Leyden Gallery's forthcoming exhibition Platform for Emerging Arts #9 is a mixed media show of diverse artists in one of East London's most vibrant and innovative art spaces. The exhibition promises a varied and powerful display from four talented emerging artists.

Responding to a call-out for emerging art, each of the four artists have been selected for their promise and skill by curators Adriana Cerne & Lindsay Moran. Leyden Gallery has shown its astute judgment in recognising emerging talent, as their perception in the past has produced artists who have gone on to both critical acclaim and commercial success.

With the development of each of Leyden Gallery’s Platform shows there is a fabulous opportunity for the public to both see and buy art from emerging artists at a critical early stage of their careers.

Participating artists:

MacGregor works predominantly in oil on canvas with bold palette, stark contrast, and heavily textured paint. His paintings are essentially a method of social commentary, which could be described as Realism or even Abstract Realism. His work assimilates the notion that humour is integral as a tool to imbue meaning. Thomas’ current practice includes compiling small works (in themselves stand-alone pieces), which nevertheless interlink through narrative, to become large pieces, en-masse. Beyond his painting practice he also works with intaglio printmaking, partly because of its immediacy but also its restrictions. Major influences include Paula Rego, Max Beckmann, Philip Guston.

Spargo’s work is concerned with memories, experience and relationships. She works primarily with the human form and images of people she knows. Constantly looking for innovative ways to rework and alter surfaces, she particularly enjoys experimenting with texture and layering. Spargo often uses embroidery as a means of repairing the damage she inflicts upon the surface; bringing some form of symbolic optimism into the work. All of her embroidery is hand-sewn and intentionally imbued with the notion of imperfect, human quality as she does not think that a mechanical production method and uniform appearance makes sense alongside the intimate subject matter and imagery. Spargo studied Fine Art and Critical Theory at Middlesex University.

For this exhibition GreeKalogerakis presents the “S” project, which stands for Stainless Steel Sound Sculpture and is inspired by ancient Greek pottery and the pediments of the Parthenon. GreeKalogerakis uses special sound vibrators in his stainless steel sculptures, which aim to probe the relationship between the immateriality of the audio and the intrinsic physicality of the steel. Motivated by two-dimensional life- stories of glory and mythology, the artist creates his own contemporary narratives, examining big issues relating to religion, art, gender, life and death, always blending the imaginative into the real, binary world. GreeKalogerakis studied Mixed Arts at the University of Westminster.

Phipps’ interest in themes of time and impermanence manifest in her method of painting, in which the images are worked in layers, the work often entails the partial erasure of previous images until they reach a point where they are deemed complete; but also in forms or silhouettes, and suggestions of people passing through spaces whether they be an interior or a landscape. Her practice is predominantly made up of paintings, which often incorporate photography; both her own and also found images. Phipps studied Painting at Camberwell College of Arts, and completed her MA in History of Art & Archaeology at The School of Oriental & African Studies.