Charlie Dutton - Crash Open Salon

Charlie Dutton Crash Open Salon 2013

Delighted to have had my painting Central Mission selected for Charlie Dutton Crash Open.

  A great end to 2013!

Sarah Sparkes Central Mission 2013
watercolour, gouache and correcting fluid on  paper

CRASH OPEN SALON 2013 11th DECEMBER - 11th January 1a Princeton Street, London WC1R 4AX check gallery website for opening times

The Charlie Dutton Gallery located in the heart of London will again host the annual CRASH OPEN SALON show which has proved to be a great success with collectors, critics, curators, artists and the viewing public.

Artists

Andrew Ekins
Angelo Picozzi
Antonia Manoochehri
Archie Franks
Ash Fitzgerald
Ben Cove
Bethe Bronson
Charles Williams
Christopher Browne
Covadonga Valdes
Cyrus Shroff
Dan Beard
Daniel Crews-Chubb
David Dipre
David John Beesley
Enzo Marra
Fagner Bibiano Alves
Felicitas Aga
Flo Brooks
Gavin Herrington
Gemma Marmalade
Hamish Mclain
Helen Judge
Howard Rogers
Ikuko Iwameto
Joe Packer
Joel Tomlin
Katerina Kremasioti
Katherine Rose & Joel Cox
Kirsty Gash
Laurence Noga
Lee Maelzer
Louisa Chambers
Margot Sanders
Mark John Evans
Matthew Pang
Michael Boffey
Olivia Hicks
Paul Savage
Paula MacArthur
Reka Ritt
Rob Mead
Roger Hopgood
Sarah Sparkes
Selma Parlour
Sian Sims
Tori Brown
Virginia Verran
Wayne Clough

This years curatorial panel will be;

Artists Phillip Allen and Neal Tait &

Time Out Art Editor Martin Coomer

Lumen at Shuffle Festival

I'm showing two pieces at Lumen, an exhibition themed around  light at St Clements as part of Danny Boyle's Shuffle Festival

The Time Machine Sarah Sparkes 2013 (oak, clock movement, infinity illusion, LEDs)

My work NEVER AFRAID - giant killer, 2010, (led lights, wood, paint), electricity) over the Entrance to the Lumen Exhibition

 St Clements was originally built as a workhouse in 1848, later it was an infirmary for 'the long term sick' In 1936 it became a psychiatric unit. It closed in 2005 and is now itself in the care of the community - The Community Land Trust to be precise - who are doing wonderful things there. 
There is a marvelous programme of films and events throughout the festival

Big Deal No. 5

Big Deal No 5

Martin Sexton Performance 'Dark Pegasus' ending in front of my banner 'Remember. THE END' at Big Deal No 5 (photograpgh  by Vanja Balog)

I showed three works at Big deal No 5 curated by international artists Vanya Balog and Cedric Chrisite.

The exhibition took pace during Frieze week in an underground car park in central London - Q Park, Cavendish Square. There were many performances and special events throughout the duration of the exhibition.  It was exciting to be able to show work in such an evocative space with so many other great artists. 

I showed a new piece Remember. THE END originally shown at Theatrical Dynamics exhibition earlier this year and also some older work, Classic and You'll be sorry when I'm gone originally made for the exhibition DRIVEN at the Fieldgate Gallery in 2006

Art works were installed in the car lots and along the circular driveway through the space.

see images here

Car park owner Geoffry Leong was one of the main sponsors of the event.  Geoffrey is  very much a fan and supporter of artists led exhibitions.

PRESS

Exhibition info:

Big Deal 5

Curated by Vanya Balogh & Cedric Christie
BIG DEAL No 5 FILM REEL curated by Daniel Buckley

Private view 17th October 2013
Artists Preview 4 – 6 pm
Open for public 6 – 10pm (free entry)

Exhibition open
18th – 20th October 2013, 11am – 7.30pm
For further information call +44 (0)75 8745 4613

Q PARK · Cavendish Square · level -3
W1G 0PN · London

map

ARTISTS:

Richard Niman · Cedric Christie · Raul Pina · Nicola Hicks · Paul Sakoilsky · Tiziana Mandolesi · Michael Sandle · Petula Girndt · Twinkle Troughton · Ray Gange · Rebecca Scott · Ben Hopper · Garry Doherty · Mark O’Rourke · Forge & Cutter · Oliver Perkins · Steve Smith · Danny Pockets · Liz Sheridan · Slobodan · Trajković · Ightw Continent · Dannielle Hodson · John Stephens · Hedley Roberts · Calum F Kerr · Sian-Kate Mooney · Miyuki Kasahara · General Harm – Phillip Raymond Goodman · Stephen Hall · Dean Todd · Li Li Ren · Tomaž Kramberger · Shuby · Maria Teresa Gavazzi · Michael Petry · Valerie Driscoll · Marisa Polin · Sarah Doyle · Gzillion Artist · Mark Woods · Lee Cavaliere Robert Barta · Paul Freud · Francesco La Porta · Peter Roston · Rekha Sameer · Martin Sexton · Nadia Ballan · Roman Taher · Mark Johns · Aly Helyer · Tracey Moberly & Mark Thomas· Roberto Ekholm · Joe Barrell · Aldo Giannotti · James Alec Hardy · Lee Maelzer · Tasleem Mulhall · Marie-Louise Jones · Agnetha Sjogren · Sooz Belnavis · Peter Gravelle · Louise Riley · Art Hate · Richard Ducker · Karolin Schwab · Negin Vaziri · Anna Niman · Patrick Dodds · Jim Bond · Jude Cowan Montague · Amy Sharrocks · Mineo Kato · Sarah Sparkes · Gordon Faulds · Eva Raboso Garcia · Patrick Morrisey · Clive Hanz Hancock · Lorenzo Belenguer · Piers Jamson · Jessica Voorsanger · Susan Stockwell · Mark Maxwell · Ibby Doherty · & Charlie Whetaley · Stimulus Ltd · Jonathan Raven · Henry Mulhall · Christina Mitrentse · Aya Fukami · Michael Grieve · Loukas Morley · Nader Barhumi · Critical Decor · Elisa Cantarelli · Ernesto Romano · Tinsel Edwards · Jake Modern · Russell Herron · Vanya Balogh · Maria Jose Arceo · Franko B · Ritva Raitsalo · Andrew Stanney · Thorbjørn S. Andersen · Alex Noble · Thomas Draschan · Mona K · Igor Kuduz · Pascal Rousson · Cathy De Monchaux & Richard Smith · Tim Burns · Daniel Pasteiner · Fitzy · Simon Liddiment · Michael Pennie · Rebecca Quirk · Paul Tucker · Sophie Dickens · Robert Phillips · Una d’Aragona · Jose Carlos Teixeira · Lucinda Burgess · Fiona Haines · Mitra Tabrizian · Julie Young · Kjersti Crossly · Jeanne Susplugas · Rebecca Meanley · Florence Drake · Perry Roberts · Susana Sanroman · Demelza Moreau · Roger Clarke · Tom Durnford · Paul Gildea · Sara Mark · Edward Clark · Dragan Aleksić · Momoko Fukuhara · Rachel Megawhat · Urban XXX · Brad Pitts & Downey Juniors · Kash · Sandy Porter · Yukako Sakakura · Jacky Porter · Tracey Emin · Emma Croft · Tom Estes · Flora Bowden · Florence Drake · Emily Mould · Jeffrey Louis Reed

Bloomsbury Festival: Reading as Art - A Psychic Synopsis

I'm back at Senate House for the Bloomsbury Festival 2013!

On October 15th you will find me in the Paleography and Manuscripts Room at Senate House Library, as part of Sharon Kivland and Mura Gosh's Reading as Art. Turning the Pages of Victorian Psychology.  

I'll be performing Psychic Synopsis - Indexing the Unconscious Mind of Senate House Library

Taking the Victorian subdivision of the Psychology Library as her point of departure and return, Sarah Sparkes has wandered the labyrinth of Senate House library - literally, virtually and conceptually - exploring this vast, towering archive in search of its unconscious mind. Certain books, pamphlets and other archival material, which resonated in response to her quest, have been indexed by the artist on a set of cards. These cards, referencing playing, divination and Zener cards  (used in early psychical research to test telepathic powers) will be laid out on a table in front of the artist. You are invited to choose, take and keep a card; on turning this over you will find a reference number to a book or other item in SHL which, you may make your own physical or psychical journey to find

READING AS ART. TURNING THE PAGES OF VICTORIAN PSYCHOLOGY 

Convened by Sharon Kivland and Mura Ghosh 

SENATE HOUSE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY of LONDON, Malet Street, London 

TUESDAY 15 OCTOBER

5.45 p.m. for a 6 o'clock start

and ending some time around 7.45 p.m. 

Evoking a wind that blows through a library, opening books, prompting unexpected stories, this evening of readings, art,  and performances engages with Victorian psychology from the library’s collections

Debbie Booth, Kate Briggs, Jan Campbell, Jamie Crewe, Vincent Dachy & Bridget MacDonald, Karen David, Annabel Frearson, Rachel Garfield & Janet Hodgson, Chris Gibson, Laura Gonzalez,  Jane Harris, Peter Jaeger, Kreider + O'Leary  & Paul Bavister, Catherine Linton, Hayley Lock,  Sophie Loss, John McDowall, Forbes Morlock, Hester Reeve, Naomi Segal, Sarah Sparkes,  Holly Stevenson, Julie Westerman, Sarah Wood, Gillian Wylde

This event is free but places are limited and must be booked through the Bloomsbury Festival.

http://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/ai1ec_event/reading-as-art-turning-the-pages-of-psychology/?instance_id=1207

Deptford X - South London Salon

Deptford X - Harry Pye's South London Salon

The Way Home, Watercolour on paper,  2013

Over the past year I've been quietly and obsessively making paintings of the same subject.  The series is called 'The Way Home'  and  I'll be showing some of these new paintings at the Deptford X as part of Harry Pye's South London  Salon: http://www.deptfordx.org/programmes/1/events/128

The works will be exhibited at the brand new D.X H.Q on Brookmill Rd (1 minute's walkk from Deptford D.L.R)

Deptford
SE8 4HS

MAP

Deptford X is London’s longest running contemporary visual arts festival and has been experienced by over one million people since inception in 1998.

“A seal on the area’s creative credentials” – Evening Standard “Bigger and more international each year” – Time Out “A vibrant festival of contemporary art” – Guardian Guide, Pick of the Week

12noon to 6pm 28th September - 6th October 

The private view for Harry Pye's south London Salon is on Thursday the 3rd of October from 6pm till 9pm.

For this year's festival Harry Pye & his friends are having their own salon. The work exhibited will be from artists with a strong connection to South London. In many cases the actual work will be about South London too. The artists in The South London Salon are:

Marie Smith, Cedar Lewisohn, Christopher Owen,Sarah Doyle, Peter Lamb,Howard Dyke, Rowland Smith, Julia Bedford,David Dipre, Liam Newnham, Patrick Morrissey & Hanz Hancock,Edward Ward, Rosalind Davis, Bob London, Klarita Pandolfi-Carr, Sarah Sparkes, Clare Price, Paul Hamilton, Jackie Clark, Giles Kent, Julie Bennett, Paul Wye, Tracey Williams, Zac T Lee, Mikey Georgeson, Marcus Cope,Sinead Wheeler, Mel Cole, Julian Wakeling, and Aleksandra Wojcik. 

The Infinity Show at NN Contemporary

• The Infinity Show

  
  
  
  I'm showing my work, 'You Are Here' 2006 at The Infinity Show. The work features a coffin built to fit me, resting on two trestle legs and with a peep hole in the coffins foot, offering a glimpse into an illusory infinite space.
  NN Contemporary
  Number Nine
  Guildhall Road
  Northampton
  NN1 1DP, UK
• Date: 
  19 July–1 September 2013

Taha Belal, Lesley Halliwell, Felippe Moraes, Stefan Saffer, Alexander Small, Sarah Sparkes, Jorinde Voigt, Justin Washtell.

NN Contemporary's Artistic Director is Catherine Hemelryk

The Infinity Show on NN Website

Full of contradiction and paradox, The Infinity Show starts but does not end with 8 artists and every visitor of the exhibition. The exhibition is the beginnings of an idea of art as a momentary resting point for ideas, forms and the potential, yet impossible, iterations of everything.

The show brings together artists from the UK, Brazil, Egypt, Germany and beyond, working in film, drawing, print, sculpture, Spirograph, text and online media. Using self-imposed rules the artists investigate endless possibilities within geometry, philosophy, the cosmos and more. The falsehood of the infinite imbues everything with each decision both opening up and shutting down a thousand potential routes.

Starting with the end, an infinite coffin by Sarah Sparkes greets the visitor. Monoprints by Taha Belal are rendered from mass-produced newspaper photographs; all the more pertinent now as the Cairo-based artist is working in a country rewriting itself through revolution. Felippe Moraes captures the cosmos in his ink drawing, whilst Justin Washtell invites anyone and everyone to contribute to the writing of a story. Time and distance fold and expand in works by Jorinde Voigt and Alexander Small. Jorinde Voigt uses the Fibonacci sequence in her logarithmic drawing series 2 People Kissing, with each page becoming ever more densely covered. Small captures a marching band in an eternal loop, forever turning the corner. Spirals are the base component of Lesley Halliwell’s expansive Spirograph drawings and Oggo a sculpture by Stefan Saffer, extrapolated from a Danish Church painting, will be spiralling out into the world visiting a host of offsite locations.

Events

Opening night & Infinite Print
18 July 2013, 6pm
Join us to celebrate the opening of The Infinity Show and make your own print with artists Pauline Wood & Alexander Small and their press.

Infinite Print workshop with Pauline Wood & Alexander Small
3 August 2013, 2–4pm
Drop in to NN to work with the artists to create your own piece of infinite print. Wear old clothes and be prepared to get inky! All ages and abilities welcome! Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Crit Group
6 August 2013, 7pm
NN hosts the Crit Group for artists at all stages of their career to come together to discuss their work in progress, run by Kate Harrison & Peter Slack.

Drawing performance by Lesley Halliwell
9–10 August 2013
Lesley Halliwell will be drawing live at NN to make a counterpart to her work Fanatic. See first hand the growth of a new work using mathematics, pattern and graft, with the chance to talk to the artist as she works.

Dance: I Infinite, Tom Dale Company
31 August 2013
As part of the closing weekend of The Infinity Show, Tom Dale Company presents an extract from I Infinite, an interactive multi-media dance installation inspired by the digital world’s quest to re-create life. The graphic imagery and dance draw you within centimetres of the performer who moves between robotic isolation and liquid fluidity.

Performances will begin on the hour and at 20 minute intervals with an hour break for lunch at 1pm.

I Love you Because at A Side B Side Gallery

I'll be showing 'Love Me Tender' at the group show curated by Harry Pye 'I  love You Because'

Love Me Tender, Sarah Sparkes 2013, Print and collage 

A-side B-side Gallery presents: 

I Love You Because
Curated by Chloe Mortimer & Harry Pye

Private View: Thursday 18th July 6-9pm

SHOW DATES: 

The exhibition will run from 18th July – 15th August
Opening times: Thurs – Sun 12 – 6pm & by appointment

All the works in the show are about Elvis.
There is also a free special edition Rebel Magazine on Elvis, in which this image is reproduced and in which I have contributed a few lines of writing.
My work 'Love Me Tender' is ink jet print and collage.  The collage materials are taken from my old bedroom wall paper and the wallpaper that was on the kitchen in my childhood home.  Both wallpapers were on the walls of the house when Elvis died.  I frequently use wallpaper in my work and quite often use this blue flowery bedroom wall paper especially.

Here's what I wrote about Elvis in the Rebel magazine: 

'I grew up with Elvis in the house; his music playing on the record player, his films on the TV, biographies on the shelves and a collection of domestic objects decorated with his image. I love Elvis because my mum loves Elvis and my sister loves Elvis - you could say that it's a hereditary condition.'

http://therebelmagazine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/elvis-i-love-you-because-at-a-side-b.html

When A-side B-side Gallery discovered that this Summer marked the 60th anniversary of

Elvis Presley going into Sun Studios and making his first ever recording they said:

“Let’s have a party!”

30 artistic Elvis fans have contributed a painting, photo or drawing of The King and 30 others

have written a personal tribute. The show was curated by Chloe Mortimer and Harry Pye.

Chloe says: “Elvis Presley was strikingly handsome and his singing touched the hearts of millions.

For some, the Elvis story may have ended in 1977 but for me it goes on. He was always there for

me and I find that even now he’s always on my mind.”

Catherine & Tinsel: “A-side B-side Gallery is proud to be the host of a show dedicated to the

‘King of Rock and Roll’. For 6 decades Elvis has inspired many artists including Peter Blake (who

has made 6 shrines to Elvis) and Andy Warhol (whose double Elvis work recently sold for 37

million dollars). The contributors to “I Love You Because” are from all over the world, we hope we

can squeeze everyone in and look forward to seeing you there!”

The first 500 visitors to the gallery will receive a free copy of “The Rebel magazine’s Elvis Special”

sponsored by Immprint. www.therebelmagazine.blogspot.co.uk

In alphabetical order the 30 artists in the show are:

Harry Adams, Simeon Banner, Julie Bennett, Emma Coleman, Anka Dabrowska, Tinsel Edwards, Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf, Elena Garcia de la Fuente, Mikey Georgeson, Paul Hamilton,

Peter Harris, Cathy Lomax, Bob London, Lee Maelzer, Catherine Magnani, Stephanie Moran,

Karen Morden, Chloe Mortimer, Liam Newnham, Gavin Nolan, Horace Panter, Andrew Petrie,

Rachael Robb, Alli Sharma, Sarah Sparkes, Team Beswick & Pye, Twinkle Troughton,

Sandra Turnbull, Jessica Voorsanger, Julian Wakeling, Chris Webster, Nicole Willis, Carlo Zenone   

Heckler Symposium: the Disembodied Heckler

The Disembodied Heckler at the Heckler Symposium

I'm going to be putting the case for poltergeists as 'disembodied hecklers' at Lee Campbell and Mel Jordans' Heckler Symposium 13th July 

HECKLER
TRADE Gallery,
 1 Thoresby Street, Nottingham, United Kingdom, NG1 1AJ.
Saturday 13 July 2013
12.30 - 18.30
http://www.tradegallery.org/gallery.html#heckler

A symposium of performative presentations and provocations entitled organised by Loughborough University School of the Arts Lee Campbell and Mel Jordan in association with Trade, Nottingham.

Keynote speakers:
Daniel Z. Kadar, Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Director, Centre for Intercultural Politeness Research, University of Huddersfield. Provisional paper title: The heckler's 'impoliteness': A mimetic-relational perspective.
Peter Bond (Senior Lecturer, Performance theory and practice, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design). Provisional paper title: Off-side.
Dr. Ian Bruff (Political Scientist, Lecturer in International Relations at Loughborough University’s Department for Politics, History and International Relations).

with invited speakers: Robin Bale, Andrew Brown, Claire Makhlouf Carter, Corinne Felgate, Ben Fitton, Mel Jordan, Kypros Kyprianou, David Mabb, Tim Miles, Sarah Sparkes

Abstract:
The Disembodied Heckler
'As it was 3am we decided to finish, so I said, “Go and vanish Gef” to which a voice replied, “I 
mean to throw a brick at you at night when you are asleep”'
Harry Price & R.S.Lambert The Haunting of Cashen' s Gap: A Modern Miracle explained
Methuen & Co. Ltd (1936) p.106.

In 1931 several national newspapers covered the story of 'The Talking Weasel' an alleged poltergeist emanating from an isolated farmhouse on the Isle of Man occupied by the Irvin family. All three members of the family claimed to have heard, felt and, in the teenage daughter Voiree's case, seen a manifestation taking the form of a talking mongoose called 'Gef'. Gef taunted the family and their visitors from behind the house's wood panels, interrupting 'respectable' conversation with insults and comic songs. When psychical researcher Harry Price sent Captain MacDonald to investigate the 'haunting' Gef mocked his authority with derisory personal comments and threats – see above quote. Poltergeist is a compound of the German 'poltern' meaning to make a noise, rattle, knock about, scold or bellow and 'geist' meaning ghost. Historically poltergeists infest domestic places where there is a teenage family member, usually female, residing. Poltergeists disrupt routine and order in a domestic arena with insulting retorts, 
the use of domestic objects as missiles and the occasional possession of a family member. . Poltergeists subvert the family dynamics, with child becoming the intermediary of outside forces and unpleasant behaviour rewarded with notoriety. At their most successful they will come under the scrutiny of a much wider, even global, public audience via media coverage. Drawing on a number of case studies from the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, this presentation will put the case for poltergeists as 'disembodied hecklers'. 

read all the Speaker Abstracts

The symposium will explore the potential of the heckler as a speaker that can offer a revised understanding of social exchanges within contemporary debates on participation, linguistics, ethics and communication. Artists Campbell and Jordan argue that the heckler, a person who disrupts performances, speeches and public addresses should be considered as a metaphorical figurehead of impoliteness.

At any rate the heckler should appear on the menu of communicative speech acts and as a tactic for understanding the performers relationship to an audience. Furthermore the notion of the heckler enables a review of the troublesome divisions presented in the dichotomies inherent in the coupling of speaker and listener, performer and audience, official speaker and unauthorised respondent. 

The Chutney Preserves SEVEN - Camberwell Arts Festival

I'll be bringing the Chutney Preserves back to Camberwell Arts Festival this year on Camberwell Green, June 23rd 2013.

I've designed the artwork for the flyer and as well as curating the event, will be performing with my puppet ZERO

Chutney Preserves 7: SEVEN drawing by Sarah Sparkes 2013

My artwork is featured on a phone box near Camberwell Green!

The Chutney Preserves Phone Box on Camberwell Green

You can read more about Chutney Preserves 7: SEVEN on the Chutney Website

http://chutneypreserves.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/camberwell-arts-festival-chutney.html