Wednesday 29 August 2018, 7pm
Almost every Thursday for the past 20 years, Tony Brooks has produced a drawing. This exhibition presents a selection of the artist’s work since joining Headway East London (a local charity supporting people affected by brain injury) in 1998.
Curated by Zara Joan Miller, this retrospective will include works on paper alongside a video installation, projections, text-based pieces and a 3D puppet, created by Brooks in 2017.
While autobiographical accounts, limericks and handwritten notes exist within Brooks’ portfolio, it is the drawings that seem to exchange dialogues with a more private world. Men on horseback recur regularly within Brooks’ portfolio. There are also several men in wheelchairs and many winged creatures. Sitting, walking, galloping or taking flight — the various figures within Brooks’ work call into question ideas surrounding mobility, disability and somatic mastery, as well as the nature of self-portraiture.
Using the walls and windows of Cafe OTO, Brooks’ drawings will be given the space to exist together, in a single room — inviting the tying of various threads and themes across his work.
Inspired by Tony Brooks’ favourite songs, Billy Steiger and Tom Wheatley will perform with Headway members Sue Talbot and Stuart Donaldson.
This event will be a fundraiser with proceeds from tickets going to the charity Headway East London. Original drawings and prints will be on sale and available to order from the artist.
Billy Steiger was born in Howth on the 16th December, 1986. Now he plays the violin.
“Then he sat down by a pond and began to play a tune. As he played, the most extraordinary thing happened. One by one the fish in the pond began to jump out and fly about in the air. And what is more, they were all different colours and they were singing to the music.”
Patrick, Quentin Blake.
https://billysteiger.bandcamp.com/
Tom Wheatley is an artist and musician based in London. His work is patterns, rhythms and cycles, at an interface of physical and digital zones. Recently, his music has been documented on video and record.
His main collaborations are ТЕПЛОТА with Grundik Kasyansky, Cast-On with Ilana Blumberg, and various lineups & outputs with Daniel Blumberg, often including Billy Steiger, Ute Kanngiesser and Jim White.
