As the old British dental saying goes, ‘don’t let the rot set in’. In new work developed for the billboard site in June 2019, and within this online work, Jennifer channels the mythology of the ‘tooth worm’; an ancient belief that has roots across the Middle East and Asia. She posits the fictitious parasite, imagined to be the cause of toothache and pain, as analogous to the immigrant/migrant, the mythical cause of rot as espoused by hostile government policy. Within the work, a composition of 3D stock model graphics are accompanied by the voice of the ‘tooth worm’; text-based extracts from a more extensive soliloquy that draws upon histories of sugar and tobacco stained legacies of empire, island isolationism and nationalism, surveillance culture, marginalisation, and the optimistic philosophy of Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man (1734).
Jennifer Martin (b 1990) is based in London, working with moving image, photography and installation. Her work operates in part as interventions and articulations of social-racial dynamics and lived experiences. Martin is a graduate of the Royal College of Art (2018) and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (2013). Martin was awarded the Stuart Croft Foundation Education Award 2018 and is part of the FLAMIN Fellowship 2019. Upcoming solo exhibitions and commissions include Primary, Nottingham, UK (2019); Turf Projects, London, UK (2019); Cypher BILLBOARD, London, UK (2019). Recent group exhibitions include Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK (2019); arebyte Gallery, London, UK (2018); Lychee One Gallery, London, UK (2017); and Villa Iris, Fundación Botín, Santander, ES (2015).
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Jennifer Martin (b 1990) is based in London, working with moving image, photography and installation. Her work operates in part as interventions and articulations of social-racial dynamics and lived experiences. Martin is a graduate of the Royal College of Art (2018) and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (2013). Martin was awarded the Stuart Croft Foundation Education Award 2018 and is part of the FLAMIN Fellowship 2019. Upcoming solo exhibitions and commissions include Primary, Nottingham, UK (2019); Turf Projects, London, UK (2019); Cypher BILLBOARD, London, UK (2019). Recent group exhibitions include Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK (2019); arebyte Gallery, London, UK (2018); Lychee One Gallery, London, UK (2017); and Villa Iris, Fundación Botín, Santander, ES (2015).
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The egg, embodying latent life, can absorb negative energies from this healing ritual.
Tension in the egg found through handling its fragility and spherical perfection. Cloud of smoke opening senses, a cherished object.
Rid of bravado, aggression that are contained in the extremities that affect him, Erasing multiple versions of himself, cleaning himself.
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Francesca Tamse (b.1989) is an artist from California living in London. Her work looks at masculinity from a female gaze. She utilises images and ideas inspired through western pop culture and found imagery to create constructed narratives that put patriarchal elements into subversion. Whether it be through the landscape to the urban construction sites and even through the gallery walls, there is a playfulness and collaborative aspect in the work with her hetero-male counterparts. In October 2018 she developed a poster artwork and accompanying performance for the Cypher BILLBOARD site in collaboration with Mellor & Banks art handling company called ‘Perfection by the Lines: Fine Art Perspiration’. Her work has been featured and exhibited in Vogue Italia, 1Granary, Self Publish Be Happy, The Plantation Journal, and Dear Dave Magazine.
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Tension in the egg found through handling its fragility and spherical perfection. Cloud of smoke opening senses, a cherished object.
Rid of bravado, aggression that are contained in the extremities that affect him, Erasing multiple versions of himself, cleaning himself.
VIEW WORK >>>
Francesca Tamse (b.1989) is an artist from California living in London. Her work looks at masculinity from a female gaze. She utilises images and ideas inspired through western pop culture and found imagery to create constructed narratives that put patriarchal elements into subversion. Whether it be through the landscape to the urban construction sites and even through the gallery walls, there is a playfulness and collaborative aspect in the work with her hetero-male counterparts. In October 2018 she developed a poster artwork and accompanying performance for the Cypher BILLBOARD site in collaboration with Mellor & Banks art handling company called ‘Perfection by the Lines: Fine Art Perspiration’. Her work has been featured and exhibited in Vogue Italia, 1Granary, Self Publish Be Happy, The Plantation Journal, and Dear Dave Magazine.
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‘Hello Stupid Eyes’ accompanies Dan’s August 2019 billboard work, and features his incarnation of Dr Robert Laing, a fictional character from JG Ballard's classic High Rise. JG Ballard gave permission to Dan to inhabit the character in person and online. The short film features a description of Dr Robert Laing's subject who lives in Bounds Green and offers a diagnosis of their plight and a brief course in abnormal hypnotherapy - which is automatically extended to the viewer. A corresponding performance in collaboration with collaboration with Ben [The Rebel] Wallers will take place at the billboard site on Wed 21 Aug 2019.
Dan Mitchell is Founder of DEATH LOLZ, Publisher of Hard Mag, cofounder of the Artist Self-Publishing Fair (ASP) and Poster Studio (1994-97). Various solo and group shows include: Luma Foundation, Zurich - Gagosian, London - Oracle, Berlin - Ludlow38, NYC - Temnikova & Kasela, Estonia - Jenny's, LA - Celine, Glascow - 3236RLS, London - Noah Klink, Berlin - and Peak, London. Publications: Hard Mag, DEATH LOLZ Presents and various catalogues and posters. Collaborations: Nang Gallery, Lolina and The Rebel.
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Dan Mitchell is Founder of DEATH LOLZ, Publisher of Hard Mag, cofounder of the Artist Self-Publishing Fair (ASP) and Poster Studio (1994-97). Various solo and group shows include: Luma Foundation, Zurich - Gagosian, London - Oracle, Berlin - Ludlow38, NYC - Temnikova & Kasela, Estonia - Jenny's, LA - Celine, Glascow - 3236RLS, London - Noah Klink, Berlin - and Peak, London. Publications: Hard Mag, DEATH LOLZ Presents and various catalogues and posters. Collaborations: Nang Gallery, Lolina and The Rebel.
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Larry’s digital artwork and corresponding billboard poster showing in September 2019 both highlight African diasporic identity. The design of this work features 54 stars that represent the 54 countries of Africa. The colours green, black and red reflect its land, its people and the struggles the continent has endured, respectively, and the field of yellow gold represents a new day and prosperity. Larry has configured these Pan African colours into symbols and forms that are suggestive of various elements, in this instance, motion and the speed of darkness. Belonging to a series of flags, they culminate as Afrofuturistic icons moving towards unity and equilibrium. Cypher BILLBOARD will host an evening of screenings of films from Larry’s RELIC TRAVELLER series on the billboard site on Thurs 19 Sept 2019.
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Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, UK) is a Jarman Award nominated artist (2018). He completed a BA in Mixed Media Fine Art at University of Westminster in 2005 and an MA in Sculpture at The Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. He lives and works in London, and has been a tutor on the Photography MA programme at Royal College of Art since 2016. Achiampong currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) and is represented by C Ø P P E R F I E L D.
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Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, UK) is a Jarman Award nominated artist (2018). He completed a BA in Mixed Media Fine Art at University of Westminster in 2005 and an MA in Sculpture at The Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. He lives and works in London, and has been a tutor on the Photography MA programme at Royal College of Art since 2016. Achiampong currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) and is represented by C Ø P P E R F I E L D.
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Skeuomorph’s 2018 poster artwork 'Crazy Talk' responded to the physical site as a palimpsest, a surface that is reused, altered and that often bears visible traces of its earlier form. The trompe l’oeil effect used in their artwork simulated a revealing of hidden layers. Building on this idea of layering, and exploring the potential of working digitally, Skeuomorph have developed a moving image piece. In their collaborative drawing, the iterative process of its creation is rendered visible, captured and replayed.
Skeuomorph is a collaboration between Amba Sayal-Bennett and Ralph Hunter-Menzies. Their approach to making draws on concerns and methods within both artists’ practices. Their installations are often site-specific, reflecting their shared interest in the marks and traces left by material encounters within urban environments. Recent exhibitions include: Absinthe §2, Spit and Sawdust, London; and Mess Machine, UKYA City Takeover, Nottingham.
Amba Sayal-Bennett (b.1991 London) received her BFA from Oxford University and her MA in The History of Art from The Courtauld Institute. She was awarded her PhD in Art Practice and Learning from Goldsmiths and is currently studying Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. She has published her practice-based research with Tate Papers. Recent exhibitions include: And Proceed To Fill The Next Fold, The Future, Galleri 21, Malmö; and Week 1, IO Project Space, New Delhi.
Ralph Hunter-Menzies (b.1988 Northampton) received his BFA from Chelsea College of Art and Design. Recent shows include: Sleep On The Wind (curator), The Dot Project, London; The Florence Trust Residency, London; and The Unlimited Dream Company (curator), Hannah Barry Gallery, London. He is the winner of The Ashhurst East London Painting Prize.
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Skeuomorph is a collaboration between Amba Sayal-Bennett and Ralph Hunter-Menzies. Their approach to making draws on concerns and methods within both artists’ practices. Their installations are often site-specific, reflecting their shared interest in the marks and traces left by material encounters within urban environments. Recent exhibitions include: Absinthe §2, Spit and Sawdust, London; and Mess Machine, UKYA City Takeover, Nottingham.
Amba Sayal-Bennett (b.1991 London) received her BFA from Oxford University and her MA in The History of Art from The Courtauld Institute. She was awarded her PhD in Art Practice and Learning from Goldsmiths and is currently studying Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. She has published her practice-based research with Tate Papers. Recent exhibitions include: And Proceed To Fill The Next Fold, The Future, Galleri 21, Malmö; and Week 1, IO Project Space, New Delhi.
Ralph Hunter-Menzies (b.1988 Northampton) received his BFA from Chelsea College of Art and Design. Recent shows include: Sleep On The Wind (curator), The Dot Project, London; The Florence Trust Residency, London; and The Unlimited Dream Company (curator), Hannah Barry Gallery, London. He is the winner of The Ashhurst East London Painting Prize.
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Following on from their research into straws, Buddleja and Baudelaire’s Fleur Du Mal, EILIS+JAKOB present a visual poem that explores desire and clicking.
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Eilis Searson is a graphic designer who likes education, beautiful books and love actually. She designs the RCA school newspaper, teaches at UAL and runs a publishing imprint called HOLY! HOLY! HOLY! books (previously Camberwell Press). Jakob Rava is a sculptor whose work refers to in/exteriors of architecture as embodiments of political ideas, economic and socio-psychological conditions. His work attempts to call into question our perception of exhibition and public space through „ interruption “.
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Eilis Searson is a graphic designer who likes education, beautiful books and love actually. She designs the RCA school newspaper, teaches at UAL and runs a publishing imprint called HOLY! HOLY! HOLY! books (previously Camberwell Press). Jakob Rava is a sculptor whose work refers to in/exteriors of architecture as embodiments of political ideas, economic and socio-psychological conditions. His work attempts to call into question our perception of exhibition and public space through „ interruption “.
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Here’s a dance
A series of choreographed movements
Played out before
By that limb
Now this
Both this piece and Holly’s 2017 billboard work ‘After Harry Jacobs: Outside’ are extracts from a body of work centred around studio images taken from the extensive archive of late South London-based photographer Harry Jacobs, now housed in the Lambeth Archives. The works in this series draw on an interest in how the studio, frequented largely by the Afro-Caribbean community from the 1950s through to the 1990s, acted throughout this period as a neutral flattened space, staging compressed narratives. In pulling backdrops and props to the foreground, the pieces in this series seek to explore this notion of flattening and expansion both formally and thematically.
Holly Graham is an artist based in London. She undertook her BFA at Oxford University in 2012 and graduated from MA Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 2014, where she received the Thames Barrier Print Studio Graduate Award and the Augustus Martin Award for Innovation in Print. Recent exhibitions and projects include: The Oval Window, Gerald Moore Gallery, London (2019); The Romance of Flowers, Kingsgate Projects, London (2018); Common Third, Copperfield, London (2018); Carefully Cleansed of Labour and Softened by Cooking, Compressor, London (2018); Leaning Against or Holding, Skelf, Online (2018); Sweet Swollen, Jerwood Visual Arts: Project Space, London (2018); After Harry Jacobs: Outside, Cypher Billboard, London (2017); and House Work, 53 Beck Road, London (2017).
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A series of choreographed movements
Played out before
By that limb
Now this
Both this piece and Holly’s 2017 billboard work ‘After Harry Jacobs: Outside’ are extracts from a body of work centred around studio images taken from the extensive archive of late South London-based photographer Harry Jacobs, now housed in the Lambeth Archives. The works in this series draw on an interest in how the studio, frequented largely by the Afro-Caribbean community from the 1950s through to the 1990s, acted throughout this period as a neutral flattened space, staging compressed narratives. In pulling backdrops and props to the foreground, the pieces in this series seek to explore this notion of flattening and expansion both formally and thematically.
Holly Graham is an artist based in London. She undertook her BFA at Oxford University in 2012 and graduated from MA Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 2014, where she received the Thames Barrier Print Studio Graduate Award and the Augustus Martin Award for Innovation in Print. Recent exhibitions and projects include: The Oval Window, Gerald Moore Gallery, London (2019); The Romance of Flowers, Kingsgate Projects, London (2018); Common Third, Copperfield, London (2018); Carefully Cleansed of Labour and Softened by Cooking, Compressor, London (2018); Leaning Against or Holding, Skelf, Online (2018); Sweet Swollen, Jerwood Visual Arts: Project Space, London (2018); After Harry Jacobs: Outside, Cypher Billboard, London (2017); and House Work, 53 Beck Road, London (2017).
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Erin’s 2017 billboard artwork ‘Home Me 3’ and her new digital work ‘Finding Neo’ were both inspired by Windows 95 screensavers. In ‘Finding Neo’, the fish are swimming both forwards and backwards. They appear not to be in control, like puppets or phantom object-beings. Following from her interest in using fake marble laminates she has been experimenting with making her own marbled papers, playing with the craft of pietre-dure to construct colleges that emulate stone-inlaid images.
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A collection of hand-marbled artworks developed in a workshop led by Erin Hughes. Choose your design to download as a backdrop or screensaver for your phone, tablet, or computer. Compatible with all devices!
DOWNLOAD YOUR WALLPAPER >>>
Erin Hughes graduated from the MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London 2018. After completing her BA in fine art at the Ruskin school of Drawing and Fine art, she spent four years living and working in Berlin where she is a co-founder of Cypher Space which lead to co-founding Cypher Billboard in London. Recent exhibitions include; A Raw Garden, Fitzrovia Gallery, 2019, Hidden, Mid-Wales Arts Centre, 2019; Size Matters, Fringe Arts Bath, 2019; Trans-Form, Mint Gallery, London, 2018; Paper Cuts, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2018; Floored, Glass Cloud Gallery, 2018; Home me 3, Cypher Billboard, London 2017; Mud, Tokyo and Swimming, presented by imlabor, Park Tower Hall Gallery1, Tokyo, 2017.
Bounds Green School is a primary school in Bounds Green, North London. It was founded in 1888 under the name of Bowes Park Board School, and was superseded in 1894 by a new school on Bounds Green Road. The school holds the International School Award and the School Travel Plan Gold Level.
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A collection of hand-marbled artworks developed in a workshop led by Erin Hughes. Choose your design to download as a backdrop or screensaver for your phone, tablet, or computer. Compatible with all devices!
DOWNLOAD YOUR WALLPAPER >>>
Erin Hughes graduated from the MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London 2018. After completing her BA in fine art at the Ruskin school of Drawing and Fine art, she spent four years living and working in Berlin where she is a co-founder of Cypher Space which lead to co-founding Cypher Billboard in London. Recent exhibitions include; A Raw Garden, Fitzrovia Gallery, 2019, Hidden, Mid-Wales Arts Centre, 2019; Size Matters, Fringe Arts Bath, 2019; Trans-Form, Mint Gallery, London, 2018; Paper Cuts, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2018; Floored, Glass Cloud Gallery, 2018; Home me 3, Cypher Billboard, London 2017; Mud, Tokyo and Swimming, presented by imlabor, Park Tower Hall Gallery1, Tokyo, 2017.
Bounds Green School is a primary school in Bounds Green, North London. It was founded in 1888 under the name of Bowes Park Board School, and was superseded in 1894 by a new school on Bounds Green Road. The school holds the International School Award and the School Travel Plan Gold Level.
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Applying a stubbornly cartoonish register of drawing to both two-dimensional and lumpen materials, Milly’s work mines the area between flat image and three-dimensional object. Her 2018 billboard work, ‘Rinse and Repeat’, parodied the format of the billboard as a physical site for the continual regeneration of the image, with a local carwash taking centre stage. ‘Spot Effect’ is new work that forms part of a body of research surrounding Foley sound production: the recreation of everyday sounds added in post-production to film, television and radio. Milly is interested in the stage-like nature of the Foley studio itself, specifically the bank of props that are used to create a range of diverse and often unexpected sounds. Her gif isolates a certain hand gesture suggesting one of the mundane noises that may be recreated on set.
Milly Peck graduated from MA Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2016 where she was awarded The David Troostwyk/Matt’s Gallery Studio Award which concluded with a solo show, LOUD KNOCK, at Matt’s Gallery (Studio Space), London in 2017. She is also a recipient of a Jerwood Visual Arts Artist Bursary, 2018. Recent shows she has participated in include: Survey, Jerwood Space, London, 2018; The Slip, Tintype, London, 2018; Pressure Head, Assembly Point, London, 2018; Cypher Billboard Project, London, 2018; Refinding: Jessie Flood-Paddock with Kenneth Armitage, The Tetley, Leeds, 2017; Mudhook, Tintype, London, 2017; Top Bantz, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, 2016.
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Milly Peck graduated from MA Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2016 where she was awarded The David Troostwyk/Matt’s Gallery Studio Award which concluded with a solo show, LOUD KNOCK, at Matt’s Gallery (Studio Space), London in 2017. She is also a recipient of a Jerwood Visual Arts Artist Bursary, 2018. Recent shows she has participated in include: Survey, Jerwood Space, London, 2018; The Slip, Tintype, London, 2018; Pressure Head, Assembly Point, London, 2018; Cypher Billboard Project, London, 2018; Refinding: Jessie Flood-Paddock with Kenneth Armitage, The Tetley, Leeds, 2017; Mudhook, Tintype, London, 2017; Top Bantz, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, 2016.
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‘@65goddex65’ is a webpage showcasing the main online channel of the Goddex: an orchidaceous deity which reveals its facets, dimensions and peripheral concerns via Instagram. You may comment, beseech, consult, muse, and enlighten yourself. Direct message your requests to the Goddex @65goddex65, not neglecting cyber offerings to fuel your prayers. Throughout July 2019 the billboard site will host an advert for the Goddex.
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soft/WALL/studs is a collective project based in Singapore involving artists, writers, filmmakers, art workers, and researchers. Its various formats include exhibitions, hosting, support, resource sharing, research, writing, détournement, game-making, teaching and collaboration.
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soft/WALL/studs is a collective project based in Singapore involving artists, writers, filmmakers, art workers, and researchers. Its various formats include exhibitions, hosting, support, resource sharing, research, writing, détournement, game-making, teaching and collaboration.
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BOUNDS
Larry Achiampong | Bounds Green School | EILIS+JAKOB | Holly Graham | Erin Hughes | Jennifer Martin | Dan Mitchell | Milly Peck | Francesca Tamse | Skeuomorph | soft/WALL/studs
A show curated by Cypher BILLBOARD
17 July – 22 October 2019
A show curated by Cypher BILLBOARD
17 July – 22 October 2019
This exhibition draws together new works by artists who have previously shown or will this year be showing artwork on the Cypher BILLBOARD poster site – a programme of site-specific and public responses to a billboard in Bounds Green, London.
This web-based show, which runs alongside several of this year’s billboard artworks, hopes to extend conversations taking place on the physical site whilst exploring the relations it has to Skelf’s online space. Both sites, physical and virtual, operate as alternative frameworks for making and displaying artwork. They respond to the closed economy of exhibition spaces by functioning outside of the traditional gallery format. Operating beyond white cube walls, they nestle instead in ambivalent public spaces often otherwise assigned to commercial use. They sit openly accessible, either in passing or guided by a link.
In order to access this collection of artworks, the viewer is invited to navigate a virtual map of Bounds Green. This area, historically located on the outskirts of London, was originally formed as a popular stop-over for travellers before they reached the tollgate at Turnpike Lane, and the Green still partially exists as two acres of common land either side of Bounds Green Road. The inclusion of a map of this area as the background to the site frames the exhibition thematically in its consideration of: boundaries and boarders, public and private space, thoroughfare and destination, site-specificity, and how creative practices might respond to and develop out of certain limitations.
You can listen to the podcast that accompanies this exhibition here.
EVENTS
Hello Stupid Eyes: Abnormal Hypnotherapy
Wednesday 21st August 2019, 6-9pm
Domino Houses Billboard, Bounds Green Road, London N22 8YB
Join us at the Cypher BILLBOARD site for drinks and a performance by artist Dan Mitchell in collaboration with musician Ben (The Rebel) Wallers.
RELIC TRAVELLER: Film Screenings
Thursday 19th September 2019, 6-9pm
Domino Houses Billboard, Bounds Green Road, London N22 8YB
An evening of screenings of films from within the Relic Traveller series by artist Larry Achiampong.
To Be So Entangled: Resistance / Complicity / Collaboration
Sunday 20 October 2019, 2-4pm
Hot Milk Cafe, 1 Maidstone Road, London, England, N11 2TR
A discussion event to mark the closing of BOUNDS, programmed as part of Art Licks Weekend. Three artist-run projects - Cypher BILLBOARD, Skelf, and soft/WALL/studs – will consider elements of resistance, complicity, and collaboration encountered within collective organisational practice in the arts. Followed by closing drinks on the billboard site!
