Events: Gender fluidity, peer dialogue and the female gaze

Gilly Szego: A Retrospective
Painter Gilly Szego is looking back over her career with an exhibition bringing together old and new works, alongside a number of works by other artists such as a portrait of her by Feliks Topolski. The 85-year-old, who trained at Byam Shaw in the 1940s and counts the Festival of Britain in 1951 among her early exhibitions, has had 350 pieces of work displayed in public buildings. This retrospective will be an opportunity to re-appraise a number of pieces that still hold resonance in today’s political and cultural climate including Szego’s exploration of gender fluidity in her 1982 exhibition ‘Man Woman’, her 1970s paintings about refugees, and her 1990s Urgent Action Series for Amnesty International.
7-12 December 2017, Protein Studios, 31 New Inn Yard, London EC2A.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/gilly-szego-a-retrospective

The Other Man
Artist Rebecca Foster uses her female gaze to look beneath the surface of popular stereotypes of masculinity. Her portraits of men challenge contemporary narratives and unearth the stigma attached to prevalent ideas such as ‘hero’ ‘aggressor’ or ‘protector’, revealing the individual strengths and confidence of her male sitters precisely through the passive and vulnerable act of allowing oneself to be seen and represented.
Until 4 December 2017, Downstairs at The Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, London SW9.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/the-other-man

T R A N S P A R E N C Y
The Juggernaut group of artists, who meet monthly for peer mentoring and crit sessions, stage their first collective exhibition with a theme that ‘implies openness of communication’. The group was initially formed when the artists met through an ArtQuest event on peer support activity in the arts and this show is the culmination of a year of shared conversations.
7-10 December 2017, Unit 3 Projects, ASC Studios, Empson Street, London E3.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/t-r-a-n-s-p-a-r-e-n-c-y

Massaging The Message
Nine artists from The Magma Group exhibit works that consider whether Marshall McLuhan’s famous quote “The Medium is the Message” really applies to fine art, positing that there are other aspects that speak to the viewer. Alongside the exhibition, guest speakers Anna McNay, Michael Archer and Michael Glover will discuss the relationship of McLuhan’s phrase to fine art during a symposium on 12 December.
8-17 December 2017, Arthouse1, 45 Grange Road, London SE1.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/massaging-the-message

All of the above are taken from a-n’s Events listings section, featuring events posted by a-n’s members

Images:

1. Gilly Szego, The Escalator, 1972/2017
2. Rebecca Foster, Mathew, oil on canvas, 2017
3. Catherine Wynne-Paton, Word collection, 2017
4. Andrew McDonald, Stepping and Flying, oil and acrylic on canvas

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