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SHIPS OF STONE: THE ISLANDS OF MERVYN PEAKE
16 March – 19 May 2013

Ships of Stone: The Islands of Mervyn Peake took a new look at the work of the visionary artist, writer and illustrator by focusing on one of Peake’s lifelong obsessions: islands. The exhibition used audio recordings to bring Peake’s writings alive alongside objects and artworks that span his career, many of which were on public display for the first time. Boundaries between real, imaginary and metaphorical islands are blurred in illustrations for Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939) and Treasure Island (1949), paintings and drawings from his time on the Channel Island of Sark, and in his descriptions of the symbolic island of Gormenghast Castle, the setting of the novels for which he is best known.

Curated by Lauren Barnes

GERALD MOORE: LIFE, WORK AND OTHERS
30 April 2012 - 18 May 2013

Gerald Moore: Life Work and Others was the Gallery's first annual display in the upstairs Gallery of key works by the Gallery's principal donor, Gerald Moore.

This exhibition was a chance to see Gerald Moore own work, as well as work by acclaimed Australian artists Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman and Louis James. Life, Work and Others focused on the common ground between Moore’s own work as an artist and that of his Australian friends. During the 1950s and 60s this group of artists significantly influenced the art scene in London, and Moore received much encouragement from them. To further explore these artistic relationships, this display investigated some of the most important themes and ideas that have run throughout all of their work: the subconscious, dreams, figurative abstraction and the varied landscape of human experience.

Since 1950, Gerald Moore has exhibited his work widely, including at Whitechapel Gallery (1950), the Scottish National Gallery (1959), at Heal’s Gallery with David Hockney (1961), Bath Festival (1982) and Cooperative K (Germany, 1994). His writing includes an anthology of poems entitled The Singing Dust (1976), children’s book The Cuckoo Who Flew Backwards (1977) and in 1982 he published his autobiography, Treading in Treacle.

Audio Guides to the exhibition, made by pupils at Eltham College, accompanied this exhibition.

Photo: Thierry Bal

LAURENCE KAVANAGH: APRIL

29 September - 1 December 2012

This Autumn at Gerald Moore Gallery artist Laurence Kavanagh presented a newly commissioned artwork. April was a development of his ongoing engagement with the seminal nouveau roman cinenovel La Jalousie (Jealousy, 1957) by Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Evoking the geometry of the novel’s structure and its recurring themes, April was an installation made from white steel and cast components that transformed the ground floor gallery. The installation explored the psychology of domestic architecture, the objects contained within it and the potential for these elements to reflect/project internal states of mind. April used everyday domestic items such as a table, chairs, picture frame, wash basin and soap as devices to project a ‘shadow mirror’ onto the wall of the gallery. This ‘shadow mirror’ drew a relationship between object, image and viewer.
April is part of a series of twelve works, and to date Kavanagh has exhibited three of them as part of the show ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ in Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, earlier this year. As artist and director, Kavanagh also conceived and created the artwork for a collaborative choreographic dance work Jealousy at the Print Room Theatre (February 2012).

Laurence Kavanagh is represented by Marlborough Contemporary, London. Recent exhibitions and projects include ‘Transmitter/Receiver: The Persistence of Collage’ (Arts Council Collection group show: MIMA, Middlesborough and touring, November 2011–May 2013); Group Show (Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, 2011); Oriel Mostyn Open (Winner, 2011); ‘Volta’ (Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2010); ‘The Lonely House’ (Cocheme Residency offsite project, London, 2009). Residencies include: The Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2010); The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2009); The Cocheme Fellowship, University of the Arts London (2008); and The British School at Rome (2007). Kavanagh has also curated several group exhibitions in London, which include ‘Wider than The Sky’ (2005); ‘The Music of The Future’ (Gasworks Gallery, London, 2007).

SUMMER SCHOOL

Amandine Alessandra // Ruth Beale // Céline Condorelli // Sophie Demay // Arnaud Desjardin // Stephen Fowler // Rob Gallagher // Liz Haines // Donna Huddleston // Juneau Projects // Kieren Jones // Prick Your Finger // Fraser Muggeridge // Audrey Reynolds // Samara Scott // Joanna Slusarczyk // Tim Ivison & Julia Tcharfas // Charlie Woolley

7 July – 12 August 2012

Last summer, the public took part in an exciting and broad series of open workshops, new projects and masterclasses ran by leading artists and creative practitioners.

Workshops included musical instrument making, cultural theory for young people, dance and language, furniture making, and a weekend that drew upon the wealth of self-organised societies local to the Gallery. Results of the workshops were presented in the Gallery as
a changing and evolving display.

Summer School aimed to encourage thought through action, and to act as a catalyst for knowledge to be generated and shared across different communities. It celebrated self-education and how new ways of thinking and doing might emerge from artist-led learning.

Summer School is a direct response to the setting of Gerald Moore Gallery, a new space for art located within the grounds of a primary and secondary school in South East London.