Club Abstract
Saturday 19th September 2015
At Towner
Doors 8:30 pm
Price £8 / £10 (Concessions £6 / £8)
Towner Art Gallery and Melting Vinyl team up for a night out!
The legendary club night returns to Towner Art Gallery, all themed with the dynamism of Abstraction. The night is inspired by the current exhibition of the radical abstract artist William Gear. Expect live music, DJs and interactive fun with an Abstract ‘dance-off’; an ‘Ab-tract’ word search around the building; and a ‘We are William Gear’ collective painting, where all will be invited to be part of creating a large abstract painting. Join us in the lift for snippets of words on the Abstract world, and watch abstract films in the gallery’s screening room. There is also an invitation to view the exhibition at night: ‘William Gear 1915-1997: The painter that Britain forgot’ all within the ticket price.
This will be a radical interactive experience in an amazing space.
More about William Gear:
On the centenary of his birth, Towner presents a major retrospective of William Gear, one of the leading abstract British painters of his generation.
William Gear, The painter that Britain forgot traces the influence and prolific output of a now little-known painter from Fife. Scotland, who was associated with CoBrA in the 1940s, Europe’s most important avant-garde movement of the mid-twentieth century which produced some of the most radical and controversial compositions of the 1950s. Beyond his association with CoBrA he had a long and successful career in his own right. For example, he was awarded the prestigious Festival of Britain Purchase Prize in 1951 and his work appeared at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Gear was Towner’s curator from 1958 until 1964. During this time, he added to the diversity and modernity of the permanent Collection with his acquisitions. So successful was he in increasing the reputation of Towner, that in 1962 the Observer newspaper hailed it as the ‘most go-ahead municipal gallery of its size in the country’.
He became a Senior Royal Academician in 1995. His work is held in many major public and private collections around the world.
The exhibition draws together over 100 works representing the different phases of Gear’s oeuvre.
Special artist gallery talks with Alexander Johnson:
Alexander Johnson, full time abstract artist, based on the south coast and part of the East Sussex Open exhibition on the ground floor of Towner, will be both speaking in the gallery on selected William Gear art work and also welcoming us into the world of abstraction later in the evening. His talk will take place in the fuse box on why he chose abstraction, his interest for William Gear and how Gear was influenced by graphic art; get your abstract questions at the ready!
Live interactive sets from:
VCOADSR
(pronounced phonetically “vee-see-oh-ay-dee-ess-arr”) a.k.a. Phil Bilsby an electronic music producer & artist based in Brighton, UK. VCOADSR and his amazing rack of buttons and knobs: a Eurorack modular synth, is coming out to play (in the gallery) with live electronic music of abstract/experimental/noise/textures/polyrhythms and (in the main room) live remixing of modular techno tracks, basically he is going to play around with the beats and have some fun! Phil also is inviting you (yes you) to come and have a play (‘Wiggle’) in the gallery at Club Abstract on the modular synth!
Dance improvisation in gallery space
Club Abstract are pleased to welcome more art forms into the event packed, interactive night…Matt Brown and Amy Toner studied contemporary dance at the University of Chichester. Since graduating Matt has completed his PGCE in dance teaching and continues to perform and choreograph along side. A recent graduate, Amy Toner, is looking to peruse a choreographic carrier. Both Matt and Amy have worked together, taking inspiration from the Gear art work, to form their own intrepretation and will be performing in the gallery along side the art work …They are very excited to be a part of Club Abstract.
CPOP (DJ)
DJ, & sometimes producer CPOP with Brighton’s Throw Some Shapes and Mondo Bizarro nights, will be providing cosmic vibes of electronica to funk and punk. For the night he will be creating even more abstract beats for you to bounce off to!