Francesca Blomfield / Jennifer Campbell / Grant Foster

8 - 30 July 2016
Gallery Open: Friday & Saturday 12-6pm

Jennifer Campbell

The cocaine boom and Miami riots of the 1980s provided the violent backdrop to the television series Miami Vice. The show broke new ground by drawing upon New Wave culture and music and cynically implying that the tally of dead criminals that each episode ended with would immediately be replenished. This violence and cynicism were juxtaposed by Miami’s pretty pastel coloured Art-deco architecture.

The exhibition, Miami Vice, beckons a new pop-culture revolution of pretty pictures and decadence. Shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia and an abundance of pastel colours could easily reflect the beachfront hotels of South Beach and in this Art-deco revival, no earth tones are allowed.

Thanks to the legacy of Miami Vice, the 1980s conjure images of pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, Ray-Ban sunglasses and the last days of technological innocence. What survives isn’t necessarily what was important at the time. Like paintings, pop-culture revolutions are unplanned. Ardent followers and painters don’t know what they were waiting for until it appears and both have a hard time articulating the reasons for their devotion.

Francesca Blomfield studied at Chelsea College of Art. Following her graduation in 2012 she has worked on a number of collaborative events with organisations including STRYX, Birmingham and the Pipe Factory, Glasgow, In 2015 she had her first solo show, International Treaty at The Horse Hospital, London and was the recipient of a Jerwood Painting Fellowship. She lives and works in London.

Jennifer Campbell (b.1985, Cambridge) completed an MFA in Painting at The Slade School of Fine Art in 2014, where she received an AHRC scholarship. Recent prizes include: The Jeremy Cubitt Prize (2013), The Barbican Arts Group Prize (2013), selection for the Griffin Art Prize (2014) and inclusion in the Catlin Guide (2015). Since graduating Campbell has had solo shows at The Viriconium Palace, Bristol (2015) and Marcelle Joseph Projects, London (2015). Recent Group exhibitions include: The Conformist, Belmacz Gallery, London (2016); Jeune Creation, Gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2016); Rosey Fingers, The Centre for Recent Drawing, London (2015); Grounded, Transition Gallery, London (2015); Cocktail, KARST Gallery, Plymouth (2014); Jamaica, part of the Glasgow Masters Series, Glasgow (2013); Premonitions, TAP Gallery, Southend on Sea (2012). Campbell lives and works in London.

Grant Foster (b.1982, Worthing), completed an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2012. Foster’s recent solo exhibitions include:  Popular Insignia, Galleria Acappella, Naples (2016), Salad Days, Ana Cristea Gallery, New York (2015); Holy Island, Chandelier Projects, London (2014). Recent group exhibitions include: Carnival Glass, Block 336, London (2015); CURE, Transition Gallery, London (2015); Figuratively Speaking (curated by Marcelle Joseph), Heike Moras Art, London (2015); The Threadneedle Prize 2014: Figurative Art Today (Curated Space by Sacha Craddock), Mall Galleries, London (2014); East London Painting Prize, Strand House, London (2014); Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Spike Island, Bristol and ICA, London (2013); Implausible Imposters, Ceri Hand Gallery, London (2013); John Moores 25, Liverpool (2008). Foster lives and works in London.