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The Aquarium Gallery is a contemporary commercial art gallery in a Georgian building in Bloomsbury, London, run by Steve Lowe. It works with artists, musicians and writers, and specialises in more unorthodox punk-based art work, including Jamie Reid and Billy Childish. Bloomsbury may refer to: Bloomsbury, London, an area in the centre of the city the Bloomsbury group, an English literary group active around from around 1905 to the start of World War II. the Bloomsbury Gang, a political grouping centred on the local landowner, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford...
Jamie Reid (born 1947) is a British artist and anarchist with connections to the situationist movement. ...
Billy Childish (real name William Charlie Hamper, or Steven John Hamper) (born December 1, 1959) is an artist, singer, and guitarist, hailing from Chatham in Kent, England. ...
Description
The Gallery is in a quiet and little-known pedestrianised street near Euston Station and is a marked contrast to the conventional white-wall gallery such as White Cube: Euston station, also known as London Euston, is a major railway station to the north of central London and in the London Borough of Camden. ...
White Cube is a contemporary art venue in Hoxton in the East End of London. ...
- Your first job is to find it. No-one, even one hundred yards away, knows where the tiny street is. If you can find Upper Woburn Place, bang opposite Euston station, Woburn Walk is between two hotels, The Ambassadors in Bloomsbury and The County. Once inside, you may still be unsure you've found it. Unlike most venues, where space is everything, the tiny Aquarium is crammed with art. Stacks of novels and a cardboard box stuffed with rubber-stamp prints like afterthoughts, crowd a plinth. On the walls, woodcuttings jostle oils. Shelves carry poetry, mignon hand-painted hardbacks and seven-inch vinyl, little painted hessian squares and yet more rubber-stampings. It feels more like a grocer's shop than a gallery. I half-expected to be greeted by a stuttering Ronnie Barker. Instead, I was greeted by an enthusiastic young woman. [1]
As well as exhibiting work, the gallery is also involved in the production of it in collaboration with the artists. There is a steady output of novels, records, hand- made books, t-shirts, jewellery, limited edition prints, wallpaper, bed linen, internet sites, art multiples and even stamps.
The gallery's artists include Jamie Reid, Billy Childish, James Cauty and Sexton Ming, Anne Pigalle and Alex de Cadenet. Sexton Ming (born in Gravesend, Kent England in 1961) is a British artist, poet and musician who was a founding member of The Medway Poets (1979) and the Stuckists art group (1999). ...
It has an uncompromising style, and uses the promotional slogan "Purveyors of the finest and roughest in art and publishing". Part of a Billy Childish show was promoted on the gallery website:
- Part 3: Insolence in the Face of Art - bad painting and refusing to “fulfill his fucking potential”
- “Back in the 1990’s when all the Brit Art rebels were sucking up to Saatchi and Thatcher, I decided to remain on the wrong end of the seasaw and paint like a monkey. Thus being brilliant whilst continuing to annoy the big boys” - Billy Childish
- A selection of these great paintings will be exhibited and a limited edition catalogue will be produced as well as a series of prints.
The Aquarium Gallery is at 10 Woburn Walk, London WC1, and is open Monday to Saturday, 11 am - 6 pm.
Dispute with the White Stripes In March 2006 an argument took place in the press between Billy Childish and US musician Jack White of The White Stripes. Childish criticised White in the US GQ magazine, "They don't have a good sound ... Jack's half into the sound and music, but then he wants to be a pop star as well, so you've got a big problem." White responded on the Stripes' website, accusing Childish of plagiarism and of being "the bitter garage rocker." Childish then wrote an open letter to the NME saying White was jealous because he had "a bigger collection of hats, a better moustache ... and a fully developed sense of humour." [2] The White Stripes are a minimalist blues-rock duo from Detroit, composed of Jack White on guitar and lead vocals, and Meg White on drums. ...
GQ can refer to several things: Gentlemens Quarterly, a mens magazine The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for Equatorial Guinea GQ, a replacement Quake 1 game engine This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a music magazine in the UK which has been published weekly since March 1952. ...
The Aquarium Gallery produced a spoof boxing poster advertising Jack "whingy" White v Billy "bitter" Childish, which was offered for sale on Ebay. Lawyers acting for the White Stripes complained to Ebay, claiming the poster violated their intellectual property rights, and Ebay removed it from sale. According to news reports, lawyers have contacted the gallery. White's spokesperson said, ""This particular poster was a bootleg and that is why it was removed from sale." Lowe commented, ""It was just a bit of fun but these people don't seem to have a sense of humour. I did the poster to entertain Billy and our customers really, but then we go and get this letter. I've written to the White Stripes' management to see exactly what copyright we're infringing." [3] eBay Inc. ...
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