Last night was the opening of the much anticipated political group show 'The Great Divide', curated by New York artist Tommy Watkins at Oxford's OVADA Gallery. We had spent the past week converting the large warehouse into Tommy's vision of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, complete with burnt out houses. To see it come to life and filled with an audience of around 300 strong people, all amazed at the world they had unexpectedly stepped into, was a truly great feeling.
The show features work from 60 different artists from across the world, drawing attention to the current divisive issues affecting us; sexism, racism, consumerism, austerity, the War on Terror, Brexit, Trump, Putin and Kim Jong Un ware all targets. It's a vast array of artwork, with everything from textiles, sculptures, painting, illustration and even animation. The evening was a fantastic gathering of like-minded people coming together to talk about the shit-storm we still seem to be stuck in. To help everyone get through the depression, local hip-hop group, Inner Peace Records, soothed the crowd with some smooth tunes and conscious rap, whilst outside there was some live graffiti demos. There will be two more events at the exhibition, including a performance art evening on the 6th October and a Film Night and Artists Talk on the 26th October. You can follow everything on the OVADA website- http://www.ovada.org.uk/events/ |
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