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.

The Story of a Commission via the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

One of our artists Stella Tooth has recently completed a commission via the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

If you’d like to find out how it came about, how the commission progressed from start to finish, and what the sitters thought of it click here.

Chandra and Kasmira with their double portrait commissioned for their 50th wedding anniversary

Framed portrait of Chandra and Kasmira oil on canvas

LRG’s Hero Johnson’s portrait of Dame Harriet Walker now on show at RP

LRG’s Hero Johnson has both a self-portrait and a portrait of Dame Harriet Walker now on show at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, running until 14 May.

The exhibition, which celebrates contemporary portraitures is open from 10am-5pm (late night 7pm 11 May), Booking is not required. £5 entry or free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available.

The exhibition features over 200 portraits by members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters alongside works carefully selected by them from thousands of portraits submitted from all over the world.

See the exhibition online

New digital performer paintings by LRG’s Stella Tooth in London exhibitions May-September

A number of London exhibitions from May to September feature exciting new album cover sized digital performer paintings by the Lots Road Group’s Stella Tooth.

During lockdown Stella began experimenting with digital painting, using the Procreate App on her ipad pro with the game-changing pressure sensitive ipencil.

Using her skills as a traditional oil painter, she paints freehand inspired by a variety of photographs. Some she takes herself as resident artist at legendary music venue, the Half Moon Putney, some from visits to her local west London music venues like the famous Eel Pie Club (to read article about Eel Pie Island museum by the artist click here). Some are inspired by photos of rock stars by Getty photographer Solomon N’Jie, taken at the height of their fame in the 80s.

Now, to help celebrate The Ealing Club‘s Rock’s Diamond Year (where electronic blues all began in 1962 with @MarshallAmps setting up in nearby Hanwell the same year) and the continuing tradition of live music at the Half Moon Putney, Stella is exhibiting her digital paintings in different London venues this Spring and Summer.

Two of her musician artworks feature in the British Blues Exhibition at the Barbican Music Library from 26 May for four months. Others form part of Skylark Galleries art collective’s joint June exhibition at Spaghetti House Gallery in Holborn running until 19 June. And ‘Art & Sol’ – featuring both Sol’s rock photos and Stella’s interpretation of them – is the launch exhibition at the Ealing Project, Ealing Broadways’ new cinema, gig and exhibition space. To find out more click here.

PV Beyond the door a great success!

A huge thank you to more than a hundred of you who attended our ‘Beyond the door’ exhibition tonight.

Here are some of our artists with their paintings snd their sitters.

The exhibition runs until Saturday at the Bermondsey Project Space near London Bridge.

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Lots Road Group ‘Beyond the door’ exhibition.

#nhsportraitsforheroes

A number of members of the Lots Road Group have contributed to the great #portraitsfornhsheroes project started by Artist Tom Croft to honour our normally unsung health workers.

Completed portraits so far are by Maureen Nathan, Hilary Puxley, Colleen Quill and Stella Tooth.

Maureen Nathan‘s portrait is of Dr Anna Stilwell, paediatric registrar currently part of the NHS Bring Back Staff campaign.

Dr Anna Stilwell, paediatric registrar by Maureen Nathan

Hilary Puxley‘s double portrait of Ashleigh, oil on two canvases, is of Ashleigh Timmins who is a community phlebotomist visiting housebound patients as part of the Torpoint community nursing team. She has three children – and is also in her third year of nursing training! Superwoman!

Ashleigh sent Hilary a couple of photos – one of her looking glam and the other taken at a patient’s house on her first day in PPE. She decided to paint both, with the images slightly overlapping to make a simple point about Ashleigh’s life and those of all NHS heroes.

Ashleigh Timmins, community phlebotomist by Hilary Puxley

Colleen Quill has portrayed Ben Singer, after a gruelling shift in the Intensive Care Unit. A Consultant in Intensive Care and ECMO in London’s St. Bartholomew’s, he also works as a Consultant with the London Air Ambulance.

Ben Singer Consultant in Intensive Care and ECMO by Colleen Quill

Stella Tooth was paired with Helen Chiverton, a paramedic who responds in an ambulance to 999 calls in London. Helen sent Stella a selfie to work from and told her about her job, “I love it because my patients can be newborn (or in some cases being born!) all the way to the very elderly and everyone in the middle and in every walk and stage of life, and you always have to be on your toes because things can change so quickly and are sometimes not quite what they seem. We carry drugs and equipment to treat and help people having medical, mental and social health problems and dealing with situations in people’s houses or in public places can be challenging. At the moment we, like all other areas of medicine and of course plenty of other fields, are finding that everything has changed and is constantly changing as more is learned about this virus. The PPE we are wearing with patients can complicate things, for example by making it much harder to communicate with people, but I am so grateful for it. We are working with firefighters as well at the moment who are supporting us on the ambulances which is brilliant and the AA are also working with us as well as so many other companies and community groups and individuals, we notice them all and are so thankful for them, it makes such a difference!”

Paramedic Helen Chiverton by Stella Tooth

We cannot thank all our wonderful NHS frontline workers, enough for what they are doing for all of us. They are literally our lifelines. 

Beyond the door

The Lots Road Group has been working behind the scenes during lockdown on an exhibition that will reflect the extraordinary times we are going through.  If restrictions are lifted, we expect to stage the exhibition at Waterstones Gower Street’s art gallery from Monday 9 November 2020 to January 2021.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Beyond the door’ will show portraiture generated during confinement when our own front doors have had a heightened significance in their dual role as protection from harm and barrier to freedom. The theme allows exploration of both interior and exterior worlds and our subjects’ experiences during the pandemic. It will also nod towards the door as a symbolic portal through which we will enter a new, unfamiliar post viral world.

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.

Amazing 360 degree photos of Connected: the changing face of Britain

Another first – 360 degree views of our latest exhibition by Lots Road Group member Stuart Howitt.

The exhibition runs at Waterstones Gower Street until Thursday 10 January.  It is sponsored by Heatherleys and is in association with Children & the Arts. Many works – those connected to the theme and secondary works showing more of each artist’s practice – are for sale.