As the Frieze Art Fair arrives in London this moving showcase re-opens as “East Pop Red“.  Catch it while you can: 12-18 Oct. 
The Shoreditch/East-end art scene has decamped for a few days to West London.

East Pop is a touring showcase of East End artistic creativity.  The brainchild of Red Gallery, producers of “East End Promise” an exhibition recording the transformative work s of 1985-2000, the current show explores today’s art scene. Opened yesterday in West London it is only here a few days before moving to Edinburgh, Berlin and beyond.

This west-side story is an all encompassing event bringing together every form of artist and designer imaginable in a sprawling industrial warehouse.  Performance artists, films, an interactive art disco, furniture, installations, prints, painting, musicians, photographs, educational activism, video specs, found art and more including a six-foot orange jumpsuited rabbit “walking the plank”.

My visit began tentatively gathering a sense of the exhibit then transforming in to an extraordinary evening. Most artists are on hand and the works are so disparate and well spaced that conversations occur naturally and even privately.  It’s a strange almost organic and highly personal event that echoes each visitor’s engagement.

I particularly enjoyed the video-eyeglasses that I wore throughout recording my every glance and conversation including a discussion about the role of activism in education – damn did I remove them for bio breaks!   Dancing at the art disco, discovering strangely set rooms, curtained off films and provocative installations made for a stimulating time while the banquettes, outdoor seating and even children’s paint area provided ample space and the right atmosphere to digest and rehash.

Too many individual works to cover but participating artists include: Hackney WickEd, RAX, Carl Burgess, Browse, Pure Evil, The Dark Times, Adam Dant, Le Gun and Metric Collective amongst others. Red Gallery London successfully deliver a challenging venture transplanting a cavalcade of East End creative talents in a new milieu: the sum of which is more than an exhibit it’s a proper one-off experience.

EastPopWest
Unit 1 – Formerly Innocent Smoothy HQs
Vinery way (Off Brackenbury Road)
W6 0BE
Until 2^st October