November 2011
 
REUBEN POWELL
www.reubenpowell.co.uk  
‘The spider in the fruit machine’
New paintings on tin. A retrospective of a 2 year residency.
 
At: HOTEL ELEPHANT GALLERY
 
Private View & SLAM Last Friday: 6-9pm 25^th November (press 4pm)
SLAM Last Friday After Party 25^th November 9pm-Midnight
Exhibition open 25th November 2011-21st December 2011
Opening times: Wednesday-Friday 11am-6pm
                      Saturday 1pm-4pm
 
 
When the back is removed from a fruit machine or old radio, very often inside you will find a spider living unmolested in the warm seclusion of his own vast cathedral
whilst business goes on as usual above.
Reuben Powell’s eclectic practice spans painting, drawing and three-dimensional investigation. A key concern of his creative enquiry is the use of oil paint on tin plate steel. Powell has been developing this method of working since 2005, where he began painting scenes of the more remote stretches of the River Thames on discarded oil tins. He has continued with this medium employing it to depict urban scenes. “What fascinates me is the depth and activity of the picture plane, as the day progresses the surface of the painting changes with the light…I was interested in the idea of reinventing a very old medium...with imbuing a static image with the passing of time”.
Much of the work in this show forms a point of departure for Powell. From the large-scale landscapes and interiors devoid of human form, the work now focuses almost in close up on living subjects. “It was a conscious choice on my part” says Powell “Almost as if I had become lost in my own environments I wanted to return to something living and working from a model seemed the most obvious starting point”
The work here (though including pieces from before 2009) is concentrated on the last two years of residency at Hotel Elephant (a vast studio/gallery space in the Elephant and Castle). There are traces here of American illustration of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, amusement arcades and fairgrounds, African “folk art”, even Edwardian portraiture. Powell sites Mexican ex voto paintings on tin as an abiding fascination“my work is concerned with the individuals relationship with their environment and perhaps more poignantly my relationship with those individuals and that environment and how it can be transcended”.
 
Notes to the Editor:
 
1.Exhibtion open: 25/11/11-21/12/11
  Gallery opening times: Wednesday-Friday 11-6 Saturday 12-5
 
2. For high quality jpegs for reproduction contact the gallery. All images are copyright Reuben Powell 1996-2011 All rights reserved
 
3. Hotel Elephant Gallery is part of South London Art Map. The private view for this exhibition coincides with S.L.A.M. Last Fridays. http://www.southlondonartmap.com/
 
4. Hotel Elephant Gallery.
77-85 Newington Causeway
London
SE1 6BD
hotelelephant@yahoo.co.uk
07710 629317
 
 
5. Reuben Powell’s 4x2m oil painting on tin is on permanent display at Southwark Councils Headquarters. 160 Tooley Street. London. SE1
 
6. Selected Exhibitions, Press and Publications
 
2008. “The Morley Gallery” London. Solo Exhibition.
 
2007. “The London Group” Menier Gallery. London.
          “9 Peacock Yard”. Construction Drawings and Prints.
 
2006. Royal Society of Marine Artists. Mall Galleries. London.
“Chichester Open” Minerva Theatre. Chichester.
 
2005. “Royal Society of Marine Artists”. Mall Gallery. London.
“Summer Show”. Beaux Arts Bath.
“Painting is Dead, Long Live Painting”. Hastings Art Gallery.
 
2004. “Hunting Art Prize”. RCA London & Trebah Gardens.         
Affordable Art Fair. London. (Prints)
“Summer Show”. Beaux Arts Bath.
 
1988 “Schone Bilde Fur Schone Menchen”. Books and Paintings.
 Gallerai Schwellenangst. Hamburg.
 
1984-1987 Higher Diploma in Illustration. Harrow College of Higher
Education.
 
1982-1984 Diploma in Art and Design. Bournemouth and Poole college of Art and Design
 
PRESS           The Independent 2008
                             Blueprint Magazine February 2008
                             South London Press 25/01/2008
                             Southwark News 13/09/07
                             Quarter magazine vol. 2 ed. 3 Summer ‘07
                             Southwark News
                             South London Press Pulse
                             Artist Newsletter
                             BD Magazine
                             SE1 Magazine
                             Guardian Newspaper. On recycled fashion 1993
                             Streetstyle. Design textbook. 1994
                             ID Magazine. Article 05/92
                             Dazed and Confused. 04/92
                             City Limits Magazine  /92
                             ID Magazine. Article and photo of clothes 11/93
                             The Malvern Gazette. Photograph of clothes
                             Bergedorf Zeitung. Exhibition Review /88
 
Publications:   “The Deadman” by George Bataille. 1987  
                             Painting is Dead. Hastings Art Gallery 2004
                             London Group. Menier Gallery 2008
                             “Hotel Elephant” Exhibition Catalogue 2008
                             Surfers, Skinheads & Skaters. V&A book 1996
                             Schone Bilder fur Schone Menchen 1988
                             V&A Streetstyle Exhibition 1994