Ed Gray will be giving a tour of the exhibition at 11am on both Saturday 9th and Saturday 16th July at Rich Mix. If you would like to attend the tour, please RSVP to info@gxgallery.com.
Ed Gray will be showcasing works inspired by London past and present at Rich Mix in the heart of the East End. Gray’s gritty narrative paintings are filled with character, allegory and London mythology. They pulsate with the rhythms of the city.
These Londonessence works have linked Gray’s love of the National Gallery’s collection of Renaissance Adoration scenes. Paintings such as ‘The Adoration of Thomas A Becket’ Old Kent Road, inspired by sketches made on the Old Kent Road, formerly an Old Roman road and the Pilgrim way to Canterbury. The painting is full of allegorical imagery- footprints, shells, bones symbols of relics, pilgrimage and migration. It’s about the need to heal through the act of making a journey.
Blades and shards reference the story of Becket’s refusal to accept the limitations of authority. The shell of The Thomas A Becket pub sits in faded grandeur in the background awaiting its fate. Meanwhile the Shard heralds a new London piercing the clouds behind the Tesco building. The painting is a snapshot of the city, but one that tells of the layers of lives beneath out feet. As the artist says, ‘Ultimately this is just a painting of the people I saw on a street in London. It’s a celebration of the people of the city, past and present.’
Ed Gray will be giving a special tour of the exhibition on Saturday 9th July at 11am. To book a place, please contact: info@gxgallery.com
Address: Rich Mix 35-47 Bethnal Green Road London E1 6LA
For further information, please contact: info@gxgallery.com