Gothic Pleasures

A selection of my NEVER AFRAID paintings will be exhibited at Emma Hill's Eagle Gallery as part of the group exhibition Gothic Pleasures.

Gothic Pleasures
Eagle Gallery - EMH Arts
159 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3AL

Private View
18th May 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Exhibition Continues 19 May - 11 June

Artists: Arabel Rosillo de Blas, Elaine Brown, Denise de Cordova,
Harriet Mena Hill, Sarah Sparkes, Carolyn Thompson

Sarah Norris' Review of the Exhibition: Gothic Pleasures Review

ARTDATE 2016

ARTDATE 2016
13-14-15 May La Città dei destini incrociati
Various venues across Bergamo, Italy
http://www.theblank.it/artdate/
 

The Host Ghost, Sarah Sparkes, 2016

My work,'The Host Ghost' will be exhibited at:
The Blank Contemporary Art
Via Giacomo Quarenghi, 50
24122 Bergamo, Italy

Artists, who have previously worked with the Blank, have been invited to exhibit something that represents them. In my absence, I have sent my ghost

The exhibition is part of ARTDATE, a prestigious annual art event that takes place in many public and private galleries, museums and other venues across the beautiful city of Bergamo.

This year the theme and title of ARTDATE is 'The City of Crossed Destinies', based upon Italo Calvino's book'The Castle of Crossed Destinies' which features one of the oldest Tarot decks, the Colleoni-Baglioni or Visconti-Sforza tarot, which is held in the Accademia Carrar, Bergamo
My film, 'Time You Need', has also just entered the permanent collections of GAMeC (Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo)

 

Atlante delle immagini e delle forme

My film Time You need has entered the permanent collection of GAMeC,
The work will be part of the exhibition,
Atlante delle immagini e delle forme,
a group exhibition of recent acquisitions at GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo
 

Time You Need, Sarah Sparkes, 2015, Film, 16mins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atlante delle Atlanti delle immagini e delle forme,
GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo24121 Bergamo
19 February 2016 - 10:00am to 28 March 2016 - 7:00pm
Curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio e M. Cristina Rodeschini
Inaugurazione: 18 February 2016,  19:00pm
Press preview: 18 Febrary, 11:30 am

Artists: Getulio Alviani, Cory Arcangel, Stefano Arienti, Mariella Bettineschi, Luciano Fabro, Ferrario Frères, Invernomuto, Renaud Jerez, Corrado Levi, Ken Okiishi, Adrian Paci, Giulio Paolini, Emilio Prini, Dan Rees, Sarah Sparkes, Josh Tonsfeldt e Remco Torenbosch.

London Art Fair: New Art Projects

I am thrilled to be showing my NEVER AFRAID paintings with Fred Mann's New Art Projects at the London Art Fair. Exhibiting artists:  James E Crowther, Fergus Hare, Sarah Sparkes and Geraldine Swayne.

Come and find us at Stand 13.

 

 

'NEVER AFRAID - Season II: Earley Rising', Sarah Sparkes 2015, 

acrylic and gold leaf on wallpaper.

New Art Projects
At

London Art Fair 2016

Islington Design Centre

53 Upper Street

London N1

20 - 24 January
Tues 19 - VIP Preview: 3pm - 6pm
Weds 20 - 11am - 9pm
Thurs 21 - 11am - 7pm
Fri 22 - 11am - 7pm
Sat 23 - 10am - 7pm
Sun 24 - 10am - 5pm

 

http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/exhibitors/new-art-projects

The Electric Girl

Artist Sarah Sparkes has created an installation to compliment the Voices in the Dark series of events at Senate House Library. The work is a response to research carried out at the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, during a research fellowship undertaken by the artist at UOL between 2008 – 2011.

Stella Cranshaw AKA The Electric Girl was one of many alleged mediums, tested for authenticity, by self proclaimed Psychical researcher Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948). Details and ephemera from many of Prices investigations are to be found in the special collections at SHL (Senate House Library). 

At his laboratory for Psychical Research, Price carried out a series of 'controlled séances' utilising various apparatus he had invented to test psychic powers. Notes, detailing every event that occurred during the séance, were recorded by one of the sitters and later published in a book, Stella C. An Account of Some Original Experiments in Psychical Research (Hurst & Blackett Ltd., London, 1925) now held in the special collection at SHL. Sparkes invited and directed several of SHLs' staff in a recorded reading of the notes taken during one of the Stella Cranshaw séances. The recording, was edited together with footage of the imposing table in the Durning-Lawrence Library where most of the Voices in the Dark events are taking place.

A series of light bulbs and glass jars, referencing Prices; Psychic testing apparatus, illuminate the faces of famous mediums and psychical researchers associated with Harry Price. From left to right these are: Eileen J. Garrett, C.E.M. Joad, Eleonore Zugun, Margery (Mina) Crandon, Stella Cranshaw, Harry Price, Helen Duncan, Eric Dingwall, Voirrey Irving, Rudi Schneider.
With thanks to séance readers: Bianca Bristow, Richard Espley, Charles Harrowell, Jordan Landes, Kelly Marshall. Thanks to Charles Harrowell for his role as sound engineer and for setting up the recordings.

Sarah Sparkes is an artist and curator. She runs the visual arts and research project GHost (initiated with Ricarda Vidal in 2008) and has published on and regularly lectures about this subject. She has exhibited widely, both in the UK and internationally. Recent exhibitions and commissions include: MERU Art*Science Award III Edition, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy; English Magic at New Art Projects, London; Fall of the Rebel Angels at Venice Biennale; Theatrical Dynamics at Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A; Overtime at London Maritime Museum and Stephen Lawrence Gallery; Haunted Landscapes at Falmouth University and AIRM2014, Romney Marsh, U.K. She is currently developing a new commission for an exhibition exploring science and magic, curated by Rob La Frenais for FACT in Liverpool.

Recent publications: The GHost Project: manifesting ghosts through visual art and creative research, chapter in The Ashgate Research Companion to Paranormal Cultures, edited by Olu. Jenzen & Sally R Munt, (Ashgte: 2013)

Entries on Ghosts and GHost Project. In: Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies, edited by Matt Cardin (ABC Clio: 2015).

MERU Art*Science Award III Edizione

I am delighted to be the recipient of the MERU Art*Science Award, III Edition (nominated by Rob La Frenais).  My film, Time You Need, will be exhibited at GAMeC  (Gallery d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) as part of the 13^th Bergamo Science Festival.  The work will become part of GAMeC’s permanent collection, the archives of the Fondazione Meru and the Association BergamoScienza.​

MERU Art*Science Award III EditionSarah Sparkes: TIME YOU NEED02.10 – 29.11  2015GAMeC – Gallery d’Arte Moderna e ContemporaneaVia San Tomaso, 5324121 BergamoItalywww.gamec.itTime You Need, by Sarah Sparkes explores the potential for consciousness to time-travel within the material limits of the human body. Using the symbolism of the portal and black hole, as they are conceptualised in both science and science fiction, the film presents a montage of narratives and documentation of performances and installations, which together with sonic and visual disruptions, create a liminal experience for the spectator.
The proposition is that one may find, herein, the time one needs.

Thanks to:  Sooz Belnavis , Café Gallery Projects London, Chelsea School of Art and Design, Rebecca Feiner, Phillip Raymond Goodman, Caroline Gregory, Rob La Frenais, Patrick Morrissey, Dr Pietro M. Reviglio, Anne Robinson, St. John on Bethnal Green, Ian Thompson, Robert Whytehead.

English Magic at New Art Projects

I am delighted to be showing my new NEVER AFRAID paintings, along with some from the orignial series, at Fred Mann's stunning new gallery - New Art Projects

ENGLISH MAGIC New Art Projects 6D Sheep Lane, London, E8 4Q Opening hours: Wednesday - Friday 11-6, Saturday 12-5 or by appointment e: info@newartprojects.comt : +44 (0)207 249 4032    Exhibition runs18 July - 23 August

PRESS RELEASE: ENGLISH MAGIC

Fred Mann is delighted to announce the first exhibitions at his new gallery, New Art Projects.

ENGLISH MAGIC will be made up of four solo shows by painters James E Crowther, Fergus Hare, Sarah Sparkes and Geraldine Swayne.

The exhibitions will explore the fine line between the real and the sublime in contemporary British Painting, looking in particular at what happens when the English landscape is distilled through the eyes of artists. A magical realm is created.

James E Crowther

“Gabba Gabba Hey... We accept you, we accept you. One of us, one of us, welcome to the Circus!”
Tod Browning’s, 1932, pre-censure Hollywood, movie Freaks

James E Crowther has carved an extraordinary series of figures from MDF, the choice of material for the coffin the maker. These are then meticulously hand painted and each are unique, having their own individual story. These figures are his Pinocchios, life is breathed into them and as they multiplied in his studio they began to create a visual noise.

He has created a modern day freak-show, a sideshow that grew into a celebration. It is a celebration not just of our shabby imperfection, our humanity but also of our shadow-side and weaknesses. Through out the narrative his characters create a burlesque undercurrent detailing the lives of the sideshow performers.

Fergus Hare

Fergus Hare makes oil paintings of the Sussex landscape; however a visual transformation is underway. Rather than paint from the landscape on his doorstep, these works stem from the imagination. With a firm nod to the fantastical “valley of vision” of Samuel Palmer and the mysticism of William Blake, Hare re-imagines the landscape as a dream-scape, on the edge of twilight. Alongside his paintings we will also exhibit an extraordinary series of charcoal drawings of the moon and planets. A solar system of the imagination.


Sarah Sparkes

'NEVER AFRAID' is a body of work that artist Sarah Sparkes has been creating over the past decade and is an attempt to both invoke and exorcise the memories embedded within her childhood locations. The title “Never Afraid” refers to the small village of Aldworth in the Berkshire Downs and a legend passed down to her by her mother's family about the four magical Aldworth Giants: John Long, John Strong, John Never Afraid and John Ever Afraid.

The 'NEVER AFRAID' works are an investigation of these stories, symbols and fragmentary facts that she has used to try to communicate with an idea of the past. She observes “NEVER AFRAID is a challenge made on a threshold before crossing into a symbolic, supernormal space; 'NEVER AFRAID' is a magical incantation to both summon and defend against forces outside of our understanding.”

Each of the ten works are painted with acrylic and mixed media on wall paper from one of her childhood family homes.

Geraldine Swayne

Geraldine Swayne takes her subjects from a wide rage of sources; from pornography, landscapes and portraits of friends and musical collaborators. She describes a creative and complex world that bridges artistic and musical creativity. As a member of the celebrated band 'FAUST', Swayne incorporates painting into her on-stage performances and often documents her experimental performances in her paintings. Her small enamel paintings have all of the fascination of historical cabinet miniatures; small, intimate, often sexual imagery is rendered in jewel-like colours on tiny metal panels.

Her fascination with life and the personal landscapes she encounters comes from the margins of society, her works describes the edge of or a bridge between obsessive worlds and the day to day.