North London Food & Culture

Why It Matters: The Parlour Gallery, Kentish Town


Other local galleries may be better known, sexier, or more on-trend but Queen’s Crescent’s Parlour Gallery is one that makes consistent effort to engage with the community and curate exhibitions with genuine local interest.

And this is definitely the case with 10 Artists/10 Pubs, an original show by a new collective, The Ken-Ditch, which runs from 22nd to the 25th February. In fact it’s so on-message for us that it could have been commissioned by Mrs Kentishtowner herself. (Perhaps it was. Between you and me she’s something of a stranger these days.)

Anyway, we digress. 10 Artists 10 Pubs does exactly what you might imagine: it showcases up-and-coming artists, designers and illustrators, all on a mission visually to redefine our local boozers. It celebrates the history and heritage of the following: The Bull & Gate, Lion & Unicorn, Fiddlers Elbow, Annie’s Bar, Abbey Tavern, Old Eagle, Tapping The Admiral, Heroes, The Pineapple, and The Vine.


LOCAL ADVERTISING


Say the curators: ‘Kentish Town’s pub scene is very well publicised through local media and social networking sites, and this exhibition has created a unique opportunity for the pubs to collaborate with the London art scene. The artists have each individually re-designed one pub’s promotional sign based on name, history, heritage and atmosphere, with the hope of getting viewers interested in these sometimes often overlooked aspects.’

Sounds pretty intriguing, eh? Particularly if you feel as much ownership over most of these drinking holes as we do. And if this unexpected (perhaps whirlwind) marriage of art and pubs doesn’t get you in a tizz, then cerebral types should check out the gallery’s following exhibition, The Body Sublime (below, 27th Feb to 3rd march). Working across a variety of media, 14 artists wrestle with the concept of the sublime in relation to the human body, through photography, painting, film, sculpture, animation, performance and sound.

So why does The Parlour matter? Silly question, really.

The Parlour Gallery is situated on the top floor of Mapalim’s building at 181-187 Queen’s Crescent.


1 thought on “Why It Matters: The Parlour Gallery, Kentish Town”

  1. Hello there lovers of all Kentish Town.

    I try and get along to the Parlour gallery shows as this little venue always has a great buzz. And goes to prove what a vibrant place we live in.

    On that note pop along and see the work by local artist Steve Williams at the Free Space Gallery, on the theme of the hefty work of Ulysses by James Joyce until April 2nd. We are open Mon – Fri 9am – 7pm and are located on the first floor of the Kentish Town Health Centre.

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1 thought on “Why It Matters: The Parlour Gallery, Kentish Town”

  1. Hello there lovers of all Kentish Town.

    I try and get along to the Parlour gallery shows as this little venue always has a great buzz. And goes to prove what a vibrant place we live in.

    On that note pop along and see the work by local artist Steve Williams at the Free Space Gallery, on the theme of the hefty work of Ulysses by James Joyce until April 2nd. We are open Mon – Fri 9am – 7pm and are located on the first floor of the Kentish Town Health Centre.

Leave a Comment

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The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.