I was ambling down curtain road with a friend with the intent on visiting the white cube, when we saw a man in sportswear and white trainers, covered in paint daubing a wall next to a bar I once frequented. Stopping to wonder whether it was a commissioned piece he was doing, I discovered that he was actually a painter, rather than a graffiti artist and furthermore, that he had a show exhibiting in a gallery right next to us.
The signal gallery is a tiny, single-roomed space with exposed brickwork that looks more like one of the local fashion showrooms than an art gallery. It therefore gives work that exhibits a there an edgier feel than they might have had if they were in your usual pristine white box.
Not to say that the work I saw there wasn't edgy enough. It was a shown called echoes and exorcisms, by Dale Grimshaw (the name of the man I learnt was painting outside). It was a series of unintentionally autobiographical works (hence why all of the paintings looked faintly like him) mainly in black and white, with decidedly eerie-looking reflections, aggressive paint splashes and deep contrasting shadows.
The story was one of a lot of pain and internal turmoil, and his next show, Heart in Darkness promises to carry on that theme. read more