The Breakery

The exhibition presents work by Lily Ashrowan, John Ayscough and Kevin Harman. The artists have in common a freedom of interdisciplinary experimentation; moving seamlessly between formats and forms. Each artist seeking to challenge, to critique, social constructs and preconceptions.

Two performances were put on during the opening, the first was participatory event called Rotton Tomatoes in which John Ayscough invited members of the public to throw tomatoes at a canvas. The results then hung in the gallery (see images below). The second was a spoken word performance called LIBIDO by Lily Ashrowan. A transcript of Lily’s performance can be downloaded here.

Lily Ashrowan is an artist based between the rural Scottish Borders and London and these disparate geographies inform her work. Working across moving image, photography, writing and performance, she draws from personal experience and histories including: rural landscapes, platonic intimacy, urban disillusionment, familial history, generational trauma, queer sex and nightlife to think through political desire and materialist histories. Her artwork is a poignant exploration of memory and identity, engaging directly with the often uneasy space between personal and political consciousness.

John Ayscough is a conceptual and performative artist. By looking directly into the headwind of injustice and inhumanity, he creates artwork that acts as a sometimes explosive, visual polemic against the iniquity of power and control. He works largely in the moment, reacting spontaneously to specific news material and cultural constructs. His politically motivated art uses trans-media and guerrilla tactics in public spaces and deploys engagement techniques appropriated from advertising and marketing.

Kevin Harman is a contemporary artist known for his provocative and performative works that often highlight social issues and urban depravation. The role of the viewer as participant in the artwork is significant to Kevin. By physically and conceptually engaging us in his artwork as a made thing, he then also asks that we reflect on our subjective culpability. He has the remarkable ability to make work that is both a joyful emersion in subtlety of an idea, and at the same time a visually powerful and often beautiful artwork.