A selection from our blog of posts relating to Jason Evan’s exhibition, You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.
21 April 2017
Mark Patterson reviews Jason Evans’ exhibition, You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat for the Nottingham Post.
11th April 2017
The installation for Jason Evans’ You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat is currently underway. Check out some sneak peeks from inside the Gallery below.
As promised by Jason in the Q&A, you can expect to see some narrowboat painting in the Gallery. All painted by hand in traditional style by the talented Robert Naghi. Join us at the preview to see the finished painting, Thursday 13 April, 5 pm – 7 pm.
A large part of the show involves prints from the Clark Brothers extensive catalogue of promotional materials. As well as the simple one or two-colour ‘Sale” prints, there are also some interesting details to look out for…
29 March 2017
Volunteers wanted to participate in a t-shirt project as part of Jason Evans’ ‘You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat’ exhibition which opens here at the Gallery on Wednesday 19 April. Read the brief from Jason below:
I am looking for volunteers to wear specially produced t-shirts; made to extend the reach of my exhibition ‘You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat’ at Bonington Gallery, Wednesday 19 April – Friday 19 May 2017. More information about the exhibition can be found here on the exhibition page.
I am looking for willing individuals who work in public facing roles to wear the shirt that features a wood-engraving by artist Philip Hagreen (see below). While I am in Nottingham I will attempt to make a portrait of as many of the participants as possible, in their place of work, and would encourage ongoing sharing of images of the shirts online/in social media, with the accompanying hashtag #youregonnaneedabiggerboat and/or #philiphagreen. The intention is to build up an inventory of images of people wearing this t-shirt during the exhibition dates and beyond.
In recognition of your contribution to the project all participants can keep their (limited edition) t-shirt.
T-shirts are available in standard sizes ranging from small to x-large. In your email, please indicate the size you would like.
Jason Evans
www.jasonevans.info
Image: Wood engraving by Philip Hagreen, courtesy of Ditchling Museum of Arts + Craft
A selection of photos from the opening night of our exhibition You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Curated by photographer Jason Evans, this new exhibition brought together artefacts from our industrial, consumer society. Handmade signage recalls local commerce, pre-globalisation, and highlights ongoing transitions from analogue to digital. Some of the objects on show remain in circulation today, yet serve as a nostalgic reminder of the technological changes in our recent past.
The exhibition featured pages from the archive of Dick Hambidge, a sign writer from East Kent, who documented his works in meticulous photographic albums, presenting an alternative record of provincial life.
Also on show were a selection of erudite political ‘lampoons’ by Ditchling printmaker Philip Hagreen, loaned by Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. Hagreen’s wood engravings feel as relevant now as when they were published eighty years ago.
Visitors were able to see an intriguing selection of original items from Clark Brothers of Manchester, who continue to hand produce point-of-sale marketing materials for a disappearing High Street.
Finally, the exhibition also featured an interactive photo opportunity, social media content, a marketing soundtrack and a new series of Evans’ own binary screen prints. Visitors were also advised to look out for people in Nottingham who participated in a project that Jason is running alongside the exhibition; they wore T-shirts which feature a wood-engraving by Philip Hagreen.
All images courtesy of Julian Lister and the artists.
Jason Evans (b. 1968) is a multidisciplinary photographer who, since the early 1990s, has had a broad cultural practice. His output has developed to include writing and teaching alongside applied image making. He works around art, fashion and street photography tropes, making images which are often informed by vernacular culture. His long-term projects with musicians Four Tet, Caribou and Radiohead resulted in influential sleeve imagery and portraits which seek to redefine the relationships between sound and image.
Since 2004, Evans has maintained The Daily Nice, which celebrates simple pleasures as their own reward. Every day an image of something which made him happy is presented on this one page, non-archived website.
His work is exhibited internationally, and his game-changing series Strictly is held in the Tate collection. Solo shows include his nomination for the Grange Prize at the AGO in Toronto and a retrospective of his Fashion work at the Hyeres Festival du Mode. His monographs include NYLPT (Mack, 2012) and Pictures for looking at (Printed Matter, 2014).
Thursday 18 May, 7 pm – 8.30 pm – Jason Evans Exhibition Walkthrough
Join us on the penultimate day of Jason Evans’ curated exhibition for an informal and open discussion between Evans & Bonington Gallery curator Tom Godfrey. Hear more about the objects and works on show and the stories and histories that informed their selection.
Ahead of the opening of You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat, we caught up with Jason Evans to ask him a few questions about the exhibition….
Most people will know you as a photographer, but this exhibition seems quite different to most of your work – can you tell us how the idea came about?
Thankfully, most people don’t know me at all. While my work has many strands there is a foundation in my relationship with photography that probably colours how I approach my various outputs. In my work I often use photography to combine objects/ideas within a picture, in this instance I am combining objects/ideas in a room.
Over the last couple of years I have been drawn to these materials which felt both in and out of step with ‘the times’ and I wanted to see what happened when I combined it all, that was the basis for the show. It struck me that there were potential conversations lurking between these things about where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
What has the process of putting the exhibition together been like? Has it been a challenge to think as a curator as well as a photographer / image-maker?
The process of making the show has been smooth and enjoyable. It is a privilege to be able to materialise my thought processes in Nottingham, which I do not take for granted. I have previously curated shows on 90s British documentary photography and contemporary Japanese Photo Books amongst other things, so it was not much of challenge for me, particularly as Tom Godfrey has been a supportive, and cheerful, sounding board.
What can people expect to see when they enter the exhibition?
No spoilers, that is for them to find out… I can promise a bloody big rope and some narrowboat painting. Some of the exhibition is happening off-site around Nottingham, people could unwittingly find themselves in the audience…
Sounds interesting… can you tell us a bit more about what you have planned away from the Gallery?
If you work in the gallery system one big white room can look and feel pretty much like another, regardless of if you’re in Korea or Canada. I look for a reason to be in a specific place, to find out something about the culture beyond the exhibition. I want to make relevant work. I often invite visitors to take something from the gallery out into the community, so the gallery becomes a point of departure that encourages reflection through participation.
In this instance [Philip] Hagreen’s work lends itself to reproduction on t-shirts and so his work will circulate locally in that way. I am looking forward to meeting the volunteers and making portraits with them.
Other than it being ideal to reproduce on a t-shirt – what else drew you to Hagreen’s work?
His work feels relevant. Hagreen made his politically charged ‘lampoon’ prints around the time of the second world war, a time of crisis and austerity. As a nation we are currently engaged in war plus we are, arguably, in crisis and we face an imposed austerity. Go figure…
Can you tell us about your binary prints? What inspired these?
I have been working with diagonally divided blocks of colour painted onto the wall since my first solo show in 2008 and it was the right time to turn this process into objects. I had them industrially screen printed onto display board using a colour palette culled from a Japanese commercial design guide. To me they look like signs, and belong to a colour-way described as ‘pretty’. They are reductive image/text pieces, each one has a two word title, though it remains ambiguous as to which word relates to which colour, a subjective response is encouraged, in that way I think they are photographic.
Your photos often have a similar graphic quality to them in the use of contrasting colours and shapes – is this something you thought about when making the prints?
I guess the way I am hardwired predisposes me to certain aesthetics. While disparate my output has these themes running though it. At times I work in high key ways, enthusiastic for shapes, patterns, repeats, multiples, high contrast and deep saturation… this is one of those times. I also go though periods of producing more nuanced monochromatic work. Last year I got to marry those aesthetics in my Tool Shed Dark Room project.
Can you tell us how/why you first came across Clark Brothers, and what it’s like working with them/the materials they produce? You produced a zine with photos from inside the shop in 2016 – was this the first time you visited the shop?
I first visited Clark Brothers in 2015. It’s just around the corner from the (excellent) Piccadilly Records in Manchester.
I think you find what you need in life, if you are paying attention, it’s all there in front of you.
The window display caught my eye, it was like I had died and gone to heaven when I walked in, total time warp. I recommend a visit, it’s a very specific and poignant cultural experience.
Despite the digital/internet transitions of the last 20 years the business has continued to hand produce promotional materials for the trade industry on the premises and has no online presence. I get a wonderful sense of nostalgia in the place which somehow dodges the long shadows of digital marketing technologies and the property development of the Northern Quarter in Manchester. When I took some of their posters to the New York Art Book Fair with the zine in 2016 they sold out on the second day, somehow it’s also ‘right for now’.
Any final thoughts about the exhibition?
I am looking forward to seeing how the various elements of the show bounce off each other, and I’m curious to see what the audience makes of my new sculpture and prints, it’s the first time I’ve not shown any photography. I wonder what people will make of the [Dick] Hambidge archive – it’s never been seen before. We are encouraging visitors to redefine and redistribute the content with their smart phones; there are specific photo opportunities within the show and relevant hashtags (#youregonnaneedabiggerboat) are suggested. It’s going to be fun meeting the Hagreen volunteers wearing the special t-shirt edition that we have produced to take the show into the city, and hopefully encourage the city to come and see the show.
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat will open with a preview on Thursday 13 April, 5 pm – 7 pm.
In anticipation of his curated exhibition at Bonington Gallery next year, esteemed photographer Jason Evans paid us a visit to see the gallery, discuss ideas and explore the city. Here’s a collection of images he took during his time here:
