Soho East. That's surely what Shoreditch has become. The Forster Gallery is one of the new breed of expensive gallery you'd normally expect to see in Mayfair, yet set in the (Nathan) Barley fields of Shoreditch. It's similar to Eyestorm in that it goes for artists that sell, and sell at relatively high prices.
OK, time to come clean. This Londonista has been a fan of this artist's work since first seeing it in a group show some time ago. It was the first time we'd seen stitched paintings. We don't mean in a twee embroidered version of water colour challengesque paintings, more a clever use of needle and thread in place of brush strokes.
This exhibition consists of things like stitched birds on old maps of London, perched on the major road arteries that criss-cross London like varicose veins. There are children's paintings that you'd expect to see on a proud parent's fridge door, embellished with needle and thread. She also uses a variety of mediums previously relegated to the world of craft - plasticine, segments of plastic sheets - over a variety of found objects ranging from the aforementioned old maps of London, to 1950s girly pictures.
As the average price was about 2 grand, the artwork is sadly outside of our pocket. But even so, this exhibition is definitely worth a look.
By Oliver Gili
Julie Cockburn – Bridging the Generation Gap @ Forster Gallery, 1 Chapel Place, Rivington Street EC2A 3DQ runs until 5 July 2008. For more information click here
Image courtesy of Forster Gallery.
