‘will it get some wind for the sailboat
and it could get for it is
it could get the railroad for these workers
and it could be where it is
it could franky, it could be franky
it could be very fresh and clean
it could be a balloon
all these are the days my friends
and these are the days my friends’
Einstein on the Beach, Knee Play 1
Philip Glass
Loosely focusing around themes of history of location, archaeology and craft, ‘These are the days my friends’ brings together a diverse group of works by artists living and working outside London. In the context of Art Licks Weekend 2019, Kupfer responds to theme of ‘interdependence’ by extending an invitation to Margate-based artist Hannah Lees, to guest curate an exhibition that expands the space’s roster of exhibited artists, encompassing her own artistic and intellectual network. Lees has previously shown at Kupfer in the group exhibition ‘Amaranthine’ (2018), curated by fellow artist Dan Coopey. In this context, interdependence is understood as the often invisible or undocumented threads that draw artists together, a particular kind of affinity that escapes art-historical discourses and emerges in unpredictable, surprising ways.
About the artists
Lydia Brockless (b. 1991) graduated from Leeds College of Art in 2014. Past exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries, London/Nottingham, 2015; Uncommon Chemistry, Hastings, 2016; In This Soup We Swim, London, 2016; The Kiss or Poison Boyfriend or Jesus' Blood, Northampton, St Leonards-on-Sea, London, 2017; Lunar Gardening, London, 2019. She is currently studying for her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, and lives and works in Kent.
Andrew Gillespie (b.1984) lives and works in Birmingham. Recent exhibitions include Some Kinda Love, Gallery Celine (2019), Anti-Scrape, New Art Gallery Walsall (2017), Sinkhole, Outpost (2017). Andrew also runs Recent Activity, a curatorial project based in Birmingham.
Clementine Keith-Roach (b. 1984) lives and works in Dorset. She graduated from Bristol University in 2008 with a BA in Art History. She has recently been part of exhibitions at MOCA, Los Angeles; Blue Projects, London; Centre Regional D’Art Contemporain (CRAC), France; The Villa Lontana, Rome, and has exhibited solo with Pervilion, Palermo and London and Ben Hunter Gallery, London. Keith-Roach curated the group exhibition Interiority at Ben Hunter Gallery in 2018. She is also an editor of Effects, a journal of art, poetry and essays.
Jack Lavender (b. 1983) lives and works in Margate, UK.
Hannah Lees (b. 1983, Kent, UK) lives and works in London and Margate, UK. She completed a Post-Graduate Diploma at Chelsea College of Art, London, UK (2011) and completed a Foundry Residency at the Royal College of Art, London, UK (2012).
Previous exhibitions include Hannah Lees & Spencer Lewis, ltd Los Angeles, Sunday Art Fair, London, UK (two-person); Gasworks’ International Fellowship Programme, Pivô, São Paulo, BR; “and I’ll have my pepper shaker in my cave, so laugh”, Ltd Los Angeles, LA, US (group); If it’s not meant to last then it’s performance, VITRINE, Basel, CH (group); Hold tight to your silence and wait, ReadingRoom, Melbourne, AUS (group); Nicholas Kirkwood Presents Hannah Lees, Nicholas Kirkwood, London, UK (solo); Smoke, Reading Rooms, Melbourne, AUS (solo); The Trees That Yield, Whitstable Biennale, UK (solo); British Council UK/ID Exchange Residency, Bakudapan, ID; The Turning of Existence into its Opposite, Kingsgate Project Space, London, UK (solo); Turner Contemporary & the British Museum Commission: Hannah Lees, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (solo).
Current and forthcoming projects include Odds, TOMA Project Space, Southend-on-Sea, UK (group); Ghost Camp III –Remnants, Chaos Magic, Nottingham, UK; Make an appearance with a view to their disappearance, Hard Shoulder, Florence, IT (solo).
Hannah Lees is represented by ReadingRoom, Melbourne, AUS.
Kris Lock (b. 1993) looks to the extraterrestrial and imaginative properties of bodies of water and geographic spaces as a way to navigate abstract geopolitical contexts at the intersections of currency, technology and ecology. Having studied at Camberwell College of Art and Open School East, he is currently co-director at Well Projects in Margate.
Flora Parrott studied Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art. Her work looks at notions of darkness, the subterranean and restructuring of the senses. Previous exhibitions include Tintype Gallery, the Earth Science Museum at the University São Paulo, Wysing Arts Centre, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and the Royal Geographical Society.
Phil Root (b. 1984, Northamptonshire, UK) works primarily with clay, pigment and textiles, the output from the studio often being displayed in assemblages or installations. Graduating from Goldsmiths College in 2006 he has been exploring specific histories and how they reflect our relationship to nature and the universe. Phil took up a residency at Wysing Arts Centre in 2011 where he co-founded The Grantchester Pottery with artist Giles Round and in 2016 they were awarded the Freelands Lomax Ceramics Fellowship at Camden Arts Centre. He is also co-founder of Caraboo Projects in Bristol and a visiting lecturer at University of West England. Recent exhibitions include Lunar Gardening, Kingsgate Project Space, London, 2019, How Small a Thought, Marwell House, Margate, 2019 Host, Intercession, Northampton, 2018 (with Jacqui Hallum) and Sightings, Caraboo Projects, Bristol, 2018 (curated). Lives and works in Bristol.
Billie M Vigne is a metalsmith and artist working in silver and gold as well as brass, copper, bronze and aluminum. Completing the Level 2 and 3 City and Guilds qualifications to distinction level, she was subsequently asked back for a year long stint as Emerging Maker in Residence. Alongside the design and fabrication of BMV Jewellery, she works to commission for private clients and runs jewelry workshops from her studio in Margate.
