North London Food & Culture

Zabludowicz Collection: four big summer shows

Kentish Town's world-renowned contemporary art space kicks off their new season this weekend. Plus three more must-visit exhibitions in the neighbourhood

Work by Sam Falls. Photo: Zabludowicz
Work by Sam Falls. Photo: Zabludowicz

Late June already? Why, it must be time for north London’s finest creative spaces to show us what they’ve got over the balmy months.

And where better to start than former Methodist Chapel, the Zabludowicz Collection, where four young international artists are about to present solo exhibitions?

Adriano Costa, Sam Falls, Samara Scott and Michael E. Smith will all be pondering the question of how to make sculpture today. Here’s no more than a few words on each:


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Cough 2013 Samara Scott
Cough 2013: Samara Scott

1. In the back room, Samara Scott‘s High Street lifts sensations directly from the daily flow of images that surround us, addressing, she says, our “contemporary experience of the body”. Most impressive are her object-encrusted glass panels.

Adriano Costa, From My Body Comes, Through Your Body Goes, 2009-12
Adriano Costa, From My Body Comes, Through Your Body Goes, 2009-12

2. Meanwhile, through an approach which he compares to the rhythms of music, Adriano Costa composes shapes and textures in the middle room to explore the distinction between the “throwaway and the precious”: more than epitomized by his two black umbrellas against a wall (above, centre back).

LBS/RBI, 2013. Photo: Andres Ramirez Kourosh Larizadeh and Luis Pardo Collection
LBS/RBI, 2013. Photo: Andres Ramirez Kourosh Larizadeh and Luis Pardo Collection

3. Dotted about are Michael E. Smith‘s weird found objects like crushed plastic containers, tarred bird feathers and resin-encrusted clothes. He places them in empty expanses, dark recesses or high corners; don’t miss the sweatpants on the mezzanine railing.

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Untitled (Marble, Corten Steel & Aluminium box sculpture diptych), 2013. Photo: Stefan Altenburger

4. Photography is the core of Sam Falls’ practice, which occupies the main room. He expands this focus into sculpture, painting and video, but expect large-scale sculptures in copper, marble and coloured aluminium. Upstairs, particularly haunting is the Final Forever video series, coupled with unsettling snippets of Velvet Underground songs.

Three more shows to catch round here

An image from We Go To The Gallery © Miriam Elia
An image from We Go To The Gallery © Miriam Elia

1. Cob Gallery: we love artist Miriam Elia, who found herself in a bit of hot water after parodying Penguin Books’ Ladybird series earlier this year. See what the fuss was all about at the group show Parody, Pastiche and Satire, until July 5. 205 Royal College Street NW1

2. DRAF: A Special Arrow Was Shot In The Neck, the seventh edition of the gallery’s Curators’ Series curated by Natasha Ginwala and Vivian Ziherl, continues until August 2 and brings together works by artists, designers, poets and choreographers from India, Indonesia, Australia and Europe. Symes Mews NW1

Patrizio Di Massimo, French Kiss, 2014 Alkyd primer, oil, charcoal and pastel on linen, denim 200 x 150 cm. Photo: Plastiques Photography
Patrizio Di Massimo, French Kiss, 2014 Alkyd primer, oil, charcoal and pastel on linen, denim 200 x 150 cm. Photo: Plastiques Photography

3. Rowing: the teeny K-Town white space is onto a winner with Patrizio Di Massimo’s Soft Corners Lining White, a new installation pairing domestic furnishings with a new series of large-scale paintings. We particularly like French Kiss (left), which depicts a man and reptilian creature kissing with hands touching. Ahhhh.
Until July 19, 3 Leighton Place NW5

The four shows launch tonight 7pm at Zabludowicz Collection, 176 Prince of Wales Road NW5, and run until August 10. There are numerous free talks, tours and events every weekend. Have a look at them here

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