Agency 

The Artists Agency at Eagle Gallery EMH Arts 3 – 27 October, 2018 

Agency was the first opportunity for the artists represented by the Artists Agency to exhibit together. The Artists Agency is an innovative approach to continuing professional advice, advocacy and practice development for contemporary visual artists by the gallerist and curator Mark Segal. 

The Artists Agency champions individual artists, supporting independent practice while negotiating the structures that can influence opportunities. The agency is and has supported Stephen Turner and the tour of his Exbury Egg; Gayle Chong Kwan’s The People’s Forest, for the Barbican and William Morris Gallery; Gary Cloughs’ exhibition Port of Entry in Chatham; Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s commission for the Forest of Dean and public works for Nottingham University; Benedict Phillips How to be a Dyslexic Artist, as well as Alice Kettle’s Thread Bearing Witness for Winchester Discovery Centre and the Whitworth, Manchester. Projects with Laura Daly, Permindar Kaur, Susan Stockwell, Terry Smith, Stephen Turner and Maria Chevska are in development and/or awaiting funding. 

At the Eagle Gallery exhibition several of the artists showed work derived from video, film or computer-based practice, including Laura Daly’s paintings considering motion, and Syed’s composite image derived from combining film negatives. Andrew Carnies artwork represented his highly regarded activities across art and science. Permindar Kaur’s small birds are representative of her apparently attractive, but threatening sculptures (included in Turner Contemporary’s Animals and Us); Gayle Chong Kwan showed work from her Blueprint series; Gary Clough’s cross-stitch embroidery evidences his continuing interest in drawing and journey complimenting Alice Kettle’s more abstract small stitched works, a respite from the rigours of making Thread Bearing Witness. Charlie Murphy’s work resulted from a residency with Created Out of Mind, at the Wellcome Hub. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s sculpture was an outcome of Wellcome Trust R&D funding to work with medical researchers. Jonathan Parsons’ grid painting was the latest in an ongoing series that sought to reduce a picture down to something like fundamental constituents: brush marks, colours, configuration, illusion. Benedict Phillip’s photograph came from his continuing enquiries through an alternative dyslexia persona, contrasting with Maria Chevska’s painting reflecting her continued interest in language and communication. Terry Smith contributes work(s) for a New York performance. Susan Stockwell’s Finesilver-Blackgold drew upon the historical slave trade while commenting upon globalisalisation. Stephen Turner showed his Resurrection Egg, an egg produced from the found feathers of a dove, made on a residency in Exbury. 

Agency Artists: Andrew Carnie, Maria Chevska, Laura Daly, Permindar Kaur, Gayle Chong Kwan, Gary Clough, Elpida Hadzi-Vasilva, Alice Kettle, Charlie Murphy, Jonathan Parsons, Benedict Phillips, Terry Smith, Susan Stockwell, Alia Syed and Stephen Turner.