Tuesday 20 October 2015

Opens Tomorrow Morning is open today



Opens Tomorrow Morning is a brilliant, ingenious exhibition which runs until the 1st November at the Howard Griffin Gallery on Shoreditch High Street.

The space has been completely transformed by conceptual artist Pablo Delgado into a fictional gallery within a gallery, or as the blurb puts it, ‘a highly experimental, theatrical space in which the making of an exhibition becomes the exhibition itself’. Confusing to explain, but remarkably accessible and simple in its execution.


An inviting yellow door greets you upon entry, you then grab a torch and enter Delgado’s constructed reality of a gallery on the night before it is due to open. Picture frames are on are on the walls, but the pictures are not always in them. A cup of tea sits on a desk, as if the owner has just popped out to get some final bits and bobs for the big day. As you explore by torchlight you discover tiny hidden elements – a picture with a door, which when you bend down at just the right angle you can see tiny rolling hills, giant foam balls and even an elephant.


In the next room things get darker still – the walls are painted black, skulls and disembodied arms seem to float on shelves, paint pots litter the floor and shards of glass are strewn over surfaces. In this room ideas are still being developed - works in progress are tacked onto walls and open paint pots suggest the presence of the artist very recently at work. At the end is a too-small door reminiscent of something from Alice in Wonderland.

All of this was unexpected and surprisingly engaging. By making the visitor / viewer a part of the work and the experience, it does not have the alienating effect that some pieces of modern or conceptual art do. In fact, little groups of people looking round the exhibition gasped and giggled as they negotiated their way around the space, discovering new and surprising moments.

The show is effective, not only in making you think about the role of everyone involved in the construction of pieces of art, but also asks broader questions about what is real and what is constructed. Its power is in instantly taking you a world away from Shoreditch High Street and completely immersing you in a parallel reality. In forcing you to engage and interact fully with the work, it definitely did what all good art does, which is make you think - plus it was a lot of fun too. Highly recommended from us.



 

howardgriffingallery.com@HG_Galleries


All images by @shootbernard.com

Tuesday 13 October 2015

War of the Wines


Passione Vino does was it says on the tin (only in Italian). In their shop on Leonard Street are 4 men with a mission to bring the best of small Italian wine producers to Shoreditch. They have a determined and unshakeable philosophy:

‘to seek out the UNDISCOVERED, RARE and TRADITIONAL wine makers from all over Italy and to promote their expertly crafted and very often NATURAL products, to provide the most resonant examples of every wine, yet best reflecting each individual sub-region’s particular CULTURE and geography and TERROIR whilst delivering uncompromising QUALITY and taste.’


Always in search of people with stories to tell, 99Shoreditch’s interest was first piqued by their shop front. Most wine shops feel the need to reflect the serious business of wine in their décor – grown up, solemn spaces for deliberation and decision. Vino Passione celebrates the joy of wine with a shop that is a riot of colour.  The walls are papered in a selection of vivacious flowery prints and the lights are red and yellow beach balls, reminiscent of European holidays in the sun. The window display is a panoply of super heroes all out to defeat the evil mass-produced supermarket wine – Buzz Lightyear and Mr T, alongside Chewbacca and Superman, flying in to the rescue. Finally… people who recognise wine is fun!
 


The reason for their crusade, they tell us, is that very few people realise many supermarket wines have been made uniform with the addition of chemicals and preservatives. The original grape, with all its subtleties and complexities, is lost to a high-yield, mass-produced approach. There is also the issue of tax on wine, which is a standard levy – meaning most of a £5 bottle is tax, leaving little left to make a decent wine. 
 

What these guys like is wine that is as true as possible and by keeping things small they can keep unnecessary additions and interventions to a minimum. Keen to stress that not all their wine is crazily priced, they do a very good house wine for £9, but do admit that by adding a few more pounds into the £11-£13 mark you can get something really outstanding.



Vino Passione also has a room for tastings and private functions. Again, thought and feeling has been put into the décor. What could have been a dark and dingy space has been transformed into an intimate venue by clever use of dark flowery wallpaper and a light made from copper tubes that grow up the wall and ceiling, representing a vine. 

So, for all their light-hearted approach, these guys are serious about their wine. They have a newspaper dedicated to the stories behind their vineyards - real people producing the best wines from some of the least known regions of Italy. If you’ve never had a wine from the slopes of Mount Etna, you can now.



Dario Corradi told us a little of what it is like being in Shoreditch, “We have a lot of local customers who live or work here. They come to us to be guided and find something new and different. It’s a playground where people can ask questions, taste and enjoy themselves in an informal environment. We want people to drink better wine where they can taste the grape, not the chemicals. And so far it seems to be working, people are coming back again and again and the business is doing very well.’
 
Vino Passione is another great Shoreditch success story – entrepreneurs and independent thinkers who are putting their passion at the heart of their business. Good luck guys and cheers!





@PassioneVinoUk

 All photos by shootbernard.com