Inky business in Covent Garden

Covent Garden, a London hub for supporting emerging new talent, has teamed up with two of London’s most innovative new collectives to provide visitors to the Piazza an opportunity to experience up-and-coming art at its best.

Two of London’s most touted practitioners of underground art, curators London Miles and Royal College of Art graduate Matthew Plummer-Fernandez, are to take over separate empty retail spaces to display their new works, both of which make their debut to the London scene. The partnerships are part of a series of events which continue Covent Garden’s commitment to supporting emerging art and design talent- named the Covent Garden Art Tank.

London Miles, under the curatorship of Phil Coleman and Tina Ziegler will be showcasing their LOWBROW movement- an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. LOWBROW is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comic world, punk music, tattoo, hot-rod street culture, and other subcultures such as graffiti art. Here, having already caused a storm in the U.S, it makes its debut on the London scene and is sure to bring a bold splash of colour to the Piazza.

LOWBROW will show both original artworks from international artists and limited edition prints from seminal artists such as Amanda Visell, Joe Ledbetter and Dave Pressler.

Matthew Plummer-Fernandez, a multi-disciplinary artist touted as one of London’s best five new designers and recent starlet of both the Milan and London Design Festivals, will be presenting his innovative new installation ‘Ink on Paper’. Mixing visual appeal with an important historical message, ‘Ink on Paper’ is a tribute to the fast disappearing hand printing processes. The gallery space will become an explosion of colour as animated glass vessels splatter coloured ink all over paper off-cuts that envelope the room. The layers of colour will build up over the duration of the exhibition, providing lasting testament to the plight of the manual printing industry.

‘Ink on Paper’ is in partnership with Kate Williams (glass) and Michelle Shields (photography).

From the birth of some of the UK’s most prolific design studios in Neal Street in the 1960’s, to hip hop and graffiti events outside the Royal Opera House in the ‘80s, Covent Garden London has long supported emerging artistic talent- from Fashion Fringe and the Design Festival to partnerships with institutions and collectives such as Designer’s Block and Somerset House. By working with London Miles and Matthew Plummer- Fernandez, the Covent Garden Art Tank continues this support.

LOWBROW by London Miles - londonmiles.com
July 6th - August 6th
42 The Market Building, Central Avenue, Covent Garden, WC2 8RF

INK ON PAPER by Matthew Plummer-Fernandez
7th – 16th July
11 The Market Building, Central Avenue, Covent Garden, WC2 8RF
Private view on Wednesday 8th July
11am-7pm Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday, 11am-9pm Thursday and 11am-5pm Sunday