Spandex, synths and stadium rock: Back to the ‘80s with Art & Sol

Saturday, 3 June (Museum Open Day free entry) – Monday 28 August 2023

The Musical Museum, 399 High St, Brentford, TW8 0DU

Open: Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm.

Exhibition entry included with MM ticket 5-16 £5, Adults £12, Reduced £10

50% discount on entry to residents of the London Borough of Hounslow – more details click here.

The Musical Museum and ‘Art & Sol’ are teaming up this summer to stage an exhibition of iconic ‘80s rock and pop musicians – photographed live in concert and reinterpreted through digital portraiture.

West London was home to many major rock and pop artists who significantly influenced the music, fashion and experiences of the ‘80s. This exhibition provides photographs of live performances at the height of these artists careers, while providing background information on their West London connections and why they had such an effect on the ‘80s. 

Art & Sol unites Getty rock photographer Sol N’Jie, who photographed iconic rock and pop performers in concert throughout the ‘80s and Stella Tooth, resident artist of the Half Moon Putney, which has been playing live music since 1963.

Sol says, “The ‘80s saw a diversity of music genres driven in part by the significant advancements in music technology, such as synthesizers and digital recording techniques, which allowed for new sounds and production methods. The visual aspect of music became just as important, with many musicians creating stunning videos that became cultural phenomena significantly impacting fashion and popular culture. The decade was also a time of political and social change with many musicians commenting on social justice, poverty, and environmental concerns. I was lucky enough to capture some photos that reflected this time.”

During the ‘80s Solomon (Sol) N’Jie was responsible for the crowd safety management of spectators at large London venues where the world’s leading artists and bands performed. During some of the concerts he used a 35mm camera to capture rare and unseen images from unique vantage points of pop stars that had become global phenomena.

Stella, a trained portrait artist who, for the past six years, has been exploring her practice in the legendary music venue the Half Moon Putney, and Getty Rock photographer Sol decided to produce this side-by-side exhibition to allow the viewer to understand and appreciate what happens when an iconic photo is seen through the lens of an artist’s eye.

Stella says, “At the Half Moon Putney I’ve portrayed, in traditional media, The Animals, The Kinks and The Pretty Things among others – musicians who once participated in, or were influenced by, the ‘60s British R&B scene generated by The Ealing Club. Being too young to see other sixties bands live at start of their careers, I jumped at the chance to interpret Sol’s ‘80s photos of image-conscious music icons like Adam Ant, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, to name but a few, at the height of their fame and in a new medium taken up in lockdown – digital painting.”

Noeleen O’Gorman, Audience Development Manager at The Musical Museum, said,

“We are delighted to welcome ‘Art & Sol’ to exhibit alongside items from our collection at the Museum.  These stunning concert photos and inspired art capture the zeitgeist of the 1980s in West London. The connections to the local area are astounding and something we think will be of great interest to our local residents and music ‘aficionados’ alike.“

Stella and Sol met in a ‘pop up’ in Ealing where Sol was exhibiting some of the 600 photos, he had taken of ‘80s rockers.  The collaboration unites ‘old’ and ‘new technology’ with Sol’s photographs originally taken on an analogue 35mm camera and Stella’s artworks created on an Apple iPad pro using the Procreate app.

Stella Tooth, an ex-print journalist and BBC/Sky News PR, retrained as a portrait artist at The Heatherley School of Fine Art in 2010 and has her home studio in Ealing. Storytelling in words and picture is part of her portrait and performer art. Now, inspired by Sol’s iconic rock photos, she uses colour symbolism and her traditional oil painting skills to create digital portraits with the pressure-sensitive ipencil.

                                                     

Performers In Paint exhibition this June in Putney

The slackrope walker – a collaborative digital painting by Stella Tooth and Susie Nathanson

Thanks to the lovely Occhi Magazine team for previewing LRG’s Stella Tooth’s forthcoming joint ‘Performers In Paint’ exhibition this June at Putney Library as part of the Wandsworth Art Fringe.

The exhibition unites portrait and performer artists Stella Tooth and Susie Nathanson for an exhibition that will include performer-inspired workshops and a talk about their inspiration and practice.

To read the full article click here.

Sarah Jane Moon’s new paintings of books on sale

Sarah Jane Moon has an exciting new collection of paintings of books on sale.

It appears quite a few have already sold.

If you’re interested, click here to view the entire collection and email info@sarahjanemoon.com to buy.

International shipping available.

Vote for LRG’s Sarah Moon at BP portrait awards!

You can now vote for your favourite painting in this year’s BP Portrait Award Exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery… If you’d like to vote for Sarah’s portrait of the very brilliant Lola Flash, here’s the link:

https://lnkd.in/e6F-sAG

BPPortrait #BPPortraitAward

Lola Flash by Sarah Jane Moon.

LRG welcomes Rebecca Ashgar to the fold!

The Lots Road Group is delighted to welcome Rebecca Asghar as our newest member.

Rebecca is an award winning figurative artist who works in many media including oil painting and drawing. She trained in the classical Atelier method and attained a Diploma in Portraiture from Heatherleys School of Fine Art.

Rebecca’s work is characterised by her bold, expressive strokes and contrasts of light and shade. She draws inspiration from her own life experiences: cultural discords, views and beliefs. Rebecca applies the same individual approach to both her self portraits and her portraits of others. Rebecca’s personal mantra is that until one truly looks at oneself, one cannot hope to achieve that same conversation about someone else when painting a portrait. Viewers have praised Rebecca’s work for both its visual impact and its emotional truthfulness.

Thanks to all who came to last night’s Connected PV!

More than 175 people came to the Private view of Connected: the changing face of Britain last night.  It was fantastic to see so many of our sitters.  The Lots Road Group’s Hilary Puxley explained the intention of our exhibition, born of a simple idea in divisive times to portray a person to whom we had a personal connection and, like casting a pebble in a pond, to see where the ripples would take us.   The answer was that our connections extend very far indeed and reveal much about the identity of 21st century Britain.

She introduced Rosie Millard the CEO of our exhibition partner, Children & the Arts, who welcomed our partnership, not least because our show celebrates life with all its diversity and difference.  She spoke of the work of the charity to bring art into an active and lively engagement with children and young people, many of whom have not experienced art and creativity before.

We are hugely grateful, as always, to our exhibition sponsors where we all studied Heatherleys.

Colleen Quill with her portrait

Maureen Nathan with Alla Broeksmit and her self portrait

Laurence Collis with her sitter Tim Peacock

Martin Burrough with his portrait

Mark Stevenson with his portrait

Lucinda Rendall and her portrait

Hilary Puxley and her sitter’s wife with her portrait

Elizabeth Shields with her portrait

Ben Bowling with his portrait.

Sarah Jane Moon with her sitter

Maureen Nathan with her portrait.

Ricky Richardson at Connected

Sarah Ricahrdson at the PV

Connected PV

Hilary Puxley and Children & the Arts’ Rosie Millard addressing guests

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connected Private View tonight!

We’re looking forward to welcoming you all at the Private View of Connected: the changing face of Britain at Waterstones Gower Street from 6.30-8.30pm tonight!

Sponsored by Heatherleys, and in association with Children and the Arts, the exhibition not only includes paintings on the main theme, but self-portraits and, new this year, an insight into the practice of each artist which includes more portraiture, performer portraiture, landscape, life drawing and still life.

To see the catalogue of the themed portraits – and learn about the fascinating stories behind them – click here.

Below you will see examples of the majority of other works for sale, together with a price list and contact details for individual artists.

CONNECTED – the changing face of Britain  PRICE LIST

1. STELLA TOOTH : stellatooth.com

      Cover Girl – oil on canvas 100x80cms  £1,200

2. LUCINDA RENDALL : lucindarendall.com

      Diego Barros – oil on canvas 100x100cms  £2,500

       3.SARAH REYNOLDS : sarah.e.reynolds@aol.co.uk

       Sophie Robinson – oil on canvas 50x50cms £3,500

4. COLLEEN QUILL : colleenquillartist.com

      Abi – oil on canvas 70x84cms £3,450

5. MARTIN BURROUGH : martinburrough.com

      Tommi – oil on canvas 60x76cms  £2,000

6. SARAH JANE MOON : sarahjanemoon.com

      Krishna Istha – oil on canvas 97x122cms  £2,600

7. STUART HOWITT : stuart-howitt.co.uk

       Boris – oil and spray paint on canvas 100x120cms £2,950

8. KATHERINE FIRTH : katherinemfirth@me.com

     Putting the world to rights – oil on canvas 64x74cms NFS

9. LAURENCE COLLIS : lozcollis@hotmail.com

      Tim – oil on canvas 61x51cms NFS

10. CHRISTINE KLEIN-CAILLIAU : christinelklein@hotmail.com

    Sarah – oil paint and gold leaf on canvas 90x90cms £2,500

11. HERO JOHNSON : herojohnson.com

    Kathryn – oil on canvas 100x 80cms NFS

12. MARK STEVENSON : markstevensonpaintings.com

    Portrait of Patrick – oil on canvas 30x40cms NFS

13. HILARY PUXLEY : hilarypuxley.com

    Soli with Sindhi Malir  – oil on canvas 70x60cms NFS

14. SARAH RICHARDSON : sarahrichardsonportraits.com

    Annie – oil on canvas 70x90cms £2,950

15. ELIZABETH SHIELDS : elizabethshields.com

     John Shields – oil on board 30x30cms  £850

16. MAUREEN NATHAN : maureennathan.com

    Portrait of Victoria – oil on artboard 39x39cms NFS

17. ALLA BROEKSMIT : allabroeksmit.com

    Заплетали – oil and fabric collage on canvas 50x50cms NFS

OTHER PAINTINGS FOR SALE by LOTS ROAD GROUP  PRICE LIST

18. ALLA BROEKSMIT : allabroeksmit.com

    Braided  –  oil on linen  43x102cms  £2800

19. LAURENCE COLLIS : lozcollis@hotmail.com

Study – Linda’s class at Heatherleys – oil on paper/button polish 33x33cms NFS

20. MAUREEN NATHAN : maureennathan.com

   Tired – oil on artboard 23x32cms  £495

21. ELIZABETH SHIELDS : elizabethshields.com

    Red Windmill :  oil on canvas 13x28cms £550

22.    HILARY PUXLEY : hilarypuxley.com

Margo, study – Oil on canvas 10x15cms £250

23. MARK STEVENSON : stevenson.mark@talktalk.net

   Blue Shirt – oil on canvas 35x45cms £240

24. COLLEEN QUILL : colleenquillartist.com

   Garden Peonies – oil on canvas 64x94cms £1950

25. CHRISTINE KLEIN-CAILLIAU : christinelklein@hotmail.com

    Cinq Tournesols – oil on canvas panel 44x44cms £695

26. LUCINDA RENDALL : lucindarendall.com

    Landscape in Andalusia – oil on canvas 75x60cms £800

27. SARAH JANE MOON : sarahjanemoon.com

    Elizabeth – oil on linen 70x50cms £1300

SARAH JANE MOON : sarahjanemoon.com

    Self-portrait – oil on canvas £600

SEE CATALOGUE (LINK ABOVE)

28. SARAH REYNOLDS : sarah.e.reymolds@aol.co.uk

    Sunset – Lake Vannen Sweden £1700         

                  

29. STUART HOWITT : stuart-howitt.co.uk

    Love is forever – oil on canvas 55x70cms  £1500

30. STELLA TOOTH : stellatooth.com

    Never the bride – liquitex/inktense pencil/acrylic paper 52x70cms  £440

31.    MARTIN BURROUGH : martinburrough.com

    Prince Harry – acrylic on board 35x45cms £450

32. KATHERINE FIRTH : katherinemfirth@me.com

    Winter Glow – oil on board 62x62cms £300

33. SARAH RICHARDSON : sarahrichardsonportraits.com

    Nude Balanced – pastel on paper 60x75cms £475

34. HERO JOHNSON : herojohnson.com

    Carl – oil on canvas 100x80cms NFS

PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE

Finally, if you are interested in commissioning a portrait from the Lots Road Group, here’s all you need to know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connected catalogue out now!

With the Lots Road Group’s latest exhibition starting today, click here to view our catalogue: Connected: the changing face of Britain.

The exhibition this year also includes self portraits and, for the first time, an example of the other art of each artist.

Many works are for sale.

Do hope to see you at our Private View this Friday, 30 November from 6.30-8.30pm at Waterstones Gower Street.

CONNECTED: THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN

 

The Lots Road Group’s latest exhibition presents a microcosm of contemporary British society through the artists’ own connection to family and friends.

Seventeen members of the group have chosen an eclectic mix of sitters – diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, and nationality of origin. Having connected with each other through our attendance at The Heatherley School of Art we decided to explore through portraiture how our personal connections spread outwards and reflect life in 21^st century Britain.

Set against the backdrop of Brexit, a time often described as divisive, our sitters are people to whom we have personal ties, some traditionally British from Aberdeenshire, Cornwall, Oxfordshire, Sussex and Yorkshire, as well as residents who have come here from a staggering array of countries: Bolivia, Brazil, British Guiana, Eritrea, France, Iraq, Norway, Pakistan, Poland and the United States.

Lots Road Group representative, Hilary Puxley said, “We started with the simple idea of painting people to whom we are connected, and have been astounded by the results! The list of countries with which our sitters are associated is astonishing and reflects a sea change in British society. Our artists have come up with a wealth of compelling and sometimes touching stories that evidence a much kinder and more welcoming Britain than you might suspect. I think the public will find the portraits fascinating.”

Our charity partner this year is Children & the Arts whose CEO, Rosie Millard OBE said, “I am delighted that Children & the Arts is partnering the distinguished Lots Road Group in this year’s exhibition, which testifies so beautifully and powerfully that art is an essential expression of humanity. Without it our lives are diminished.  We work with thousands of children across the nation and across all art forms. We change lives and open up vistas. On the threshold of a time when the UK moves away from Europe into an uncertain future, our mission has never seemed more important, and it has never seemed more appropriate and meaningful for us to be connected with this wonderful show which celebrates life with all its diversity and difference.”

As usual, our exhibition has a narrative component which introduces our sitters and explains how we are connected to them.

Several sitters evidence changing tastes, of Britain being more open both to world, to different lifestyles and conscious of the impact all our lives have on our environment:

• Martin Burrough’s sitter is Thomasina Miers who founded the Wahaca chain of restaurants, bringing Mexican food to our attention and introducing British palates to exciting new combinations of flavours.
• French-born Laurence Collis’ sitter is her partner Tim Peacock who grew up in Yorkshire but moved to the south of England. They met when he came to fix her motorbike and has had to adapt to her bilingual family.  Tim represents the antithesis of a changing Britain with his passion for conserving and curating things of value from the past.
• New Zealand born Sarah Jane Moon’s sitter is fellow immigrant Krishna Istha, a US-born performer. Both have fallen in love withLondon’s live art and queer scenes and, through the creative arts actively promote visibility and representation of under-represented people like them.
• Hilary Puxley’s sitter is her long-term friend Soli Mehta who came here from Karachi and whose import business created new designs for traditional crafts and brought them to the British high street.
• Lucinda Rendall’s sitter is Brazilian-born Diegos Barros, now a British citizen and her third son’s partner, a personal trainer and body builder who designs and markets clothes.
• Sarah Reynolds’ sitter is Sophie Robinson, an interior designer, broadcaster and TV presenter of BBC 2’s The Great Interior Design Challenge and BBC One’s DIY SOS, whose mission is to bring colour and optimism to British interior design.
• Sarah Richardson’s sitter is her neighbour Bolivian-raised Annie Copponex who has lived in Britain for 50 years with her Swiss-born husband Jean-Pierre and made British culture her own without losing touch with her Bolivian roots, turning her house into a living museum of artifacts and cooking and making objects for her regular Bolivian fiestas.
• Elizabeth Shields’ sitter is her brother John; their shared connection is to their homeland Aberdeenshire, where John is attempting to put a traditional estate on a more environmentally sustainable footing.
• Stella Tooth’s sitters are Ben and Sacha Bowling who are pictured with their father, British Guianan-born Frank Bowling OBE RA’s, painting. Frank fled to New York after graduating from the RCA to avoid attempts to pigeon-hole him. A Tate Britain retrospective next year will establish the artist who now lives in London as one of today’s most brilliant painters.
• Ukrainian-born Alla Broeksmit has chosen to portray herself as she feels she personally exemplifies multiple connections. She splits her time between London, with its cultural and artistic opportunities and her family in New York, but looks to her childhood in Ukraine for her artistic inspiration.

There are also very long-term friendships, touching stories of young people being added to family circles, and of courageous immigrants finding a new life in this country, or helping others acquire skills they need:

• Hero Johnson’s sitter is Cornish-born, London-based Kathryn Patrick, a friend since infant school, pictured in front of the Botallack Mine, where she sat when her husband proposed.
• Katherine Firth’s Polish-born sitter, Kasia, is a former employee and now friend who has become a British citizen who lives in Cambridge and teaches female immigrants from all over the world.
• Stuart Howitt’s mixed-heritage, Norway-born sitter Boris is a graphic designer whom he met at their local gym. Boris’ pose echoes the look of a passport photo, engaging with the viewers in a way that shows the determination and courage it takes to start a new life in a foreign country
• Christine Klein – Cailliau’s sitter is London-based Sarah Lewis whose African-European heritage is reflected in her different coloured eyes. The youngest of eight siblings, Sarah grew up on a council estate in Poplar, east London and met Christine’s daughter Celine on Channel 4’s Celebs go Dating. She now has a modelling career, as Christine once did.
• Colleen Quill’s sitter is 28-year-old Eritrean-born Abnet Anday, whose quest for a better education led her to being taken into social care in London and eventually graduating in psychology at the University of Worcester, where she studied with Colleen’s daughter Maria.
• Maureen Nathan’s sitter is her 92-year-old mother-in-law Victoria, who came to England in 1960 with her husband and children from Iraq.
• Mark Stevenson’s sitter is his French-born long-term friend Patrick Deguara, who is now a chiropractor in Witney, with whom he shares a love of cooking and golf.

Our charity partner this year is Children & the Arts which works with arts venues across the UK to reach children in communities and hospices who may be in danger of missing out on creative and cultural experiences. Since the charity was founded in 2006, it has given half a million children access to the arts, provided more than 1000 children and families affected by life-limiting illness with therapeutic arts experiences, and created more than 6000 partnerships between schools and arts organisations in the most deprived areas of the country.

Our sponsor is The Heatherley School of Fine Art. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest independent art colleges in Britain and is among the few art schools in the UK that focus purely on portraiture, figurative painting, sculpture and printmaking. The college offers both vocational and part-time courses to students aged 18 years and over.

The Lots Road Group accept commissions.

To see a copy of our catalogue visit http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore

and search for Connected: the changing face of Britain from Friday 30 November.

 

CONNECTED EVENT Connect2018:A5 PV inviteConnect2018:A5 PV invite

OSCAR NEMON, PORTRAIT SCULPTOR

An illustrated lunchtime talk by his daughter Aurelia Young

Thursday 6 December 1-2pm

Tickets £5  Waterstones 

From her unique viewpoint, Aurelia, whose mother, Patricia Villiers-Stuart attended courses at Heatherleys in 1939 and 1949, talks about her late father Oscar Nemon, a genius who sculpted the crowned heads of Europe, Sigmund Freud and Winston Churchill, and who, against the odds being a Jewish refugee, brought us close, through his art, to those who shaped the 20^th century.  Aurelia will be happy to sign copies of her newly published book ‘Finding Nemon’.

Katherine Firth’s portrait of Dame Gillian Beer unveiled at Clare Hall, Cambridge

Congratulations to Lots Road Group’s Katherine Firth on the unveiling recently of her portrait of Dame Gillian Beer, which featured in our Art of Reading exhibition at Clare Hall, Cambridge.