The Four Elements exhibition at hARTslane

 The Four Elements explores how contrasting individual parts can form a harmonious and greater whole. Inspired by the idea of element as 'force', each artist weaves its own narrative in a collective synergy. Cristina Calvache, Hugh Mendes, Harry Pye, and Louise Reynolds, all have a strong link to South London and are delighted to be exhibiting at hARTtslane where artists and local people come together to share ideas, explore contemporary issues and be inspired.  1st to 4th of May, open from 11am to 6pm, Sunday from 12pm to 5pm. Private view Friday the 2nd, from 5.30pm to 8pm. 

Artist # 2 Hugh Mendes

Above: Obituary: Edgar Degas by Hugh Mendes 30 x 20cm Oil on Linen 2024

Above: Obituary: Mary Cassatt by Hugh Mendes 35 x 25cm Oil on Linen 2024

"These paintings based on obituaries have come to dominate my practice, especially, more recently, those of other artists. This includes re making other artists self portraits to form the basis of the work.  Still using a newspaper format, usually referencing The Guardian, but inventing the paintings based on historical artist’s self portraits, such as obituary paintings of Rembrandt and Van Gough. This has meant engaging in the history of art and the practical use of oil paints; different styles and techniques, especially within the western cannon. Also studying how various artists have seen themselves and wished to depict themselves. It has become a fascinating endeavour and is continually bearing unexpected fruit. I sometimes feel as if it is a very lengthy collaboration with so many of my great heroes and mentors from the history of art, especially of painting.

The paintings are mostly in oils on linen and executed in a trompe l’oile manner to replicate the newspaper format. This translation takes them out of a mass media context and into a fine art one as well as specifically referencing some of the history of still life painting, vanitas, memento mori, for instance from 17th century Holland.

This exhibition brings together my most recent obituary paintings, all from 2024, or 2025. It is always interesting how certain groupings of individual lives, brought together by the proximity of their deaths, can give rise to reflections on human history, celebrity and imagery.

My obituary paintings serve as meditations on impermanence and the interconnectedness of life, death, and artistic expression, suggesting the enduring power of creativity in the face of mortality." Hugh Mendes 2025

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Artist # 3 Harry Pye

Above: 'Blake & His Tyger' by Harry Pye with Rowland Smith

 (acrylic paint on canvas Size: 14 inches by 22 inches. 2025)

Above: 'Whatever Works' by Harry Pye with Rowlad Smith

(acrylic paint on canvas: 2023)

"I try to collaborate with friends I love making paintings about things I love. I was introduced to the work of William Blake by my father who was a huge fan of Blake's writings. The creature I painted looks more like the family cat (Mingus Pye) than a tiger. On his deathbed my father made me promise that I would talk to Mingus and he was very worried Mingus would get lonely if I didn't. I paint to try and celebrate what's good about life or to try and cheer myself up. Some of the films of the late Gene Wilder were very important to me in my youth. In the 1990s I had anxiety problems which made me depressed. When I saw Wilder's character in the film 'The Producers' suffer a panic attack it made me think there were people out there more anxious than myself and that it was human and natural to feel anxious sometimes. I was able to forgive myself and move on. I have painted Gene Wilder in a scene from a differnt film in which he plays a character who falls in love with a sheep called Dolly. The painting is called 'Whatever Works'. My friend Rowland Smith and I painted it in 2003 but it's never been exhibited before." Harry Pye 2025

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hARTslane is a socially enagaged art gallery. 

Address: 17 Harts Lane, New Cross Gate SE14 5UP

https://www.hartslane.org/

The Spammed record a cover of Devil Gate Drive for a Specialized charity album raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust and Tonic.

The 14th compilation album by The Specialized charity project is a vibrant celebration of legendary female songwriters, reimagined through the energetic and rhythmic lens of Ska. Featuring exclusive tracks by Ska bands from around the globe, the album unites international talent to honour the groundbreaking contributions of iconic women in music history. With each band lending its unique style and interpretation, the album pays homage to diverse eras and genres, from folk and rock to soul and pop, highlighting the creative legacy of female artists who have shaped music over the years. Proceeds from this album support important charitable causes, making it not only a tribute but a meaningful contribution to social good." Amongst those being paid tribute to on the CD is the legendary Suzi Quatro. Today in West London's Eastcote Studios I was lucky enough to witness The Spammed featuring Hannah Hu record a wonderful new version of 'Devil Gate Drive' (originally a Number One hit for Suzi Quatro in 1974). In the producers chair was Chris Kimsey who has engineered and produced many classic albums including Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones.

Above: Mick "Woody" Woodmansey (drums), Terry Edwards (sax and flute), Horace Panter (bass) Micko Westmoreland (guitar).

Above: Paul Cuddeford (Lead guitar), Woody, Kevin Eldon (backing vocals)

Above: Lead singer Hannah Hu

Above: Micko Westmoreland enjoys a nice cup of Rosey Lee

Above: Woody "Four eyes, one vision"

Above: 2-Tone legend Sir Horace Gentleman

Above: Mr Sartorial - Terry Edwards

ABOVE: Hannah Hu "Blondes have more fun"

Find out more about The Specialized project HERE

The album which The Spammed's cover of Devil Gate Drive will appear on is called Femme: Her Anthem.

The fantastic Eastcote Studios, which was founded in 1980, is in the heart of the West End. Everyone who works there is lovely and super helpful. Their clients include Adele, Aswad, Artic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Leigh Bowery, Lemmy, Portishead, Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Specials, Sir Tom Jones, Sly & Robbie, Glandmaster Flash, and Brian Eno. For more info go HERE

Nico: Femme Fatale

(Above: Artwork by Hugh Mendes)

Nico whose real name was Christa Paffgen was born in Cologne in 1938. When she was 7, her family moved to Berlin which Nico described as being "a desert of bricks." At the age of 16 Nico became a model and began working for magazines such as Elle and Vogue. In London in 1965 Nico worked with guitarist Jimmy Page on a single called 'The Last Mile' which was released on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label. 

Nico began dating Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and then had an affair with Bob Dylan. She recorded a demo of a song called 'I'll Keep It With Mine', Dylan had not only written the song for her but also played piano on the track.

In the same year Nico met Andy Warhol and his friend the film director Paul Morrissey. 

Andy Warhol described Nico as being an "mystereous moon Goddess." Paul Morrissey thought Nico was "the most beautiful creature that ever lived."

Around this time Morrissey and Warhol had begun to act as managers for a rock band called The Velvet Underground whose members were Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker.

Warhol introduced Nico to the band and also his rich young friend Edith Sedgwick who was a model and actress.

Nico and Lou Reed became lovers and lived together for about 8 weeks. John Cale had a relationship with Sedwick for around 6 weeks. 

Sedgwick then had a fling with Nico

It is believed that Sedwick had inspired the Bob Dylan tracks 'Just Like a Woman', 'Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat', 'Fourth Time Around' and 'Like a Rolling Stone.'

Warhol suggested that Lou Reed should write a song about Sedgwick and call it Femme Fatale. 

Lou Reed did as he was told and also wrote two other classics All Tomorrow's Parties and I'll Be Your Mirror with Nico in mind. Whilst on stage with The Velvet Underground, Nico would wear white. One critic described her stage presence as being "half goddess, half icicle." 

When Nico recorded her solo album Chelsea Girls - Reed, Morrison and Cale all lent a hand. The only member of the band not involved was drummer Mo Tucker. Miss Tucker was delighted Nico left the Velvets and in her opinion Nico was "just a pain in the ass". 

For many, the highlight of Chelsea Girls was a song written by a teenage Jackson Browne entitled These Days. 

On hearing Jackson's acoustic demo of the song Warhol asked Browne to go electric. Tom Wilson, who produced the first Velvets album and several classic Dylan albums, added strings and flute, Nico was not happy with the results. On the three solo albums that followed - The Marble Index, Desertshore and The End - Nico was much more in control and wrote both the lyrics and the music. In the early 80s Nico was based in Manchester and worked with The Blue Orchids. Later in London she collaborated with a group called The Faction. Her final album Camera Obscura was released in 1985. The last thing Nico recorded was Your Kisses Burn which was a duet with Marc Almond. Nico died whilst on holiday in Ibiza in July 1988 Since her death famous fans such as Mercury Rev, Peaches, and Kim Gordon have performed her songs live. Wes Anderson featured two Nico songs in his film The Royal Tenenbaums. Maxine Peake performed as Nico on stage. And James Young, the keyboard player in her last band The Faction, wrote a book about her called Songs They Never Play On The Radio.

James Young: "There were some good ideas and one really stand out track, called King. A beautiful, almost chorale-like piece. John Cale wanted to do an arrangement for it, but I urged him to leave it alone. Just Nico and her harmonium, her voice cracking at times, yet free - unencumbered by anyone else's image of her. No need to give her a setting, or dress her up in modernity. What she had was her own.The album came out to kind reviews . The serious doom dwellers went into ecstasies. Mostly critics just seemed to be reassured by the fact that Nico was still alive somewhere, so long as it wasn't in their vicinity."

Woody Allen's This Nib For Hire taken from the collection Mere Anarchy

 

Most reviewers have pointed out that in Mere Anarchy Woody Allen seems to have had great fun coming up with daft names. Characters in other tales from this collection go by such unlikely monikers as Pontius Perry, Reg Millipede, and Murray Pepkin. In 'This Nib Is For Hire' we meet Flanders Mealworm who is an unknown writer who would love to be mentioned in the same breath as Joyce and Kafka and Proust. Sadly Mr Mealwom has “churned out several unpublished novels on lofty philosophical themes” and is financially embarrassed.

The story begins with Mealworm telling us that even great literary geniuses of the past such as Dostoyevsky would sometimes struggle with bills and that now he too might have to “mortgage his integrity” in order to pay his rent. An arrogant film producer who claims his name is E. Coli Biggs phones Mealworm telling him he got his number from the internet (“It’s there alongside the X-rays of your colonoscopy”).  Mealworm agrees to meet Biggs in a hotel to discuss the possibility of writing a novelization of a hit movie “strictly for lowbrows.”

Biggs claims to own the rights to a film where The Three Stooges stay the night in a haunted house. Against his better judgement Mealworm watches a special screening of the movie and later that night does his best to turn what he watched into a novel. The next day at 3pm the two men meet again and Mealworm is made to recite his efforts.

“The dilapidated Ford pulled up before a deserted farmhouse and three men emerged. Calmly and for no apparent reason the dark-haired man took the nose of the bald man in his right hand and slowly twisted it in a long, counter clockwise circle. A horrible grinding sound broke the silence of the Great Plains. ‘We suffer,’ the dark-haired man said. ‘O woe to the random violence of human existence.’ Meanwhile Larry, the third man, had wandered into the house and had somehow managed to get his head caught inside an earthenware jar. Everything was suddenly terrifying and black as Larry groped blindly around the room. He wondered if there was a god or any purpose at all to life or any design behind the universe when suddenly the dark-haired man entered and, finding a large polo mallet, began to break the jar off his companion’s head. With pent-up fury that masked years of angst over the empty absurdity of man’s fate, the one named Moe smashed the crockery. ‘We are at least free to choose,’ wept Curly, the bald one. ‘Condemned to death but free to choose.’ And with that Moe poled his two fingers into Curly’s eyes. “Oooh, oooh, oooh,’ Curly wailed, ‘the cosmos is so devoid of any justice.’ He stuck an unpeeled banana into Moe’s mouth and shoved it all the way in.”

To find out how Biggs reacted and discover how this story concludes you will have to buy your own copy of Mere Anarchy . "Here, in his first collection since his three hilarious classics Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, Woody Allen has managed to write a book that not only answers the most profound questions of human existence but is the perfect size to place under any short table leg to prevent wobbling."

Launch Party For Revenge Of The Killjoys At The Far Sight Gallery

 

Antonio Olaio and Mikey Georgeson are The Middle People. Last night a large crowd (which included ex Tate Director Penelope Curtis) came to the launch party of the Reveng of the Killjoys CD.

NICO artworks

Above: Nico by Marie Louise Plum

Above: Nico by Jonas Ranson

"The 14th charity album by The Specialized Project Charity is a vibrant celebration of legendary female songwriters, reimagined through the energetic and rhythmic lens of Ska. Featuring exclusive tracks by Ska bands from around the globe, the album unites international talent to honour the groundbreaking contributions of iconic women in music history. With each band lending its unique style and interpretation, the album pays homage to diverse eras and genres, from folk and rock to soul and pop, highlighting the creative legacy of female artists who have shaped music over the years. Proceeds from this album support important charitable causes, making it not only a tribute but a meaningful contribution to social good." Amongst those being paid tribute to on the CD is the legendary Nico...

 

 Above: Nico by Michael Coles

Above: Nico by Sarah Doyle

Above: Nico by Charlotte Bracegirdle

Above: Nico by Francis Macdonald

Above: Nico by Sandra Turnbull

Above: Nico by Ritchie Lamby

Above: Nico by Daisy Devillenurve

Above: Nico by Harry Pye and Rowland Smith

Above: Nico by Beswick and Pye

Above: Nico by Hugh Mendes