If you like a bit of edge with your art, then Peckham Platform is the place to go, says Simon Jarrett
Exhibition: ‘Practice Makes’
Intoart, Peckham Platform
London SE15.
A day-glo pink and green modernist angular structure set on one of London’s most ‘take us or leave us’ high streets cries out for bold, different and challenging art.
‘Practice Makes’ does not disappoint on any of those points. The exhibition arises from the work of ‘Intoart’, an art collective that includes a group of learning disabled artists who work from a South London studio.
For this show, three artist mentors – Mawuena Kattah, Philomena Powell and Clifton Wright (all with learning disabilities) – worked with a group of six young people from Tuke school, a school for pupils with severe, profound and complex learning disabilities in Peckham.
The results are beautifully displayed, the work of each mentor placed alongside the work of their ‘mentee’ allowing us to see both the influence of the experienced artist and the burgeoning talent of those they have taken under their wing. Each mentor has also produced a commentary on the process and the results of their work.
Brooding foreground
The work of the mentor artists can therefore be viewed in its own right. I was particularly taken by Philomena Powell’s Brighton Beach where blocks and lines of shades of blue and purple set the sea and sky against a brooding foreground of rocks and grass. In her notes she acknowledges Turner’s use of light and Hockney’s Swimming Pools as influences on her work, and her subtlety and insight with light are clear.
Her influence has evidently rubbed off on her student protégé, and Chanell Shea’s Rings has a striking depth of colour and assuredness of line that bode well if this young person chooses to pursue a life in art.
All of the partnerships have worked well. Mawuena Kattah’s marvellously loose, strikingly coloured portraits inspired by her trips to Ghana and Ghanaian family have inspired a superb, uplifting Pattern series by Ashan Ali.
Angular
Clifton Wright, whose angular representation of the Intoart Studio workspace next to the Tuke School workspace I admired very much, describes in his notes how in the relaxed but hardworking atmosphere of the studio he was able to pass on ‘tips of the trade and give the young people my personal experience with art in general’. It clearly worked as his mentee Abdalla Alkatheeri has produced two strikingly mature, confident portraits, Family and Friends and A Man Called Jack, which display great ease and confidence with form and colour.
Well done Intoart for this idea and to Peckham Platform for recognising its value and hosting it, as well as for organising hands-on, free workshops for young people to go alongside it.
This isn’t about ‘art therapy’ or ‘doing art’. It’s about talented young artists who see themselves firmly in the British artistic tradition, helping to unearth and bring through the next generation of talent.
Bring on the next exhibition – I’ll be first in the queue.
The young people mentored were: Ahsan Ali, Abdalla Alkatheeri, Kadeem Baugh, Stefan Jones, Chenell Shea, Kaya Sherriff.
