21/10/2010

After 5 years of holding edgy contemporary art exhibitions, York's ArtSpace is set to relaunch with a new look, new name and a new vibe on November 12th when it opens with 1960's legend Doug Binder's solo show ‘Full Circle'. Says co-owner Greg McGee, "We've had great success in running both shows from internationally established artists in close proximity with shows from emerging artists. There's a real synergy in running a show by a big name closely followed by the debut solo show of a young punk straight out of Goldsmith's. There may have been time when we went a little leftfield. But no-one likes being able to predict what they're going to see when they walk into a gallery, and that goes for artists and gallerists as well as clients and browsers. We thought, how better to celebrate the past 5 years than by upping our game, stepping up to the plate and relaunching ArtSpace as something less generic and celebrating what we, our staff and Ails and I do so well: flying the flag for original art which turns the blood to smoke and engenders gasps of awe when displayed on our white walls. If it's coming from us as a gallery, then we're happy to put our stamp on it: hence from now on ArtSpace is ‘According to McGee'."

"It's a no-brainer", asserts Ails McGee, "We're all in the middle of a difficult time for galleries. ArtSpace has earned a very strong identity with very loyal clientele, local and tourist alike since 2005. To continue with a vague, diluted name won't do us as a gallery or our exhibiting artists any favours. So the relaunch is a case of us wearing the team colours and underlining the importance of that crackle of electricity in the quality of the art we show.

"We're honoured that Doug Binder agreed to open our riff of new shows. He is a wonderful, warm guy and his paintings of female nudes are beautifully crafted. They're lit as if from within with a butterscotch, refulgent light. In our opinion, he is Britain's greatest figurative painter, and the coup is not just ours - it's all of York's."

Greg is keen to stress that Doug Binder's credentials are just as hip and relevant as any of the subsequent shows from UK's emerging artists. "He's as edgy as anything we've ever shown. His output has a yearning quality, you can sense how he's still striving for artistic meaning after 50 years of practice. It's the same restlessness that catapulted him onto the international market in the Sixties and Seventies and seduced the likes of Lennon and McCartney, both of whom became friends. McCartney even commissioned Binder to paint his famous Knight piano. His pedigree is up there with the best of them."

"It's also his attitude, a gratifying stubbornness to refuse to become a brand," says Ails, "His wilful determination to frustrate his followers and, like the title of the show, to come ‘full circle' and hone his skills in the life room is always a good sign. It's all there in his new book, ‘Doug Binder Full Circle'. He'll be handing out signed copies on the opening night. There are no art dealers or moneyed managers here. Just a master painter doing what he does best. And we are buzzing to be able to exhibit him as the first our new look shows."

‘Doug Binder Full Circle' at ‘According to McGee' art gallery, 8 Tower Street, York, from November 12th until 7th December 2010. 11am to 5pm daily except Sundays.