We’ve been grateful
For the support of a wide range of artists that capture the breadth of our definition of art from Homer Hickam and his Art of Rockets to Mamta Singhal’s Art of Engineering and Martyn Ware, who sums up the science and tech and Art of Music so well as a pioneer of electronic music and Nile Rodgers who told us that “collaboration is everything”.
But it’s great to go back to basics to look at the Art of Painting and few people have supported us like the painter Mulumba Tshikuka, who we include an interview with below when he chatted to Portobello Radio about his upcoming #OdeToTheQueen show opening in London’s Queen’s Park the day of the US Election - which is timely as he’s painted Trump!
Check out the clip here and find out what happened when he walked into a pub, with The Queen
Below you can:
Join a debate about issues raised by the show
Read about our work with Mulumba
See a live stream from the opening evening
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
We have just been offered use of the gallery for an #ARTCONNECTSshow to discuss Decolonising of the Art World. It will be live streamed from the gallery with a panel of special guests:
Joan Hillery - Film Director
Mulumba Tshikuka - Artist
Isis Amlack - Afrakan Queen Mother Warrior
Haviva Kohl - Equity/opportunity enthusiast
It is open to all via free tickets here on Facebook or here on Eventbrite if you don’t use Facebook.
TIME FLIES
Mulumba has worked with us for over five years now since our big stage at the Festival of Education at Wellington Collage, when Sir Ken Robinson keynoted and where Mulumba earned the title ‘Dr Spin’ for running our spin painting activity.
He’s been to a few Camp Bestivals with us since, came to Liverpool with us last year and we’ve worked particularly closely with Mulumba all this year in lock down when he’s helped out as a virtual production manager on our events and live streamed shows like #YourGlasto and #ArtCamp20.
We’re delighted now to support his upcoming show ‘Ode to The Queen’ which opens in Queen’s Park on Nov 3rd, the same day as the US goes to the polls.
How Art Connects
Our connection to Mulumba is the very embodiment of our mantra of how ‘art connects’.
Five years ago we were publishing our first newspaper with a full page print of the Cass Art manifesto on the back page to ‘fill this town with artists’.
I’d been taking a few photos of their Soho art shop and come back home to Paddington where a distinctive Cass Art bag caught my eye outside George’s Fish and Chip Shop.
Given that its owner was also carrying an A0 portfolio I felt confident asking if he was artist. We connected and he agreed to join us at Wellington College later that week!
We were delighted when Mulumba generously agreed to include some of the paintings from his ‘Dictator’s Garden’ project in the #Eclectic Art Trail which he helped us curate at the #ArtCamp20 Festival weekend that we ran in Devon two weeks after lock down lifted this summer (See film above and photos below).
It included a wall of Cass Art bags with two odd ones out, in different colours.
AN ODE TO THE QUEEN
When Mulumba was offered a gallery for his first major London exhibition we were delighted to help anyway we could.
‘The Dictator’s Garden - An Ode to The Queen’ will feature a number of Mulumba’s quirky and thought provoking takes on the world’s most famous/infamous historical dictators.
The centrepiece will be a portrait of a black Queen Elizabeth II and the unveiling of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump on the US Election Day.
See the film below of a chat Mulumba had with North Kensington’s community artists at Portobello Radio - and find out what happened the day he walked into a pub with the Queen.
Click image to hear the show
It was a great radio show (listen here) which also included artist Alison Jackson talking about her controversial Donald Trump sculpture and Community Artist/Educator and STEAM Co. friend Linett Kamala talking about her mural inspired by the remarkable Frestonian story, Black Lives Matter and Windrush Generation.
MULUMBA’S SHOW DETAILS
Click the flyer image to download and share
This is a covid-secure event with only 6 people allowed in the gallery at a time, do don’t miss the show, book your free timed ticket here now:
‘The Dictator’s Garden - An Ode to The Queen’
Worldly Wicked and Wise Gallery
81 Salusbury Road
London NW6 6NH
3 - 15 November 2020
Pre-book free timed tickets here
The venue is opposite a bar, the Salusbury which would make a good meeting point and place to get a drink afterwards
Launch event live stream
Below is a live stream on the opening event with an introduction from Mulumba and walk through of the show.