Artistsmeet
Ross Ashmore
‘Going Underground’
Thursday 19 January to Friday 2 March 2012
Watersmeet, High Street, Rickmansworth, WD3 1RL
www.rossashmore.co.uk
Artistsmeet at Watersmeet is open during Watersmeet Box Office hours
which are currently Monday–Friday 10am–4pm. Entry is free of charge.
About Artistsmeet
A new contemporary art exhibition space has been created in the foyer of Watersmeet named 'Artistsmeet'.
Whilst there are a number of art societies in the local area, it felt beneficial for the area to have a quality exhibition space where established artists could exhibit their work providing the opportunity for local residents of all ages to see an array of excellent quality art work without having to travel into London.
Melanie Boda, Arts Officer at Three Rivers District Council says ‘We feel excited and privileged to have launched with such a high standard of work and hope there will be many local residents interested in visiting the exhibition’.
Melanie goes onto say that ‘the aim is to curate a number of exhibitions of excellent quality art work in different mediums’.
Keep up to date with the latest news on exhibitions by visiting www.facebook.com/artistsmeet
Current Exhibition
From 19 January to 2 March a stunning solo exhibition by local artist Ross Ashmore entitled ‘Going Underground’ is going on display at the new contemporary exhibition space created in the foyer of Watersmeet named Artistsmeet.
Ross Ashmore, a local artist from Rickmansworth, with a studio on the high street, has embarked on an ambitious task of painting all the London Transport Underground Stations – of which there are 270. Ross has now completed all Zone 1 (64 stations) and is nearly half way through Zone 2 (100 stations). A selection of 30 paintings from Zone 1 and 2 will form this exciting exhibition.
Ross is hoping to keep the collection together until it is completed. One day he hopes for them all to be displayed as a whole, revealing the diversity and uniqueness of life in the Underground.
“I love the Underground” says Ross. “I love the concept of going below ground and resurfacing somewhere else. A Doctor Who episode also did it for me as a youngster – the ‘Yetties’ in the Underground!”
Ross gained a degree in Fine Art and Illustration at Bristol and spent the next two years illustrating for publications such as the Radio Times. He then went into commercial art, working as a graphic designer for the next twenty years, much to the disapproval of his father; the playwright and art critic, Basil Ashmore.
Ross says he has no regrets choosing this career path. “The mass produced commercial world is so concerned with perfection – everything was airbrushed out! In contrast I began to appreciate being different, embracing individuality and freedom of expression.
"This view is what drives and inspires me today. It’s the ordinary things I liked, the mundane that I want to catalogue in my work. With all the relentless change, very soon, we may forget the way things were.”
“I began to realise that art was a powerful form of expression. That an artist should be honest, passionate and have conviction about this work, much at odds with the commercial world I had come from and today’s obsession with the unreal. I didn’t want to be chocolate box.
"The gesture of painting, the process, is just as important to me as the image. Every painting is an action. Making the mark in paint creates energy and conveys emotion, it creates mood, it begins to take on a life of its own. I love the physicality of painting. Many artists today are so obsessed with perfection and technique they don’t look like paintings at all.”
“Because society is changing so fast I want to document the Underground Stations in paint – even now, just in a year, some of the stations have undergone changes already.”
"Bog Standard" Gallery
The exhibition space is currently home to what is believed to be the smallest art gallery in the world. The metre squared gallery space with white walls and an oak floor has been created inside what was once a portable toilet cubicle. Bog Standard Gallery exhibits photographs from a series of toilet signs from around the world and has received over 50,000 visitors. For more information visit www.wikipedia.org/bogstandardgallery
Previous Exhibition
The Inaugural Open Exhibition 2011 launched on Thursday 3rd November 2011 and showcases a range of artworks from Artists living locally that do not frequently exhibit on their doorstep as their work has taken them further afield.
The Inaugural Open Exhibition 2011 included work from 9 Artists including photography, installation, collagraphy, painting and illustration:
Jenna Selby - www.jennaselby.co.uk
Sian Fenwick - www.sianfenwick.co.uk
Hannah Blunden - www.hannahblunden.co.uk
Kerry Lanigan – www.loudwaterfarm.co.uk
Jodi Phillips - www.jodiphillips.com
Mohan Ballard - www.mohanballard.co.uk
Imogen Perkin
Craig Edwards - www.craigpatrickedwards.co.uk
For further information about Artistsmeet please contact Melanie Boda, Community Arts Development Officer, Three Rivers District Council.
01923 776611 melanie.boda@threerivers.gov.uk