Roman Road

We are delighted to announce that fuchsia, a multimedia artist who will be participating in Roman Road’s upcoming summer group exhibition EXTREME, will soon be having her first institutional solo show Searching for Light at the Sixi Museum in China.

On display from 01 June through 15 August 2023, Searching for Light will feature an enthralling collection of fuchsia’s latest paintings and drawings exploring themes of memory, presence and dreams.

We are extremely excited to announce that four artists who are currently working with Roman Road, will be featured in the major female-focused exhibition Femme F(r)iction, organised by C1760 at the Academy Mansion in New York. 

Works by Daisy-Dodd Noble, Johanna Bath and Precious Opara, who have all recently exhibited at our gallery space in Notting Hill, along with paintings by New York-based artist Calli Moore, whom we have recently started working with, will be presented alongside over 50 other artists and designers, in a dynamic display celebrating female artists of the last 100 years.

Spanning four stories, the exhibition will bring together renowned luminaries alongside emerging talent through the showcase of their works within the wider contexts of identity, power, sexuality, and solidarity. Femme F(r)iction unites a group of 50 female artists of different generations and backgrounds presenting over 70 paintings, sculptures, design pieces, installations, and drawings. 

Featured artists include amongst others Magdalena Abakanowicz, Lita Albuquerque, Andrea Marie Breiling, Johanna Bath, Clarina Bezzola, Sofia Borges, Andrea Bowers, Lee Bul, Leonora Carrington, Judy Chicago, Isabelle D, Brigitte D’Annibale, Carmen D’Appollonio, Jen DeNike, Charlotte Colbert, Daisy Dodd-Noble, Kim Faler, Leonor Fini, Rachel Garrard, Isa Genzken, Françoise Gilot, Paula Hayes, Mary Heilmann, Loie Hollowell, Anna Kenneally, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Tamara de Lempicka, Esther Mahlangu, Sophie Matisse, Keelin Montzingo, Calli Moore, Precious Opara, Naïla Opiangah, Toni Ross, Virginia San Fratello, Cindy Sherman, Jeanne Silverthorne, Emily Sundblad, Valentine de Saint-Point, Pat Steir, Rosemarie Trockel, Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, Faye Toogood, Maryam Turkey, Nicola Tyson, Analia Saban, Elisabeth von Samsonow, Kara Walker, Joana Vasconcelos, Leslie Wayne, Claudia Wieser, Sophia-Yemisi Adeyemo, Najla El Zein…

For more information about the exhibition, see below:

We are excited to announce we’ll be hosting an open studio day at Roman Road Studios’s Berlin Studio on Saturday 29 April 2023, from 2 – 7 PM. This is a great opportunity to meet the artists Yoab Vera and Ilja Karilampi, and to discover more about their practices and what they’ve been working on while participating in the first Studio Programme in Berlin!

The studios are located a two-minute walk away from the Julia Stoschek Foundation (the exact address will be sent via email following registration).

To register your interest in the open day and for a studio tour with the artists, please complete the short form below:

On the occasion of Roman Road’s new group show Under Blue Shade, we will be hosting a special screening of video works curated by artist Zoë Marden, followed by an afterparty at Laylow on Saturday 22 April 2023, from 4.30 PM.

 The presented works will explore the fluidity of alternative worlds, aquatic landscapes, liquidity and the ebbs and flows of the tide.

Film works exhibited include those from Billy Klotsa, River Cao, Evi Kalogiropoulou, Gray Wielebinski and Iria Vrettou. The series will also specially include Marden’s short experimental work Becoming Creature (2022).

Please note there will be two screenings; the first begins at 4.30 PM and the second at 6 PM.

The afterparty will ensue at the venue from 7 PM.

Laylow

10 Golborne Road

London W10 5PE

Under Blue Shade, curated by Mollie E Barnes at Roman Road, will remain open at the gallery throughout the event.

RSVP essential to rsvp@romanroad.com

Please indicate which screening time – 4.30 PM or 6 PM – you would like to attend in your RSVP.

We are very pleased to announce the opening of Under Blue Shade, a multimedia group exhibition curated by Mollie E Barnes. Featuring ultra-contemporary works by Gaia Fugazza, Zoë Marden, Precious Opara, Alina Vergnano and Lian Zhang, the show brings together paintings, ceramics and sculptural pieces exploring personal mythologies, dualities of the self, and the fluidity of experience and gender, collectively connected through the universal concept of water. Under Blue Shade opens on Thursday 20 April and will be on display at Roman Road’s gallery in Notting Hill until 10 June 2023.    

Opening: Thursday 20 April 2023, 6 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Friday 21 April – Saturday 10 June 2023

Location: 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

Roman Road is seeking a highly-motivated, consistent individual with excellent organisational skills for the position of Digital Content and Gallery Intern in our space in Notting Hill, from the week commencing 05 June 2023. This is a paid opportunity, requiring a part-time commitment of minimum 2 days per week, perfect for those studying for a BA or MA in an art-related subject, or for recent graduates. 

Start date: Week commencing 05 June, with availability in the last week of May for a training day

Job Location: Roman Road, 50 Golborne Road, W10 5PR

Application Deadline: 28 April 2023 

Should you be experiencing any problems downloading the application form, please email us at info@romanroad.com.

With Poetry and Performances by Allegra Handelsman, Dominic Sideway, Viktoria Tchibor, Alfreda Maxwell and Alina Vergnano

“Arty types and aristos mingled at Allegra Handelsman’s poetry night at the Roman Road gallery in Notting Hill. Alfreda Maxwell had everyone in stitches with her witty songs, but it was Allegra’s work that sparked the liveliest debate. What was it really about? Not men, clearly: ‘The amount of men in London who claim my poetry is about them is staggering,’ she said. Performer Viktoria Tchibor whirled about in a huge pink dress, accidentally hitting Philip Sallon in the face. Luckily, the ever-stylish club impresario turned the other chic.” – Tatler, May 2023

Watch the event highlights below and all individual performances on our Vimeo page, HERE!

On the occasion of Daisy Dodd-Noble’s solo exhibition Landscapes from the UK at Roman Road, we were specially joined at the gallery by Landscape Architect Stephanos Georgiou from Dan Pearson Studio, and Errol Fernandes, Head of Horticulture at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, for an enlightening conversation with the artist. Exploring themes of climate change and how it might affect the British landscape, they discussed the role of trees in the present and future world, and the importance of the human-nature relationship. Surrounded by Dodd-Noble’s latest landscape paintings, which feature certain trees she has encountered, such as Sequoias and Norwegian Spruces, reimagined in tranquil terrains, they also spoke of how our landscapes are instilled with many different and foreign species of trees, cultivated and distributed by humans. How do we respond to non-native plants? And should mankind interfere so much with nature or is it best left to its own devices?

We are thrilled to announce the application results for Roman Road Studio’s first Studio Programme in Berlin, starting on 01 April 2023 for one month. We received a number of very strong applications and are thankful to everyone who applied! For this first workshop, we want to congratulate the two artists who will occupy our studio in West Berlin:

1. Yoab Vera (painting)
2. Ilja Karilampi (digital)

To follow their journey with us and beyond on Instagram: @romanroadstudios, @yoabvera, @iljakarilampi

We are extremely excited to announce the application results for Roman Road Studio’s first Studio Programme in London, starting on 31 March 2023 for three months. For this first workshop, we want to congratulate the four artists who will occupy our two studios in Bethnal Green:

1. Daddybears (sculpture)
2. Archie Boon (painting)
3. Ellie Antoniou (sculpture)
4. Luca Asta (video)

To follow their journey with us and beyond on Instagram: @romanroadstudios, @daddybearsxc, @archie_boon, @ellieantoniou, @luca.asta

We cannot wait to start this new adventure and would like to thank everyone who applied for the first Studio Programme! We received a lot of applications and were delighted to discover the work of so many new talented artists.

Following the launch of Roman Road Studios in March 2023 with a first cohort of artist in London (UK), Roman Road is pleased to announce the second cohort under Studio Programme will take place in Berlin (Germany) starting in April 2023.

Deadline for applications: Friday 24th March 2023

Should you be experiencing any problems downloading the application form, please email us at studios@romanroad.com.

Advancing on its mission to create a cultural and community-driven space fostering collaboration and cross-pollination of artists’ practices, Roman Road is pleased to announce the launch of Roman Road Studios – an initiative providing a unique opportunity for artists to expand the parameters of their practice through a tailored studio programme.The first Studio Programme will welcome four artists in Bethnal Green, East London, for a period of 3 months starting on 31 March 2023.

Deadline for applications: Friday 24th March 2023

Should you be experiencing any problems downloading the application form, please email us at studios@romanroad.com.

We are thrilled to present the second exhibition of our 2023 programme, Bury a Friend, a multimedia group show curated by Marisa Bellani, featuring ultra-contemporary works by Johanna Bath, Sonya Derviz, Jack Laver and Mia Vallance. Throughout the display there’s a prevailing sense of curiosity and catharsis that materialises from the varied pieces, with each artist digging beneath the surface of the visible to unravel or challenge existing forces of power and the endless corridors of our minds. Bury a Friend opens on Thursday 16 March from 6 – 8 PM and will be on display at Roman Road, Notting Hill, until 14 April 2023.

Opening: Thursday 16 March 2023, 6 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Friday 17 March – Friday 14 April 2023

Location: 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

Roman Road is delighted to host a pop-up shop by Pâme, opening on 22 February from 6-9 PM at our gallery space in Notting Hill. Curated by Pâme’s founder, Taylan Aygun, this pop-up display will focus on a new set of limited edition silk postcards, two of which are by artist Alix Marie, whose work has been previously shown in solo and group shows at the gallery.

Opening Wednesday 22 February, 6 – 9 PM

Continuing until 04 March 2023

Open everyday from 1 – 7 PM

Roman Road

50 Golborne Road

London W10 5PR

Roman Road is delighted to host a special evening of poetry and performance

with

Allegra Handelsman

Dominic Sidaway

Viktoria Tchibor

Alfreda Maxwell

Alina Vergnano

Seeking to create a dialogue between the visual and lyrical by exploring the interconnection of art and words, four poets and one musician have created written work, each a response to one of the five paintings in Roman Road’s current group exhibition when i was walking on the edge of a teacup.

By creating new poetry profoundly inspired by existing art, which is itself a response to the written word, these performances will throw an echo to highlight the familiarity of the human experience, still with a personal perspective.

At 50 Golborne Road

London W10 5PR

RSVP essential to rsvp@romanroad.com

Marking the start of Roman Road’s 2023 programme of exhibitions, we are excited to announce the opening of when i was walking on the edge of a teacup, a group show bringing together works by five emerging artists exploring the uncertainties and fragilities of life. The display will feature new and unique pieces by Alina Vergnano, Minh Lan Tran, Harriet Gillett, Channatip Chanvipava and John Fou, which will be shown alongside a poem by Sonny Hall, exploring the interconnection between art and words within a space where sensuous and emotional visual dialogues converge. when i was walking on the edge of a teacup opens on Thursday 19 January from 6 – 8 PM and will be on display at Roman Road’s gallery in Notting Hill until 17 February 2023.

Opening: Thursday 19 January 2023, 6 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Friday 20 January – Friday 17 February 2023

Location: 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

We warmly invite you to join us for a special talk event on the occasion of our current solo show Daisy Dodd-Noble: Landscapes from the UK. After a guided exhibition tour with Roman Road’s founder and creative director Marisa Bellani, Daisy Dodd-Noble will be speaking with Landscape Architect Stephanos Georgiou from Dan Pearson Studio and special guests about the British landscape now and next, reflecting on the long-term effects of climate change.

On Thursday 12 January 2023

6.30 PM: Guided exhibition

tour with Marisa Bellani

7.15 PM: Talk commences

At 50 Golborne Road

London W10 5PR

RSVP essential to rsvp@romanroad.com

Daisy Dodd-Noble, Sequoias and pines at waters edge, 2022. Oil on linen, 90.5 x 120.2 x 4 cm, unique. Courtesy of Roman Road and the artist. © Ollie Hammick

We are excited to announce that Alix Marie’s project Styx is currently on show in Europe for the first time. Originally co-commissioned by Photoworks and Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Australia, it draws on the myth of Styx to explore water deities and their contemporary manifestations, the intersection between the body and its representation, alongside experimenting with the expanded possibilities of photography.

Alix Marie: Styx, installation view, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, 25 November 2022 – 26 February 2023. Courtesy of the artist. © Henning Rogge 

In this exhibition the deity materialises in two forms; firstly as an immersive installation, which explores the cavities of the body and the ambiguous duality of internal and external space and protective environments. Secondly, the deity takes on a human form via one of the oldest techniques of stage illusion. Embodied by Marie’s long-term collaborator, performer and writer Nina Boukhrief, the goddess’ voice surrounds the space reflecting on death, light and life.

At Roman Road, Alix Marie’s work was recently featured in the group show Two Sisters this year, as well as in her solo shows Shredded in 2019 and La Femme Fontaine in 2018.

Two Sisters, installation view, Roman Road x Working Project, London, 31 May – 30 June 2022. Courtesy of Roman Road. © Deniz Güzel

Follow the link below to read Crossings, the essay about Styx by Rebecca Lewin (2021).

We are excited to be working with British artist Daisy Dodd-Noble on her new solo exhibition Landscapes from the UK, coming soon to Roman Road’s gallery in Notting Hil. The show will feature a collection of her latest paintings, teeming with thriving trees and shrubs in idyllic landscapes. Through her practice, Dodd-Noble seeks to disassemble component parts of the traditional landscape – by presenting trees as distinguished individuals – encouraging us to consider our own uniqueness and at once our shared consciousness and interdependence with the natural world. Landscapes from the UK opens on Wednesday 07 December from 6 – 8 PM and will continue until 14 January 2023.

Opening: Wednesday 07 December 2022, 6 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Thursday 08 December 2022 – Saturday 14 January 2023

Location: 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

On the occasion of Bex Massey’s solo exhibition The truth is out there at Roman Road, writer and editor Louis Wise joined us for a conversation with the artist, to explore the autobiographical aspects of her recent paintings and the inescapable realities and subjections of the LGBT community that inspired their making. In their open and insightful discussion, they drew upon Massey’s interest and investigation into Queer history, ’90s pop culture and the pre-internet era, while reflecting on the impact and role that Section 28 – a reviled law existing from 1988-2003 across Britain that forbade local authorities and schools from promoting homosexuality – played in shaping both their lives, and the artist’s current practice. With a similar law, the commonly dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill having been passed in Florida earlier this year, are we not witnessing history repeat itself? What can be done to break the cycle?

You are invited to join us for a conversation between Bex Massey and Louis Wise on the occasion of our current show Bex Massey: The truth is out there. Writer and editor Louis Wise will be discussing queerness, camp, and the long shadow cast by section 28, after a guided exhibition tour with Roman Road’s creative director and founder Marisa Bellani.

On Tuesday 08 November

6.30 PM: Guided exhibition

tour with Marisa Bellani

7 PM: Talk commences

At 50 Golborne Road

London W10 5PR

RSVP essential to

rsvp@romanroad.com

For the second exhibition at Roman Road’s newly acquired space in Notting Hill, we are excited to present The truth is out there, a solo show by British artist Bex Massey. Featuring a collection of large, vibrant and hyperrealistic paintings from Massey’s first autobiographical series, the show teems with reimagined narratives exploring Queer history and identity. The truth is out there opens on Tuesday 25 October and will be on display until 26 November 2022.

Opening: Tuesday 25 October 2022, 6 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Wednesday 26 October – Saturday 26 November 2022

Location: 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

We are extremely thrilled to announce the opening of our new gallery space in Notting Hill! Roman Road will now be running its programme of exhibitions from 50 Golborne Road, W10 5PR.

Marking the launch of our new space with an opening event on 04 October 2022, the inaugural exhibition is Mystical Nature, a group show exploring the world of plants and reflecting on the magical workings of our ecosystems, the plants’ competition and struggles invisible to the naked eye, and their relationship with us. Mystical Nature brings together works by four exceptional artists: Bokani, Daisy Dodd-Noble, Anna Skladmann, and Georg Wilson.

Roman Road is extremely pleased to partner with Arthur Sleep for Art in Mayfair this year,

starting on Tuesday 28 June with Yulia Iosilzon and finishing at the end of July with Ellen Antico.

Each week one artist will take over the front window of Arthur Sleep and display one painting

within the extraordinary shoe store and factory, located at 10 Savile Row, W1S 3PF.

Yulia Iosilzon | 28 June – 4 July 2022

Drinks reception: Tuesday 28 June, 6-8 pm

Daisy Dodd-Noble | 5 – 11 July 2022

Drinks reception: Tuesday 5 July, 6-8 pm

Luisa Me | 12 – 18 July 2022

Drinks reception: Tuesday 12 July, 6-8 pm

Ellen Antico | 19 – 31 July 2022

Drinks reception: Tuesday 19 July, 6-8 pm

“Roman Road is extremely pleased to present Two Sisters, a group show exploring the themes of vision, connectivity and resilience at Working Project, Notting Hill. It brings together works by Daisy Dodd-Noble, Michael Dohr, Ariane Heloise Hughes, Yulia Iosilzon, Jack Laver, Alix Marie, Anousha Payne, Rebekah Rubalcava, Elsa Rouy and Anna Skladmann.

Two Sisters takes its title from Giorgio de Chirico’s eponymous painting from 1915 which represents two faceless mannequin heads whose absent eyes are signified through the motifs of a line and of open black holes resembling doors (…) Surrealist techniques liberate the imagination and offer promises of freedom for artists with a desire to dissolve the frontier between visibility and invisibility, inner and outer worlds. Symbols, myths, dreams, and magic infuse the work of the artists presented in Two Sisters who each in their own way address phenomena of transformation, transfiguration and transmutation.”

Ines de Bordas, 2022.

Opening: Tuesday 31 May 2022, 6 – 9 PM

Exhibition: Wednesday 01 June – Thursday 30 June 2022

Location: Working Project, 50 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR

Roman Road is pleased to promote an Open Call organised by Greenwich Cultural Services and Revive which offers a grant of around € 30,000 for visual artists and creatives, to make a site-specific work to be installed by June 2024.

Revive is willing to commission a freestanding, permanent and outdoor work that will occupy and complement one of their sites; the old Marie Thumas factory, Leuven Belgium. The art piece will be positioned on the front terrace, having a lot of visibility to users, visitors and passers-by, while also becoming part of the identity of the project.

Revive is a Belgian company which position themselves as an alternative real estate agency investing in the sustainable transformation of abandoned and contaminated sites. As a company, Revive invests in a responsible way to help urban framework to further develop. Today, they are one of the frontrunners and market leaders in their industry with a key focus on environmental issues and societal challenges, aiming to bring forward solid solutions.

Greenwich Cultural Services was established in 2021 by Roman Road’s founder and creative director, Marisa Bellani, together with Rita Almeida Freitas, with the aim of connecting artists and companies to create synergies. GCS was born from its founders’ desire to bring art and artists to a wider audience whilst committing to sustainable solutions. Rita and Marisa, two art professionals, saw the need to respond to social and environmental issues through art. With this objective at the core of the company, they commit to propose a diverse range of sustainable solutions and to working with companies with the same goals.

The artwork is to be produced for June 2024 in Leuven, Belgium. Applications are due by July 2022.

Roman Road is excited to announce Greenwich Cultural Services. The project was established in 2021 by Roman Road’s founder and creative director, Marisa Bellani, together with Rita Almeida Freitas, with the aim of connecting artists and companies to create synergies. GCS partners with brands and companies to make contemporary art more accessible and more widely shared, operating around the world to develop strategies that enhance brands’ visibility and bring them closer to their targeted audience. GCS helps develop an increasingly creative work environment for staff to enjoy and shedding a new light on their public positioning.

GCS was born from its founders’, Rita Almeida Freitas and Marisa Bellani, desire to bring art and artists to a wider audience whilst committing to sustainable solutions. Rita and Marisa, two art professionals, saw the need to respond to social and environmental issues through art. With this objective at the core of the company, they commit to proposing a diverse range of sustainable solutions and to working with companies with the same goals.

For further information or any queries, please email info@romanroad.com

We are pleased to announce that Luisa Me: The Crane at the Bottom of the Sea opened on the 10th May 2022 at Roman Road. For this exhibition the artist duo Luisa Me bring a magnetic exploration of human connection against the daily grind and constant expansion of the city. They present you with interplay between light and dark under an omnipresent, radiant sun, whilst blurring the boundaries between conceptual, representational and narrative art. Visit Roman Road to discover unique works by the duo.

Exhibition: Wednesday 11 May – Friday 15 July 2022

Location: 69 Roman Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 0QW

Fungi Folly is now available on our online store by following this link.

Roman Road is pleased to announce that the new catalogue of our current exhibition Paradise Is Not Just a Place is now available in our online store.

Including a foreword by Roman Road’s founder and director, Marisa Bellani; Anna Souter’s essay After the Garden; sketches of the exhibition plan; and images of the artworks found in the gallery, the catalogue has been carefully stylised and designed.

Roman Road invites you to a conversation between writer, researcher, and curator Anna Souter and artists Yulia Iosilzon and Anna Skladmann.

Throughout the evening, speakers will discuss our current exhibition Yulia Iosilzon & Anna Skladmann: Paradise Is Not Just a Place in the context of cross-disciplinary processes, the exhibition as ecosystem, and their art historical references from Hieronymous Bosch to Anna Atkins. They will also explore their shared interest in the politics of plants and cultural constructions of paradise.

Following the talk, the public will be invited to participate in a Q&A session.

The event will take place at 69 Roman Road, E2 0QN. For any further enquiries, please contact us at info@romanroad.com.

To compliment the talk and exhibition, Anna Souter’s essay After The Garden is available in both written and audio formats:

Roman Road is pleased to announce that due to high levels of interest, we will be extending our current exhibition Yulia Iosilzon & Anna Skladmann: Paradise Is Not Just a Place until 10 December 2021.

Roman Road is delighted to provide you with a beautiful descriptive essay to complement Paradise Is Not Just a Place. Written and narrated by Anna Souter, After The Garden discusses selected plants and their symbols, featured within the works of Yulia Iosilzon & Anna Skladmann in the show. 

The discussion weaves together different ideas around Bosch, feminism, vegetal ontologies, the Garden of Eden, and the cultural tropes that emerge around different plants within the works in the show. 

Immerse yourself into Paradise Is Not Just a Place at Roman Road, whilst listening to the careful descriptions of the plants showcased in the exhibition. 

The essay is available in both written and audio formats:

Lily Lewis’ works are now on display at The Columbia. Curated by our creative director Marisa Bellani, ‘Safe Places’ is now available to view in the Artist Room commencing the 9th August 2021. Lily Lewis’ display is accompanied by a digital catalogue, outlining Lewis’ intention and theme behind the works. To access and read the catalogue, please follow the link below

Lily Lewis ‘Safe Places’ Digital Catalogue

Roman Road is pleased to present Paradise Is Not Just a Place, an exhibition by artists Yulia Iosilzon and Anna Skladmann. The exhibition will feature a selection of Iosilzon’s latest paintings and ceramics and Skladmann’s photography. To attend the Paradise Is Not Just a Place opening on 16 September please email info@romanroad.com.

Opening: Thursday 16 September, 6 – 9 PM

Exhibition: Friday 17 September – Saturday 06 November 2021

Location: 69 Roman Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 0QW

We are thrilled to share with you all the photography series This Could be Us by Yulia Lebedeva, accompanied with a text written for the project. Yulia has just finished her residency with Roman Road at The Columbia. Her works will be exhibited during the residency group show Still Journey in September. Stay tuned for more information!

Yulia Lebedeva This could be us: Provence, 2021 

Yulia Lebedeva This could be us: Santorini, 2021 

Yulia Lebedeva This could be us: St Tropez, 2021 

This could be us

Appropriating the stylistics of postcards, Lebedeva muses on what people now need to feel happy and connected. This could be us is translating our natural yearning to connect with people from our past, present and future. It picks up on words that have not been spoken yet and invites you into a made-up holiday that you almost feel like you have taken with your friend or lover. 

The project consists of carefully curated leisurely visuals that are reminiscent of holiday cliches that have been elevated to an art form with a slight patina of decadence, that the current visual social media culture has ascended upon us. 

No longer just a term of opprobrium for mannered art or immoral behaviour, decadence today describes complex cultural and social responses to modernity in all its forms. 

Shaw M (2019) Decadence and the Urban Sensibility. In: Desmarais J & Weir D (eds.) Decadence and Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 82-97.

Each visual is titled in a holiday kitsch font with the corresponding locations that are not their actual locations yet are presented as very much believable lies. The moments themselves are borderline lies as well. The vibrant photographs capture beautiful, almost too perfect, moments that would not have existed had they not been photographed by the artist. It is real, yet it is fake. This penetrates the idea of people living parallel lives through the carefully curated and conceptually approved photographs that illustrate a prosperous and carefree life, which does not necessarily correspond to the actual offscreen image of us.

Each postcard is signed by hand by the artist on reverse, with the intimate message for the receiver, thus inviting us to participate in the artist’s lie. There are no faces portrayed apart from artists’ own, creating an intimate feeling as if indeed, this could be you and her about to embark on this journey. 

This journey invitation comes just at the right moment as many are still affected by the pandemic in so many aspects of our lives. Lebedeva’s exceptional cheerful and escapist execution tone is exactly what we need after almost two years of bleakness and uncertainty.

Yulia Lebedeva

What’s something you want to work on next? 

“It’s going to be a book, a lifestyle coffee table  book, about leisure and elevating leisure to an art form. I really believe that leisure is the future. We are doing less and less manual work, finding automated substitutions for it, the ultimate idea is to arrive at the place where you work less. It’ll be an accumulation of my visuals featuring all things leisure and hedonistic strives, exploring the personal commodities of my modern day muses. My subjects are always people that I know: it’s personal. I do see them as sublime goddesses, I really like the idea of elevating women and making them feel better about themselves. Even though there is a bit of decadence in the photos I think it’s done with humour — a good kind of decadence. I think it’s ok to enjoy life and I want people to feel at peace with themselves. Even though most of my work involves people, I don’t think it is direct portraits of them, it is rather situational photography that translates  my excitement and vision of that particular moment.”

Photo: Photograph from Yulia Lebedeva’s Goddess series. Follow @ylebedeva to learn more about their practice.

Juls Gabs

How would you describe the aesthetic of your work? 

“I would say it comes from the digital era: Google, Pinterest, Netflix mixed with the London Art Scene. The subjects are contemporary topics that are shaping our world: diversity, queer, equality, black lives matters… among others. The composition comes from traditional paintings, I am especially influenced by Romanticism and Pre-Raphaelite movements. However, my palette belongs to the digital world: pastels from Tumblr and fluorescent from Windows Paint. My digital experience does not stop at the colours, I create Virtual Reality environments in all of my paintings. This is a realm that not only allows me to expand my imagery and to stretch the concepts, but ultimately it contrasts this ideal painting with the world that we all live in.”

Photo: close-up from “Evasions of the Psyche” by Juls Gabs. Follow @julsgabs to see more of their practice.

Bex Massey

Have you used the residency to try something new in your work?

“Yes, I’m using the residency to look at expanding the depth of field in my paintings. Before I embarked on these three months my work had a much flatter aesthetic and would probably be best described as ‘Pop Art’. Likewise, due to the relatively short time frame I have also changed my process as this tenure would usually only establish the research phase of a given project. I am therefore using my Instagram story archive as my image library and have created an algorithm to select which date I tackle. I am also mimicking the Instagram story ratio via stretcher dimensions. This is the first time I have worked with such a narrow canvas, and it is certainly making the expanded landscape much trickier to assimilate. Exploring my ‘virtual’ connectivity since the outbreak of Covid 19 and National Lockdown’s has also been a shift in theme as my work usually discusses intersectional feminist issues. Although exploring our isolation and diminishing mental health since the pandemic feels like a pertinent departure at present.”

Photo: zoom-in shot of a work-in-progress by Bex Massey. Follow @masseybex to see more of their practice.

Ben Cullen Williams

Where do you find your inspiration and how do you stay motivated during the restricted period? 

“I find my inspiration from walking, looking, traveling, observing cities and the natural landscapes. I’m interested in reading technological and scientific studies, questioning the relationship between what I see, what I read and how they link. My compulsion is to just make, I’ve got to be constantly making things, a desire or need to be constantly making. Through making it helps me understand the world and understand aspects of the world in a conscious or subconscious way.”

Photo: prototype of a work-in-progress by Ben Cullen Williams. Follow @bencullenwilliams to learn more about their practice.

Ariane Hughes

Have you adapted to the theme of human connectivity in your work to respond to the residency?

“I guess I have because I’ve gone through the archive in my camera roll and chosen images of people in my life, or used images they have taken of me to develop my current work. I would say it’s more about  ‘Lost Connections’ with people in my life, its personal to me. Another element is the digital age, in relation to that I wanted to look at the digital image, across a few of the images I’ve made I’ve blurred the image to make it look like film stills, or to make it look like a moving image- the loading image. In recent year my work has always been in focus, this is softer impressionate approach.”

Photo: zoom-in shot of a work-in-progress by Ariane Hughes. Follow @arianehughes to learn more about their practice.

Roman Road in partnership with The Columbia is pleased to present Strange Dreams, an exhibition by artists Jack Laver and Jordan Hemingway. The exhibition will feature a selection of Laver’s latest paintings and Hemingway’s photography. To attend the Strange Dreams opening on June 24, please email rsvp@thecolumbia with your name, phone number and preferred time slot (4-6 pm or 6-8 pm).

Opening: Thursday 24 June, 4 – 8 PM

Exhibition: Friday 18 June – Saturday 10 July 2021

Location: The Columbia, 95-99 Lancaster Gate, London, W2 3NS

Daisy Dodd-Noble first exhibition of large format works curated by our director, Marisa Bellani is now on display at The Columbia. Daisy Dodd-Noble’s presentation is accompanied by an essay about the relationship between her practice and nature written by Anna Souter. To access the digital catalogue with Souter’s essay please follow the link below:

link

Exhibition: 17 May – 17 August 2021

Location: The Columbia, 95-99 Lancaster Gate, London, W2 3NS

The Columbia and Roman Road are pleased to announce the artists of the 2021 Art Residency Programme, who are taking part in the 3-month residency for visual artists, creatives, photographers and videographers. The overarching theme of this residency focuses on ideas of human connectivity and the permeability and convergence of creative thought. We seek individuals who explore notions of 21st-century human relationships and interactions through their processes and/or conceptual research. Please meet the artists below!

Ariane Heloise Hughes

Hughes’ paintings navigate the tenuous threshold of the subject/object dichotomy. Through her blending of contemporary and traditional imagery, amalgamation of figuration and setting, she challenges this rigid paradigm. Throughout her practice, the female nude is a recurring subject as it personifies the subject/object dualism within the Western Canon of Art. Ariane hopes to conceive of a new visual vernacular for desire. One that operates outside the norms of conventional beauty and ‘the gaze’.

Ben Cullen Williams

Cullen Williams is a London based artist who works between science and art, linking the human to the non-human and working across, performance, film, installation and sculpture.

Bex Massey

Massey’s practice incorporates figurative painting and installation. She uses collage, traditional making techniques and modes of display to discuss ideas surrounding value-the hierarchy of image, highbrow versus lowbrow and material worth. Reoccurring themes surrounding this ‘value’ are intersectional feminist issues, the post-digital terrain and British subcultures.

Juls Gabs 

Digital and Crypto Artist, Jul Gabs explores new existences in the digital era. Her most recent work featured a virtual display of flamingos in Google Maps. During this residency, Juls Gabs will further explore the idea of digital loopholes, Virtual Reality and the comparison between the cryptocurrency market and the art market, particularly NFTs.

Yulia Lebedeva

A still and moving image artist, Yulia Lebedeva is driven by colour and motion and captures the excitement of now. Lebedeva’s work is rhythmic, feminine and self-evolving. Taking inspiration from artists such as Hassan Hajjaj and Cindy Sherman, her images grow from an intimate setting of one’s personal commodities, capturing the utopian dream-like setting with a steady yet playful ambience. While being a member at the residency, she plans on exploring other ways of presenting her photographs by creating collages or creating a lifestyle book.

The Columbia and Maris World are pleased to announce the launch of the Winter 2020/21 Residency Programme, offering 3-month residencies for visual artists, creatives, photographers and videographers.

The Winter 2020/21 programme is the second in a series of residencies at The Columbia. As part of the programme, we will be offering six creatives the opportunity to share a studio space and create new works that will be exhibited in a final showcase at The Columbia. During the programme, residents will have the opportunity to discuss and receive expert guidance on their new projects through group and individual sessions with Marisa Bellani, founder and principal consultant at Maris World and creative director of Roman Road.

For more information or details of how to apply, click below:

Deadline for applications: Monday 15th February 2021

Should you experiencing any problems downloading the application form, please email us at info@romanroad.com.

In this live streamed conversation from the artist’s studio, Jack Laver will be speaking to Marisa Bellani about his inspirations and influences, and the symbolism and abstraction in his latest pieces of work.

This talk is the second episode of Maris World’s new Artist Series and will be live streamed on YouTube.

For more information about the artist and available works, please email us.

Coinciding with Yulia Iosilzon’s presentation of new works at The Columbia, the artist will be in conversation with Marisa Bellani, creative director at Roman Road, on Thursday 12 November 2020 at 6 PM.

This talk is the first episode of Maris World’s Artist Series and will be live streamed on YouTube.

Yulia Iosilzon’s new works will be on display in the Artist Room at The Columbia until 21 December 2020.

For more information about the artist and available works, please email us.