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Exhibitions:

before encore 3 a collection of portraits by john lee bird
five day art and performance event
@ The 20th Century Theatre, 291 Westbourne Grove, London, W11 2QA
Tuesday 21st - Saturday 25th October 2008





before encore 3 is an exhibition of paintings by john lee bird; portraits of 'everyone I think the world should know about'
combined with live shows by these unique subjects.

They're performers, club kids, designers, musicians and visual artists.
They're the people who inspire him,
who he admires,
who he doggedly pursues;
his friends who he wants to shine a light on.

The exhibition is his real life top trumps selection, his obsession, his living archive and his ever growing family tree of amazing individuals.

This is the third event in his three-year project and this year's subjects include Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Jarvis Cocker, Robots in Disguise, Lightspeed Champion, Matthew Glamorre, Richard Torry, Russella, Madam, Crazy Girl and Paloma Faith.

Each night of the exhibition the subjects of the paintings take to the stage. john doesn't do art wank - this is for everyone;

'These are performers, and these are performance style paintings - so just to drum it in they're there, performing in front of the audience. Let's be literal!'

john lee bird's exhibition event brings his subjects together to perform, often in new collaborations, then throws the doors open for everyone to be part of it and encourages us to go out and discover more.

The portraits are huge; 5.5 by 3.5 feet, iconic and almost cartoon-like in style, rendered on canvas in acrylic and emulsion.

Press enquiries:
For a full list of subjects, details of performances, interviews and further images please contact: Abigail Bamsey
07971 455 879 abigail.bamsey@gmail.com

Past exhibitions

Four Fingers One Thumb Right Hand: Spring 2008

Four fingers one thumb right hand - a series of paintings that are both celebratory of finding the freedom of hand through painting in this style after a two year hiatus (working on his before encore project), and celebratory in pure personal expression. Laying it all bare; cards on the table, wrapped onto canvas. An encyclopaedia of events rendered on his grandfather’s encyclopaedia and old Bible, on canvas. Lines are free and sprawling, reflecting the process of recapturing memory, seeking the faces from paths crossed and moments shared. Documenting and mapping: retracing the tracks.

Shooting out the heavy silence is a collection of small postcard sized works of thoughts and images imagined whilst recovering from an appendectomy...From a hospital bed, lost in the morphine based haze of an almost happy isolation. Delicate fractured messages sent to a home; reflectively yours.



Works. Ubox Gallery March 2008


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Before Encore Part 2. The 20th Century Theatre, June 2007

before encore – part 2 was an exhibition of 36 painted portraits of emerging artists; collecting under its wing performance artists, musicians, writers, actors, visual artists and club kids. All of whom collectively fuel the current art scene. before encore sets out to display each of these artists as icons. It acts as a living archive and performance platform with the very performances that inspired the paintings occurring in the exhibition space.

The before encore project archives this new period of time in the art scene where more and more performance artists and musicians are emerging, from small internet communities, nightclubs and cabaret bars. These new acts are ever increasing in popularity in their own communities with their influence gradually shaping the mainstream .

john lee bird's portraits are executed in a bold, vivid style which makes them visually exciting and immediately accessible to all; an accessibility that can act as a gateway, leading viewers new to the arts to investigate other artists and their works. The portraits measure 5.5 by 3.5 feet and are rendered on canvas in acrylic and emulsion; depicting the subjects in an iconic fashion, Warhol-esque, diagrammatic in style.

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Before Encore Part 1. 20th Century Theatre, April 2006

 

before encore part 1 is a collection of 36 (5 1/2 by 3 1/2 feet) portraits of performers, artists, designers and musicians that fuel the eclectic scene that makes up the heart of a small significant part of the now.
These people, however much they penetrate the mainstream, remain unhinged and un categorised by fashion; possibly permeating a trend at times but forever forward thinking and evolving.
This exhibition first started as a small collection of paintings of performers that the artist met whilst exhibiting paintings during the Fringe festival at the Phoenix 369 gallery in Edinburgh in 2005. The artist was also performing in ‘Fabaret' a madcap midnight cabaret show of ‘random acts of meaningless and senseless beauty' at Edinburgh's ‘City Cafe'. After returning to London to commence work on the series, the project spiralled; more and more people surfaced, painters and writers, make-up artists and photographers that perform their part in that world.
The project became a collection of love and support; validation and recognition of the fringe of outsiders that provide the necessary sparks to our imagination.

See a virtual tour of the exhibition
See the gallery