100 Mothers at the Other Art Fair

 100 Mothers is at the Other Art Fair
25th - 28th April
Ambika P3
Marylebone Road

Including my mixed media collage and painting of my mother, Patricia Mary Sparkes.  Her hair is made from my old bedroom wall paper and behind her is a painting of a magnolia tree in bloom. it was first shown in 2003 which was when I also met the amazing Harry Pye who invited me to be in this and some other equally exciting exhibitions.

The Other Art Fair are extremely pleased to be hosting Harry Pye’s renowned exhibition “100 Mothers”.

Supplying 100 artists with an identical blank canvas, Harry Pye asked each one to create a representation of their own mother. Born of a simple concept, the resultant mélange of works reflects the essence of the meaning for the word Mothers. The exhibition includes work from Billy Childish, Bob and Roberta Smith, Chantal Joffe, Dinos Chapman plus 97 others…

The whole exhibition is for sale, so if you have a spare £100,000 then what better way to spend it with 100% of proceeds going to your chosen charity.

Uncanny Landscapes and Material Mediums

THE WILDERNESS IS JUST BEYOND THE SHED

Never Afraid 9 - The Woods 

A rather uncanny start to March...

Firstly: Uncanny Landscapes

I'l be showing some of my Never Afraid paintings at The Centre for Creative Collaboration as part of the Uncanny Landscapes exhibition and conference.

The show opens on Monday 4th March when you can also hear me discuss these works as part of a series of artists talks the same evening.

4th-8th March 2013, The Centre for Creative Collaboration, 16 Acton Street,, London, WC1X 9NG

with: Dr Mariela Cvetić, Niklas Fanelsa, Sophie Hoyle, Dr Rachel Sarah Jones, David Kendall, Phil Legard, Luke Pajak, Sarah Sparkes, Annie Stogdale & Roz Marsten, Lisa Tilder

Mon 4th March

2:00 PM – 5:00 PM Artist Talks
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Exhibition Opening

Never Afraid 9 - Roman Road

Never Afraid. This maxim crops up a lot in my work and has it’s roots in an oral history, passed on to me by my mother and grandmother. I grew up in the suburbs, right on the messy edges, where the new build advanced into the ruins of an old stud farm with its patches of damp looking small holdings and rusting barns. The neat gardens ended abruptly at a line of ancient woodland; sheds were the last out-posts between the lawns and the undergrowth. To step off the trimmed edge of an immaculate lawn was to take a plunge into the darkness and tangle of the woods. Domestic comfort and safety was soon out of sight; here one could be ambushed by wild gangs of children, followed by lone, furtive looking adults or glimpse flesh moving mysteriously amongst the rhododendron bushes. 

Never Afraid 3 -still from a cursed movie I

As a child, this suburban ‘Heart of Darkness’ found its way into many of my dreams and later, as an adult, into my artwork. Over the past decade, as part of a body of work titled ‘Never Afraid’, I have been making a series of small, intense paintings about these transitional landscapes. The paintings are usually shown as part of an assemblage or installation. Their intimate scale engenders a solitude through which the viewer can participate in this private world. Painted with the maxim Never Afraid – a reference to talismans and incantations, such as the ‘Bless This House’ samplers which attempt to project the domestic space against the foreboding of omnipresent danger – these landscapes, both enticing and menacing, banal and fantastical serve as a reminder that the wilderness is only just beyond the shed 

Secondly:

‘The Medium is the Messenger’  

I'll be participating in a roundtable discussion hosted by *Birgitta Hosea at The Lethaby Gallery at Central Saint Martins

Wednesday 6th March 3-4pm

This is in conjunction with the exhibition: 'Making Knowledge: Researching at Central St Martins.

Birgitta has participated in two GHost exhibitions with her peformance 'Medium'. She has also given a talk about Victorian woman mediums and her own practice at Hostings 9.  Documentation of the work 'Medium' is currently on show in The Lethaby Gallery.

*Birgitta Hosea is a Research Leader for Performance and Course Director of MA Character Animation at Central Saint Martins.

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Granary Square
N1C 4AA London
United Kingdom

GHost News - Reproductions and GHost Comrades

Two pieces of exciting news from my visual arts and research project GHost:

 Firstly Hostings 10 - A Haunted Reproduction...

After years tied to the University of London, GHost is now wandering the earth and may turn up anywhere!
First up we'll be at  Domobaal gallery - not too far from our old home - with a special Hostings for Sharon Kivland's wonderful exhibition Reproductions II

GHost presents: Hostings 10 - A Haunted Reproduction

February 16^th, 5.30 – 7.00pm

DOMOBAAL

3 JOHN STREET  LONDON WC1N 2ES 

T +442072429604 M +447801703871

DOMOBAAL.COM  

Between 5.30-7.00pm, in response to Sharon Kivland's exhibition, Sarah Sparkes of GHost invites Birgitta Hosea, Peter Suchin and Sarah Wood to interrogate ideas pertaining to 'haunting' in both Kivland's work and the gallery space itself. This evening's Hosting will initiate an apocryphal archiving of Reproductions II – an immaterial revenant to haunt the invited guests.

Birgitta Hosea is a digital artist, and Research Leader for Performance and Course Director of M.A. Character Animation at CSM. Her current work investigates photographic manipulation and theatricality in Victorian Spirit Photography and mediumistic performances.

Peter Suchin is an artist and critic, contributing to Art Monthly, Frieze, The Guardian, and many other journals.

Sarah Sparkes is an artist, curator and researcher.  She leads the GHost project. Initiated in 2008, GHost provides a supporting platform enabling invited guests to visually and conceptually manifest and interrogate the idea of the ghost.

Sarah Wood is Senior Lecturer at The School of English, University of Kent. She is Managing Editor of The Oxford Literary Review and a founder of Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities.

'GHost Hostings 10:  A Haunted Reproduction' will be part of a day of closing events on Saturday 16th February for Sharons Kivland's exhibition Reproductions II.  Places are limited and must be reserved in advance.  Please email the gallery if you wish to attend:  INFO@DOMOBAAL.COM

On the final afternoon of Sharon Kivland’s exhibition Reproductions II

We cordially invite you to an afternoon of select walking tours, discussions, book presentations and hauntings,

these events are all free however numbers are strictly limited and places must be reserved on a first come basis: 

please contact the gallery. INFO@DOMOBAAL.COM 

Secondly, a new call for two new Hostings GHost is moving in a new direction, the GHosts of the past can take us into the future as a unifying force - ghost comrades!!

GHost-dance: ghosts as cultural and political movement

GHost Hostings 11 and 12 a call for submissions

Call for papers, presentations, performance and dance for an interdisciplinary seminar and performance event – the so-called 'GHost Hostings'.   Hostings 11 and 12 take the GHost project's research in a new direction. 

Deadline for submissions – March 16th

The Hostings are supported by the Centre for Performance at CSM, University of the Arts.

Venue:  CSM, University of the Arts, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London, N1C 4AA

Dates:        17th April, 6pm - 9pm – LVMH Lecture Theatre

                   21st May, 6pm – 9pm – Studio Theatre (dance and performance space)

“Standing on the hill where so many people were buried in a common grave, standing there in that cold darkness under the stars, I felt tears running down my face. I can’t describe what I felt.  I heard the voices of the long-dead ghost dancers crying out to us.”

(Leonard Crow Dog, during the American Indian Movement’s occupation of Wounded Knee, 1973).

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, self proclaimed prophet Wovoka, of the Paiute people, became the figure-head for the Ghost Dance - a religious movement adopted by a significant number of the Native American Nations. Central to this belief was a communal ritualised dance, inducing a trance state, in which it was believed the souls of the dead and living would be reunited and their land returned to them. In the 1970s the Ghost Dance was revived as part of the Red Power Movement, with the activists group AIM (American Indian Movement) at its forefront, fighting for Native American civil rights. The ghost in the Ghost Dance was a revitalising force for a people whose land and loved ones had been taken from them and who were facing cultural genocide.

The Spiritualist movement in nineteenth century U.S.A provided a forum in which women, whose role in society was very much surpressed, could give voice to their opinions in a public arena. Appeals for women’s emancipation and the abolition of slavery could be expressed under the guise of a ghost voice, allegedly channelled through the medium.

At the same time in Europe, in the opening sentences of Marx and Engle’s Communist Manifesto, “A Spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism.” Communism could be said to have been conceptualised as a powerful ghostly presence, waiting to materialise and take shape within the living as a force for revolutionary change.

GHost is seeking proposals for thirty minute papers, performances, performative presentations, contemporary or traditional dance and ritual performance encompassing all disciplines and fields of interest.

Submissions may address, but not be restricted to, one or more of the following:

·Ghosts as a political or cultural voice within marginalised or disenfranchised communities.

·The embodying of ghosts within ritual and performance to instigate socio-cultural or political change.

·Ghosts as a healing and unifying presence within marginalised cultural groups or genders.

·The appropriation of the ghost-dance, and other forms of spirit–possession, within contemporary art.

·The ghost narrative as a political device within rhetoric, writing, film, visual art or popular culture (fiction and non-fiction).

Please send a (working) title and an abstract of approximately 300 - 400 words, a brief biography and, if applicable, a couple of photographs or links to film clips documenting your performance or dance.

Please send submissions to Sarah Sparkes and Aldworth Howard at:

ghost.hostings@gmail.com

www.ghosthostings.co.uk

www.host-a-ghost.blogspot.com

CHINESE OPEN > YEAR OF THE SNAKE

'Heros and Villains'  snake-skin Chrysanthemum, Sarah Sparkes 2013

CHINESE OPEN > YEAR OF THE SNAKE

Q PARK>CHINATOWN 20 NEWPORT PLACE WC2H 

In Association with Geoffrey Leong PR

Curated by Vanya Balogh & Cedric Christie

Show Opens 12 NOON until 6 PM

PRIVATE VIEW & Drinks > 3PM

Featuring Artists > -1

MARIA-TERESA GAVAZZI / STEVE SMITH 

TRACEY EMIN / STUART SEMPLE

GAVIN TURK / SIAN KATE - MOONEY

DANNY POCKETS / LIZ SHERIDAN 

CALUM F KERR / JAMIE LAU

PAUL FREUD / DEAN TODD

ALY HELYER / IHTGW CONTINENT 

TASLEEM MULHALL / PAUL SAKOILSKY 

MARISA POLIN / MIYUKI KASAHARATOMAZ KRAMBERGER / IGOR KUDUZ
VANYA BALOGH / RAUL PINA PEREZ
MARK O ROURKE / LEE MAELZER
MARK WOODS / REBECCA SCOTT
SLOBODAN TRAJKOVIC / AGNETHA SJOGREN
HEDLEY ROBERTS / FRANKO B
SINISA ILICH / SARAH SPARKES
DARK THEATRE > INESA & BARRINGTON DE LA ROCHE
KI PRICE / TIZIANA MANDOLESI
DANIEL BUCKLEY / BEN HOPPER
ITALIA ROSSI / BARRIE SHARPE
URBAN XXX / CATHY DE MONCHAUX
PIERS JAMSON / KIRTLAND ASH
STIMULUS LTD / MARIA JOSE ARCEO
JAMES ALEC HARDY / ALEX COX
GZILLION ARTIST / FLORA BOWDEN
GARRY DOHERTY / LIZZIE SYKES
YUKAKO SAKAKURA / AMANDA MARIE
INGRID BERTHON-MOINE / MONIKA K ADLER
LAURA CLARKE / ELISA CANTARELLI
MAX HATTLER / JUANA TORRES
ROMINA DUSIC / KATIE GOODWIN
ANIBAL PARADA / JAKUB HOVORKA
LEAYA HATZAKIS / LUA CODERCH
VICTOR JEANADA / ROBERT BARTA
CEDRIC CHRISTIE / KEIVAN SARRAFAN
ANNA GONZALEZ NOGUCHI / PAUL GILDEA
XIAO SHI / LORENZO BELENGUER
LAUREN HECKLER / DANIEL DEVLIN
NORMAN HYAMS / REBECCA MEANLEY-EYRE
ALAN FREEMAN / RUSS WILLIAMS
JOHN STEPHENS / JULIA VARELA
AIDAN PRYOR / DAVID BROCK
COLIN ROSS / BRAD PITTS & DOWNEY JUNIORS
FLEDGLING ARTSCOLLECTIVE CENTRAL
TIM FLITCROFT / ELENA MUTI
STEFAN DRASCHAN / JACOB BERTRAND
DAVID MUTILOA / IBBY DOHERTY
GERALDINE SWAYNE / NICHOLAS JONES
RAY OKUNUBI / EMILY MOULD
ANDREW STANNEY

LIVE ACTION > PERFORMANCE 3PM START

CALUM F KERR "Ouroboros Underground Vigil" 2013
Durational Performance

IHGTW CONTINENT "Fashion is Fake" 2013
Durational Performance

RAUL PINA PEREZ "The Year of The Diamondback" 2013
Pina Majic > Durational Performance

FLEDLING ARTCOLLECTIVE CENTRAL Poetry 2013
with Freewheelin' Troubadou

Talk at NN Contemporary Art

NN Presents: Talk by Sarah Sparkes, at The University of Northampton, Avenue Campus

NN presents a talk by researcher, artist and curator Sarah Sparkes, to coincide with their current exhibition Guests and Hosts. Sparkes will be presenting her research project, GHostings, which aims to address the various roles ghosts play in contemporary culture.

Researcher, artist and curator Sarah Sparkes has been presenting GHostings since 2008. GHost aims to address the various roles ghosts play in contemporary culture by bringing artists, writers, curators, researchers and others together. TheGHostings have taken place in ‘haunted’ locations including Senate House, St John on Bethnal Green and more. Sarah will be talking about her research project and answering questions from the audience.

Date: 30 January 2013
Start time: 2pm
Admission: FREE (No booking required)
Venue: The University of Northampton, Avenue Campus, Saint George's Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6JD.

T: 01604 638944 (NN)
E: catherine@nncontemporaryart.org
W: www.nncontemporaryart.org
http://www.nncontemporaryart.org/exhibitions/guests-hosts/

'Theatrical Dynamics' Opens 19. Jan

left: Remember.  THE END.  2012 Hand stitched banner in satin, silk and blackout felt 58inches x 55inchesRight: The Host Ghost. 2013 Mixed media installation - sizes variable

I'm showing two new works created for the group show Theatrical Dynamics, curated by David Leapman at:

Torrance Art Museum

Torrance Art Museum 
3320 Civic Center Drive 

LA

California

USA

Opening reception Saturday, January 19th, 2013, 6 to 9 pm
On view Tuesday, January 22nd - Saturday, March 9th, 2013

Open Tuesday - Saturday

From 11 am - 5 pm

FREE ADMISSION

Closed Sunday, Monday, and all major holidays

Torrance, CA 90503 

Bringing together a group of artists concerned with the way our brains copewith the desire to create emotional and psychological forms.


Participating artists:

Neil Gall                           
James Rielly
David Leapman
Vincent Hawkins
Stuart Elliot
David McDonald
Mark Dutcher
Lee Maelzer
Sarah Sparkes
Hannah Schwadron
Mike Pratt
Daniel Sturgis
Heather Gwen Martin
Marsia Alexander Clarke

Naida Osline

Douglas McCulloh 

CHAR Lecture Series

CHAR Lecture Series presents:  

A Panel: Theatrical Dynamics

with Stuart Elliot,  David Leapman, Hannah Schwadron, and Sarah Sparkes

Moderator: Harmony Wolfe

Thursday, January 17, 2013 @ 7 pm 

doors open at 6:45 pm

4196 Chestnut Street

Riverside, CA 92501

the event is free.

light refreshments, byob

CHAR Lecture Series presents a panel in conjunction with the

forthcoming exhibit Theatrical Dynamics. Artists featured in the show

engage in a lively conversation winding through an investigation of a

mobile understanding of the term Theatrical Dynamics, making

exhibitions, and the formation of the artist-curator, amongst other

anchoring points.

Stuart Elliot is a London-based artist who has shown work at The

Curator's Egg Altera Pars, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, and Object

Lesson, SPACE, in London. He has also had a solo exhibit at HOTEL.

David Leapman is an artist based in Riverside, CA. Has exhibited his work nationally and internationally since the early 1980's, including the Venice Biennial, Serpentine Gallery, ICA and the Royal Academy. Leapman is associated with the Young British Artist, (YBA) his work is in the Saatchi Collection and is featured in the publication Shark Infested Waters, The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90's. He is also the first prizewinner of Britain's most prestigious paint award The John Moores. His work is included in many public and private collections worldwide.

Hannah Schwadron is a PhD candidate in the Critical Dance Studies

Department at UC Riverside. In combination with doctoral research,

Hannah has presented original dance theater on related themes.

Sarah Sparkes is an artist and curator living and working in London. She runs the visual arts and creative research project GHost and has curated GHost exhibitions for the London Art Fair and Folkestone Triennial.  Between 2009 - 2012 she was an Affiliated Research Fellow at the School of Advanced Study, University of London where her research centered on the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature. Material from this research will be published later in 2013 in The Ashgate Research Companion to Sociocultural Studies of the Paranormal.

Harmony Wolfe makes objects and performances working from memories of

landscapes real and conceptual. She is the curator of the CHAR Lecture

Series.

About CHAR:

CHAR is an ongoing series of experiments in which artists, theorists,

and other cultural producers share ways of making and knowing. These

experiments are presented in the domestic sphere as a re-staging of

contexts for cultural inquiries.

The CHAR Lecture Series is a branch of CHAR, functioning as a platform

for the display and expression of ideas, politics, practices, art, and

other fascinations. It seeks to build conceptual and material

affiliations between conversations, imaginations, and individuals. The

speakers present their work and their diverse perspectives, and invite

the audience to participate in critical discussions. The model of

sharing and reflection through dialogue reconfigures parameters of an

artistic community. CLS manifests through performances, screenings,

lectures, and makings, thus transforming the ways we consider art

making in relation to experience.