EXHIBITIONS
Pageant | at Abbott & Holder
A group show of paintings, prints and drawings, curated by The Violet Hour.
Georgia Beaumont
Kristina Chan
Perienne Christian
Bobbye Fermie
Ciara Gormley
Tyga Helme
Katherine Jones
Suzy Moxhay
Max Naylor
Amelia Power
Kitty Rice
Millie Straker
Katie Trick
Felicity Warbrick
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
William Shakespeare
From The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1
Beatrice Hasell-McCosh | Of Silence and Slow Time
This exhibition of monumental oil on canvas paintings and small works on paper by artist Beatrice Hasell-McCosh takes inspiration from the Cumbrian garden she grew up in, with paintings based on flowers grown and seasonal changes during 2020 lockdown.
Young Once Only
A group show of 7 artists across 4 sites in the All Saints Road, W11. The title of this group show comes from ‘Fern Hill’ by Dylan Thomas and explores the unbridled exuberance, joyous misremembering and rosy optimism so often associated with youth. With work by Joe Bucklow, Felicity Warbrick, Eleanor May Watson, Yuchen Zhang, Rose Electra Harris, Alexander Haywood and Millicent Straker.
Dana Westring | Thin Places: Tirthas
This will be the first opportunity to see the remarkable work of American artist Dana Westring in the UK.
In his show - Tirthas (Thin Places) - Dana’s beautiful, contemplative watercolours and drawings will be presented by the Garden Museum in association with VH Projects.
Embodying a coalescence of the old Grand Tour tradition, a profound understanding of architecture and the discipline of architectural drawing, combined with the artist’s application of beautiful meditative lines and diffused color, this group of landscapes is principally the result of Dana’s extensive annual travel in Southeast Asia, and of his artistic practice and research amongst the sacred architecture of the Hindu temples and other Indian structures.
To translate the Hindu word, Tirtha means a place of pilgrimage, and also the cultivation of truth, knowledge and spirituality – literally a thin place, a higher plain.
Constant Stars
Constant Stars, our online show of smaller work by 31 of our favourite emerging artists. All under £1,000 with a donation from every sale to @brixtonsoupkitchen 💜
REVEILLE
OTIS BLEASE ~ BOBBYE FERMIE ~ BEATRICE HASELL-MCCOSH ~ CATHERINE LEON ~ ROSA ROBERTS ~ KATIE TRICK
Based on a verse in Housman’s poem, A Shropshire Lad, Reveille is our latest group show of breakthrough artists and examines the idea of the rousing call, an awakening of sorts. The concept of spurring oneself into action after a period of sleep, of inactivity. But how does this sit with artistic practice, its rhythms and rituals?
GREEN FIRES
An online group show of 17 emerging and established artists exploring the optimism and fragility of Spring.
The title taken from ‘Enkindled Spring’ by DH Lawrence, these words are an apt and beautiful encapsulation of the weird times we’ve all lived through and connect to the confusion and loss, simultaneously encompassing the bursts of hope and creativity that so many people have experienced.
Joe Bucklow Harry Cartwright Perienne Christian Clare Dudeney Bobbye Fermie Sarah Garvey Beatrice Hasell-McCosh Chloe Wheldon-Hughes Antonia Jackson Katherine Jones Jack McGarrity Suzanne Moxhay Kemi Onabule Rosa Roberts Luke Silva Julie-Ann Simpson Jane Ward
On the Strangest Sea | Online Show
We invited this group of artists to respond to the idea of hope during an unprecedented time.
The pandemic has rolled over humanity, and like some uncharted body of water, we cannot see beyond the horizon, but we are certain, because we have hope, that in time we will land upon the shores of resolution. Until then, we are stranded, yet that thing with feathers sings within all of us, and asks nothing in return.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
- Emily Dickinson -
Artists include:
Johanna Baudou
Joe Bucklow
Kim Booker
Anya Charikov-Mickleburgh
Bobbye Fermie
Christabel Forbes
Ciara Gormley
Georgia Green
Beatrice Hasell-McCosh
Tyga Helme
Sherrie Leigh Jones
Robyn Litchfield
Kemi Onabule
Rachel Rodrigues
Julie-Ann Simpson
Maddie Yuille
The birds are singing in the distant woods
An online exhibition of work by 23 artists priced £200 - £500
20% of every sale goes to St Mungo’s charity
All the work in this unique and far-reaching show is priced between £200 - £500. 20% of every sale will go to St Mungo’s to help the homeless, and to foster an environment in which people can overcome their isolation and rebuild their lives.
// TENDER //
Kate Braine | Catherine Leon | Max Naylor | Lex Shute | Eleanor Watson
The Violet Hour invited 5 artists across a range of disciplines to explore the role and symbolism of plants, both wild and cultivated, in artistic tradition and theory. We rooted the show’s title in W.B Yeats’ poem, The Two Trees.
//// Shattered Visage ////
CLARE DUDENEY | KATIE GOODWIN | WONJE KANG | ALICE WILSON
In a nod to the current polarisation of ideas and disintegration of many hitherto long-held values we are experiencing as a society, The Violet Hour has invited 4 artists working across a range of media to examine notions and concepts raised by Shelley in Ozymandias: notably decay, fragmentation, reconfiguration and reinterpretation.
THE SKYLARK
The earth was green, the sky was blue:I saw and heard one sunny morn,A skylark hang between the two,A singing speck above the corn;
from The Skylark - Christina Georgina Rossetti
Online spring edit: a curated salon of works for sale from artists we work with.
THE ROOTS THAT CLUTCH
BARTHOLOMEW BEAL | JULIETTE LOSQ | SUZANNE MOXHAY | AMELIA KATE SAMPSON
Having the opportunity to show contemporary artists emerging into their careers in this place rich in history was a real privilege. The “roots..” from Eliot’s epic poem The Waste Land and the premise of the show reached beyond any of our original imaginings, permeating the histories that ground the Garden museum quietly and firmly in its rightful place; the resting place of maritime legend and botanical explorer Captain Bligh, plant safeguarder and collector John Tradescant and their families, the recent discovery of the tombs of sixteenth century archbishops beneath the museum during renovations and the calm of the new cloister space and visionary planting throughout.
Watcher of the Skies | Jane Ward
JANE WARD | WATCHER OF THE SKIES | 4th JUNE - 11th AUGUST 2018
AT THE HOSPITAL CLUB, 24 Endell Street, London WC2H 9HQ
View catalogue here: JW List of works.pdf
The Road Not Taken
WONJE KANG | CATHERINE LEON | PHILIP RAE SCOTT | FELICITY WARBRICK
Inspired by Robert Frost’s poem of the same name. The Road Not Taken explores the infinite possibilities that the concept of the journey presents to the individual, be it an artistic, political, physical or psychological one. Perhaps now, more than ever, societal change is forcing us to the point where well trodden ways converge or diverge in such a manner that the impact of our decisions has become harder to decipher.
HENRI BARANDE presented by VH PROJECTS
In 2016 Violet Hour Projects presented the work of Henri Barande at Saatchi Gallery. Curated by David Galloway, this exhibition was the first and only opportunity to see the artist's work in the UK.
A Miracle of Rare Device
WIKTORIA DEERO | KRISTOF JENEY | MAX NAYLOR | PHILIP RAE-SCOTT | KATIE TRICK | FELICITY WARBRICK
The show focused on the potency of the artist as storyteller, with particular reference to one of the great works of Romantic poetry: Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
BRILLIANT CREATURES
DAVID DEGREEF-MOUNIER | BIDDY HODGKINSON | CATHERINE LEON | SUZANNE MOXHAY | BRONWEN SLEIGH
The show’s title was taken from a Yeats poem, The Wild Swans at Coole. Melancholic and pertinent to autumn, a season of dramatic natural change, the poem is a beautiful lament on our powerlessness to intervene in the passing of time and all that its entails. The artists on show differ in the manner that they treat time as both a destructive - and constructive - process.
ISLANDS OF THE BLEST
BLAZE CYAN | NICHOLAS JOHNSON | MICHAEL O REILLY | KATHRYN MAPLE | JANE WARD
The Violet Hour took inspiration from London’s Adelphi quarter for their latest exhibition of five emerging contemporary artists. The title ‘Islands of the Blest’ is an excerpt from Lord Byron’s ‘The Isles of Greece’ and plays with the idea of permanence and transition.
Makes Me Wonder | Biddy Hodgkinson
BIDDY HODGKINSON - MAKES ME WONDER
curated by Violet Hour Projects
All That's Best of Dark and Bright | Ann Mackowski
ANN MACKOWSKI: ALL THAT'S BEST OF DARK AND BRIGHT
3RD - 12TH DECEMBER 2013
MEMORY & DESIRE PART II
ERNESTO CANVOAS | JULIETTE LOSQ | BRONWEN SLEIGH
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire
T.S. Eliot – The Waste Land
MEMORY AND DESIRE PART I
BARTGHOLOMEW BEAL | NICHOLAS JOHNSON | MAX NAYLOR | ISHAI RIMMER | ELEANOR WATSON
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire
T.S. Eliot – The Wasteland