The Moneytree Exhibition

The exhibition was brought together by Lara Luna Bartley in collaboration with the CoResist Collective, and features artwork about the financial and banking system.

Lara was kind enough to share some pictures of the exhibition space. Other artists featured are Jane Lawson, Darren Cullen & Mary Millner.

Lara Luna Bartley was the teller at the ‘Bank of CoResist’, printing banknotes which audiences could ‘borrow’ at 0% on a very long term basis, provided they would become a member of the bank for a small fee.

Mary Millner’s House of (Post)Cards featured postcards of the Shard and other centres of financial power balanced like a house of cards.

Darren Cullen’s Pocket Money Loan Posters are spot on… prompting that uneasy double-take. The state of dysfunction that we’re in when it comes to our use and abuse of credit means that we’re never quite sure what next, new low is possible.

The exhibition marks 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and featured a discussion with economist Tony Greenham entitled “Money, Trust and the Art of Local Banking”.

Promise 12/25. Screen print on Lloyds Bank cheque, 2017. | Screen printed cheque

I’ve decided to make my own money. I’m asking you to trust in me.
For money to exist, there must first be trust.
Money requires relationships, because since money is a measure of exchange, there must be someone else to exchange with. When we hand over money in exchange for something else, we don’t necessarily have to trust the person we’re buying from; instead, the trust lies in the institution behind the money. The more of us who put faith in the institution, the more value the money has.
What if we were to ask others to put their trust directly in us instead? As human beings, our trustworthiness only runs so far… but maybe being honest about that makes us more reliable than banks and governments, that present themselves as being strong and permanent, but still regularly let us down.
My currency art isn’t offered for sale as much as for exchange, if you trust me.

The Haworth Annual Open 2017

The preview for the Haworth Annual Open Exhibition was on Friday, September 29th. I couldn’t make it, but I did go the next day to see the exhibition and visit my selected pieces, Fight and At Rest.

This is the first year that I’ve entered the Haworth Annual Open, and I was very happy to see that the exhibition was clearly very well chosen – no, I know what you’re thinking: I would say that, as I was included, right? Well, what I mean to say is that whilst smaller venues get the ‘provincial’ label, the quality of the work on display was clearly well beyond village tea room standard, and this exhibition should be on a stealthy collector’s list for picking up a hidden gem or two.

Two of my pieces at the Haworth Gallery in Accrington.

Whilst veering strongly towards representational realism, as you would expect, the variety of working methods employed by the selected artists is refreshing.

I thought that my painting did benefit from a good position, directly in the line of sight from a doorway; it did however have the disadvantage of being quite low and wrestling with the large, commanding work right above it. But the trio of artworks complement each other well, being loosely of the same subject matter.

"Fight" by Lee Devonish at the Haworth Open Annual in Accrington.

At Rest has an odd position, but I like it – perched on an edge, adding to its uneasy (I think) quality.

These were hung in Room 4, which was entitled “People and Portraiture”.

Across the hall, Room 3 held “Abstract and Animals”, and upstairs the corridor and Exhibition Room held “Woodlands, Waterfalls, Still Life and Steam Trains”.

The hanging was carried out by the members of the Haworth Artist Network, who did a very good job.

My sculpture at the Haworth Open 2017, Accrington

The Haworth Annual Open 2017 in Accrington opened on the 29th of September and runs until the 26th of November. The gallery is open between Tuesday – Friday 12 – 4:45 pm, and Saturday – Sunday 12 – 4:15 pm.