performed Sculpture and Dance’, Camden Art
Centre, London (2010); ‘Waiter Waiter, There’s a Sculpture in my Soup: Part II, Performance Art and
Comedy from Gutai to the Present’, Pumphouse Gallery, London (2009) and Ceri Hand Gallery,
Liverpool (2008). Group exhibitions include: ‘Speak, Clown!’, Fold Gallery, London, UK (2013);
‘Revealed: Government Art Collection’, Ulster Museum, Belfast, UK (2013); ‘Revealed: Government
Art Collection’, Birmingham Museum, Birmingham (2012); ‘The Great Boxing Booth Revival’, UK
touring exhibition (2012); ‘Memory of a Hope’, Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool (2011) and ‘LOCATE’,
Jerwood Visual Arts, London (2010). She lives and works in London.
www.cerihand.co.uk/artists/5/mel-brimfield
Alastair Gordon (b. 1978) is a London-based artist with an MA Fine Art from Wimbledon School of
Art (2012) and BA Fine Art, Painting from Glasgow School of Art (2002). Recent solo exhibitions at
Nunnery Gallery, London (2014); Bearspace, London (2015) and Nomas* Projects, Dundee (2015).
Forthcoming solo exhibitions include the Ahmanson Collection Gallery in California. In 2014 Gordon
was the winner of the Shoosmiths Art Prize and was shortlisted for several prizes including the Griffin
Art Prize, The Open West, Oriel Davies Open, The Zeitgeist Open, Beep and the Threadneedle
Painting Prize. His works feature in several international collections including: Simmons and Simmons
(London); Landmark PLC (London); the Ahmanson Collection (Los Angeles); Royal Bank of Scotland
Collection and the Glasgow School of Art Alumni Collection. Alastair is Course Leader for Critical
and Professional Development at the Leith School of Art in Edinburgh and co-founder of Morphe Arts
Trust. In 2012 he launched Husk Gallery while working as artist-in-resdence for Departure in London.
www.alastairjohngordon.com
Andrew Grassie (b. 1966) was educated at St. Martins School of Art (1984-88) and the Royal College
of Art (1988-90). He exhibits regularly both in the UK and internationally including solo shows at
Tate Britain; Sperone Westwater, New York; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Johnen Galerie, Berlin;
and the Rennie Collection, Vancouver. He has lectured extensively across a range of institutions in the
UK. His work has been reproduced in a number of publications including Phaidon’s inaugural survey
of contemporary painting Vitamin P, and discussed in many articles and conferences. Several of his
works are held by major collections such as the Goetz Collection in Munich, the Rennie Collection
in Vancouver and by the Tate, Arts Council and Government Art Collections in the UK. Grassie is
represented by Maureen Paley Gallery.
www.maureenpaley.com/artists/andrew-grassie
Justin Hibbs (b. 1971) studied at Central St. Martins, London and currently lives and works in London.
He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally as well as curating a
series of artist-led exhibitions. Solo shows include: ‘Alias_Re_Covered’, Carroll/Fletcher Gallery,
London; ‘PARA/SITE’ (2013) & ‘Secondary Modern’ (2010) at the Christinger De Mayo Gallery,
Zurich; ‘Altneuland’, Gallery Lucy Mackintosh, Switzerland (2007); ‘Metroparadisiac’ (2006) &
‘I’ll wait for you’ (2005) at the One in the Other Gallery, London. His work was selected for the
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010. Recent group exhibitions include: ‘Pencil, Line, Eraser’, Carroll Fletcher
Gallery, London (2015); ‘Distressed Geometry’, Kunstraum Baden, Switzerland (2015); ‘Weltenwurf’,
Kunsthaus Grenchen, Switzerland (2014); ‘Oh My Complex’, Kunstverien Stuttgart, Germany (2012);
‘Superstructures’, Arronitz Arte, Mexico City (2013); ‘Temples To The Domestic’, London (2012);
‘Polemically Small’, Torrence Art Museum, California (2012). His curatorial projects include: ‘Misfits’
at Galerie DS Contemporary Art, Belgium (2010); ‘Working Space I and II’ at the University of the
Arts Gallery, London and the Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Switzerland respectively (2008); and ‘News
from Nowhere’ at the Lucy Mackintosh Gallery (2005).
www.carrollfletcher.com / www.christingerdemayo.com
Debbie Lawson graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA (Hons) Fine Art and the Royal
College of Art with an MA in Sculpture (2004). Recent exhibitions include: ‘Picaresque’, Ha Gamle
Prestegard, Stavanger, Norway; ‘News From Nowhere’, William Morris Society and Museum; and
‘Magic Carpet’, Fergusson Gallery, Perth, Scotland. Her work is held in various collections including
The Saatchi Gallery, Mario Testino Collection, the House of Lords, Nottingham Castle Museum,
the University of the Arts London and the University of Dundee. She was the winner of the 2013 JD
Fergusson Arts Award.
www.debbielawson.com

24. Peter Liversidge. Since 2006, Liversidge has worked with institutions across Europe including the
Tate Gallery, Liverpool; The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; and the National Gallery of
Finland. In 2013 he exhibited as part of the group exhibition ‘The Spirit of Utopia’ at the Whitechapel
Gallery, London and was commissioned to create a new public artwork for the Edinburgh Art Festival:
Flags for Edinburgh. Major solo exhibitions have recently been presented at i8 Gallery, Reykjavik;
The MAC, Belfast; and Basis, Frankfurt. In 2015, Liversidge’s exhibition ‘Notes on Protesting’ was
presented at the Whitechapel Gallery, London and a solo presentation is currently on display at the
Van Abbe Museum, The Netherlands.
www.peterliversidge.com / www.inglebygallery.com
Over the past decade, Gibson/Martelli have shown nationally and internationally, undertaking a
series of commissions and residencies in America, Canada, Australia and the UK. Formerly known as
igloo, their first collaboration WindowsNinetyEight was nominated for a BAFTA. They have received
awards and commissions internationally, from National Endowment for Science Technology and
Art (NESTA), the Henry Moore Foundation, the Arts Council England, and the Arts and Humanities
Research Council (AHRC). They have exhibited in galleries, institutions, theatres and festivals around
the world including: The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), the Barbican, SIGGRAPH, ISEA, The Royal
Opera House, Royal Festival Hall & the 52nd Venice Biennale. Their work is included in various
private and public collections, and most recently they were artists-in-residence at Dartmouth College
(Hanover, USA) with a solo exhibition at the Jaffe-Friede Gallery. Current and upcoming exhibitions
and talks include: ‘Digital Revolution’, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens; ‘Watch-Me-Move’, VDNH,
Moscow; Lumen Prize Exhibition, Calahan Gallery, New York; and VR UK Conference, Ravensbourne
College, London.
www.gibsonmartelli.com
Helen Maurer studied Fine Art and Theatre at Brighton University before completing a PG Diploma
in Fine Art Glass at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and an MA in Glass at The Royal College
of Art. Solo shows include: Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art; The Pump House Gallery, London;
and Angel Row, Nottingham. Maurer has worked on a number of site-specific commissions including
Tatton Park Biennial; The Towner Gallery, Eastbourne; and the Big Chill Arts Trail. She has exhibited
internationally and also collaborated on projects with choreographers and musicians. In 2003 Maurer
was awarded The Jerwood Glass Prize. Maurer lives and works in London and is represented by
Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art.
www.helenmaurer.co.uk / www.daniellearnaud.com
Damien Meade is an Irish artist who lives and works in London. Recent solo and two-person shows
include: ‘Damien Meade & Natasza Niedziolka’, Sommer & Kohl, Berlin (2015); ‘Insomniac’, Singular
Galerija, Pula, Croatia (2015); ‘Sudo’, Scheublein + Bak, Zurich (2015). Recent group shows include:
‘Black Light’, Averard Hotel, London (2016); ‘The London Open’, Whitechapel Gallery, London
(2015)’ ‘Suspicion’, Jerwood Space, London (2014); ‘Shape Shifters’, ACME Gallery, Los Angeles
(2013); ‘Beastly Hall’, Hall Place, Bexley, Kent (2013); ‘Unspecific Objects’, Malgras|Naudet
Manchester and The Royal Standard, Liverpool (2013); ‘The John Moores Painting Prize’, Walker Art
Gallery Liverpool (2012); and ‘SV12’, Studio Voltaire, London (2012).
www.damienmeade.com
Marion Michell is a London-based visual artist and writer. Solo shows have been ar R-Space Gallery,
Lisburn, Northern Ireland (2015); The Arthouse, Wakefield (2010); and Public Library, Offenbach,
Germany (1998). Selected group exhibitions took place at Oriel Wrexham, Wrexham; BHVU Gallery,
London; New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge; M. K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas,
Lithuania; PSL, Leeds; Phoenix Brighton; KunstLANDing, Aschaffenburg, Germany. Born and raised in
Germany, Michell moves between languages and media to cast sideways glances at history.
www.marionmichell.com
Clare Mitten (b. 1972, lives and works in London) received an MA Painting from the Royal College of
Art (2006); BA Hons Fine Art Painting, University of Gloucestershire (2001); and BA Hons History of
Art with French, University of Sussex (1994). Recent exhibitions include: ‘Landscape with Machines’,
Coalbrookdale Gallery, Telford (2015); ‘The Carp of the Tench’, Dorothea Schlueter Gallery,
Hamburg (2015); ‘Delta’, Five Years (2015); ‘Sex Shop’, Transition Gallery (2015); and Folkestone
Fringe (2014). Awards include the Jerwood Painting Fellowship (2011); the Helen Chadwick Memorial
Prize, Royal College of Art (2005) and British Council Artist Residencies to Tbilisi, Georgia (2010) and
Dhaka, Bangladesh (2008).
www.claremitten.com
John Richert was awarded a posthumous MFA by Goldsmiths College in 2013 following an
administrative error. Recent shows include; ‘My Son’s in a Coma’, NCCH London; ‘Dementia,
dementia etc.’, Capel Studios; ‘The Missus’ Dad Died’, St. George’s, Tooting; and ‘Good Taste is for
Stock Cubes’, Angry Arts. Also, ‘The Zeitgeist Open’, Zeitgeist Arts Projects 2014. John Richert is
represented by Galerie Rauch & Spiegel.
www.richertdirect.com
Virginia Verran studied at Falmouth School of Art, Winchester School of Art and Chelsea College of
Art and Design. She has exhibited at Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London; Whitechapel Open,
London; John Moores 20, Liverpool; Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall; Henie-Onstad Gallery, Norway
where a retrospective exhibition was held across three galleries in 1999; Gallery Fine, London; Eagle
Gallery, London; Transition Gallery, London; Jerwood Drawing Prize, London in 2009 and 2010
(1st Prize Winner); Gallery H O T, Osaka; Centre for Recent Drawing, London; Frueshorge Drawing
Gallery, Berlin; Alexia Goethe Gallery, London; Artery Gallery, Stuttgart; Royal Academy; Charlie
Dutton Gallery, London and Beijing. She has work in various collections including the Arts Council
England Collection and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (painting on load to Clare College);
Israel Phoenix, Israel; Meyer Brown, London; and many private collections. She teaches at Chelsea
College of Art and Design and Falmouth University.
www.virginiaverran.com
Joella Wheatley is a London-based artist who received her BA (Hons) from Arts University
Bournemouth in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions: ‘From This Corner to Another’, Maltings Gallery
(2015); and ‘Forgotten Lines’, Aspex Gallery (2014). Group exhibitions include: ‘Mapping Time’,
Frameless Gallery, London (2015); ‘The Zeitgeist Open’, Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London (2014);
‘The Future Can Wait’ collaboration with Saatchi New Sensations, London (2014); and ‘I Cheer
A Dead Man’s Sweetheart’, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (2014). In 2014 Joella was awarded the
Interregional Culture-Led Regeneration Award and won the Platform Graduate Award in 2012.
Other shortlisted awards and residencies include: Bryant and Keeling Painting Prize (2014), Beers
Contemporary Visions (2014), Artist Commission for Frieze Masters: ‘The Asylum’ at Helly Nahmad
Gallery (2015).
www.joellawheatley.co.uk
Rosalind Davis is an artist-curator and a graduate of the Royal College of Art (2005) and Chelsea
College of Art (2003). Davis has co-curated a number of exhibitions including No-One Lives in the
Real World, Standpoint Gallery, London (2015). Davis has managed and developed two artist-
led arts organisations in London: Zeitgeist Arts Projects (2012-16) with co-founder Annabel Tilley;
and Core Gallery (2009-11). These organisations ran innovative and dynamic artists’ educational,
membership and exhibition programmes. As a consultant Davis has worked for arts organisations,
charities, independents and corporations; and has led art tours for the ICA (London and Boston) the
South London Art Map and the Whitechapel Gallery. In 2013 she contributed to BBC4’s Film ‘Tales of
Winter: The Art of Snow and Ice’. Davis lectures for universities, galleries and art organisations across
the country including the Royal College of Art, the ICA, Camden Arts Centre, UAL and ArtQuest.
www.rosalinddavis.co.uk / www.zeitgeistartsprojects.com