Paint Responsibly | Unit 3 Projects
‘Paint Responsibly’ is a group show of 9 emerging artists, that speaks of materialising the immateriality of our memories filled with joy or melancholy; confusing yet exciting associations, depicted in images, objects, which echo through the building of our ASC Studios’ Empson St site, culminating at Unit3Projects gallery space.
This exhibition, curated by Anna Kolosova, represents the essence of the urban East London middle-of-Bow-where romanticised version of our realities. Immersing in painting in the ‘expanded field’, growing into sculptural installations, the group responded to the theme “party”. The musical presence is felt in the works of the artists, some of whom directly respond to sound stimuli synesthetically, take inspiration from their involvement with music, or simply ‘hear’ the ‘sound’ of fantasies…that are our realities.
The artists featured originally come from various creative backgrounds—art, theatre, fashion, music—that led them to make ‘painterly’ work. Painting is a state of mind that counteracts any negative forces in our human nature. And after the afterparty, the only party left is at our studios. So paint your reality, and paint responsibly.
This event is happening alongside ASC Studios’ Open Studios, so feel free to roam around the building.
Come enjoy a drink with us and contemplate our ‘material’ existence.
PV June 28th 6-9pm
Open June 29th 11am-5pm
Our alcohol-alternative drinks sponsors:
IKÓ
IKÓ is sparkling energy tea made with yerba mate, the South American plant with the kick of coffee and the health benefits of tea. We source all the yerba mate for IKÓ from agroforestry farms in Brazil, where we give jobs to trees. Why? Trees help our yerba mate plants to grow. So the more yerba mate we use, the more trees we employ. It’s a positive feedback loop between people and the planet.
Other drinks available. Drinks are donations-based. Welcome to BYOB as well.
Venue is wheelchair accessible.
@unit3projects
For any inquiries contact Anna Kolosova kolosovaanna02@gmail.com
Artists:
Anna Kolosova
Anna Ruiz
Emily Mary Barnett
Symon Potter
Lena Brazin
Marco Piccari
Mark Burch
Marylyn Molisso
Thomas D Wright
Artist Infos:
Thomas D Wright
Born in London in 1979, Thomas D Wright left home at the age of 18 with only what was in his pockets, relying on his creativity to survive. Immersed in the vibrant underground arts scene in his twenties, he became a contributing figure to the rave culture of the 2000s and beyond. BA, LCC, Illustration and Visual Media, MA, Painting, Royal College of Art, 2023.
Throughout his odyssey, Wright embraced various artistic endeavours, from a decade-long stint as a tattoo artist to roles as a sign writer, set designer for Netflix productions, and an electronic music producer and DJ, gracing stages at renowned festivals like Glastonbury and Boom Town. The echoes of these diverse experiences resonate through the intricate layers of his work.
Establishing his presence in the art world, Wright began exhibiting in galleries and art fairs, showcasing his talents, including the esteemed Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2023.
During his tenure at the RCA, his fascination with anatomy and medical imagery took root, culminating in a unique collaboration with Dr. Giampaolo Martinelli, a consultant anaesthetist at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. Immersed in the realm of cardiac surgeries, Wright documented these profound experiences through photography and sound, channelling them into his paintings.
Primarily working in oils, he employs bold, expressive brushstrokes juxtaposed with pockets of intricate graphic detail, crafting works that are both provocative and captivating, often exploring the realms of the grotesque while inviting introspection and contemplation.
@thomas_d_wright_art
Symon Potter
Symon Potter, a mixed media abstract artist, has been captivating audiences with his unique and vibrant creations. Drawing inspiration from music, travel, and subcultures, Potter masterfully weaves together a rich tapestry of colours and gold leaf on his canvases. His work is a testament to the power of art to transport us to a magical realm, where vibrant hues and metallic accents come alive, inviting us to explore a vivid landscape that transcends the boundaries of the ordinary.
Exhibitions include solo exhibitions at Cass Art Islington, Rehab Cafe, Bargehouse OXO Tower, 40 Celsius Exhibition, selected by Tabish Kahn / visual Art Editor For Londonist and Circle Gallery, Sunninghill, Ascot.
Symon has also been part of the underground music scene, DJing as Syber Symon for over 25 years. In 2023 his painting was part of the legendary FOLD’s London Acid City exhibition, celebrating history of subculture.
Marylyn Molisso
Marylyn Molisso graduated MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London, 2018. She studied BA Art at the University of Reading 2012-2016. She was the recipient of the Helen Scott Lidgett Award 2018/19 (part of the Acme Graduate Programme).
Molisso works with found and collected materials, including ratchets, sheets and duvets, cement, scaffolding, gaffer tape and tarpaulin. These sculptures are often inspired by the temporary monuments you can find scattered across cities: fly-tipping, debris, bedding, and colourful plastic in all its vibrance. She is interested in how tension can be created between the nature of the materials and the actions exerted upon them. She manipulates and balances her sculptures, using scaffolding to skewer or uphold, and ratchets to bind and bulge. Molisso mainly creates temporary installations, exploring the anxiety and the temporality of the ‘just’s’ – ‘just’ finished, ‘just’ about stable, ‘just’ about to collapse.
www.marylynmolisso.org
@marylynmolisso
Lena Brazin
(b.1985, Kosice, Slovakia) is a contemporary painter who currently lives and works in London. Turps Art School graduate. Finalist for multiple prizes including FBA Futures, Exceptional Graduate Art Award, Jackson’s Painting Prize, and Bow Arts Open.
Brazin’s paintings explore the seen and the unseen with an attempt to materialise immateriality, to reflect the fullness of human existence. She uses figurative and narrative painting to explore the existential, ordinary as well as metaphysical and spiritual themes of human life. An instinctive approach to painting, vivid colours and bold drawing go to merge figures and spaces into one entity.
@lena_brazin
Emily Mary Barnett
Emily Mary Barnett, b. 1984, is an abstract expressionist painter, whose recent work explores the core elements of the painting as an object. She is an alumni of the Turps Banana Offsite painting programme 2020-2021.
Emily Mary Barnett approaches her painting in the same way as the music she makes – it’s an improvisation, composed by exploring the limitations and possibilities of what a ‘painting’ is. Each work asks the materials to translate whatever she is feeling that day, the colours, textures and marks dictated by her mood, and whatever she is currently fixated by; whether that be global politics, matrescence, the societal construct of gender, or the majesty of the current season.
@emily_mary_barnett
Anna Kolosova
Anna Kolosova (b.1991 Riga) is a contemporary London-based artist and a Tantric Avocado. Her practice is painting in the ‘expanded field’, experimenting with materials, dimensions and life itself. She makes abstract, mixed-media, performative in nature works with elements of text and found images or objects. Her inspiration comes from her synesthetic visions informed by sound, smell, touch, spiritual experiences and romantic encounters.
Kolosova graduated from Central Saint Martins (2014). She has held exhibitions in London, Alabama, Milan, Berlin as well as been featured in The Guardian, Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Recipient of Soho House Fellowship 2023-24.
Anna also releases poetry-music with New Reality Records, using site-specific voice recordings of her own spoken word, odd words or phrases. These can be found on all streaming platforms known to humanity. Tracks include: Raising Vibrations, Funny Man and Hashtag Kunst.
@annakolosovaartist
Anna Ruiz
Anna Ruiz is a contemporary artist based in East London. She studied Drawing &
Painting at Edinburgh College of Art before dedicating a career to theatre and arts
marketing. Almost two decades after leaving Art School, Anna has now returned to
making art and rediscovering her own creative practice.
Anna Ruiz is a contemporary Scottish-Spanish artist who grew up in the small Scottish
town of Bonnyrigg, and now lives and works in East London in the UK.
After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art with a Drawing & Painting degree in 2003,
a career in theatre and arts marketing led Anna away from making her own art for
almost two decades. Now in her forties, Anna has recently returned to making art and
rediscovering her creative practice.
Anna uses mixed media, collage and found objects to create two- and three-
dimensional work exploring themes of childhood memory, loss, human connection, and
the process of making art itself. Often Anna’s work is created by destroying and ripping
up old drawings and paintings and repurposing them into new collaged works. Anna
says:
“Making art is expensive and often wasteful. Part of the artistic process is accepting that
you will make a lot of ‘bad’ art before you make anything ‘good’ – especially if, like me,
you have been out of practice for a long time. But what do you do with all the work that
doesn’t work out? Maybe it’s my working-class guilt about the material costs (not to
mention the ecological impact), but I find it hard to throw anything away, so I often find
myself in these repeat cycles of creation and destruction. I regularly rip up old work and
then reuse the scraps and fragments in new ways. I think this also stems from a kind of
stubbornness, where I just refuse to give up completely on the things I’ve made – even
when I hate them! I suppose I’m ever-hopeful that something good will eventually reveal
itself to me if I simply keep destroying and remaking over and over again.”
@annaruiz.art
Marco Piccari
Born 1982. Lives and works in London. After an education and career in the fashion industry, enrols at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice in 2017 to study painting. MA Fine Art, Bath Spa University, MA Fine Art Hons, Venice Academy of Fine Art.
Piccari’s sources of inspiration are immaterial and ephemeral phenomena – light and shadows, dreams, transience, absence and ghostly presences, suspended time – and how they interact with the material and physical. His practice revolves around the struggle to find a safe place for one’s identity – and the inevitable escapism, through places of virtual and physical refuge, in the glory of the past, and in the realm of fantasy. Marco is particularly concerned with the ambiguous reality of being queer in the age of neoliberalism.
www.marcopiccari.com
@piccari.marco
Mark Burch
Born 1996 Trowbridge UK. Lives and works in London UK. BA Hons Fine art Southampton Solent (2017). MA Fine art Bath spa (2020).
This current body of work aims to operate around the subconscious, and discusses themes of memory, nostalgia, dreams and desire. The starting reference often comes from pre-existing VHS footage, Film, found imagery, or Mark’s own – which is then edited further or collaged to create narrative.
Burch believes VHS is reminiscent of the home movie, tapping into a shutter – click moment in time. Glitches and colour distortion act as a disruption in his work – nodding to vague and imperfectness of the minds’ image – and bodies, silhouettes and places appear as something fleeting and most important to the psyche. The work aims to tap into the reverie-like state one would find themselves in; fantcsising, dreaming or recalling hazy snippets of experiences.
How to render the image also comes with the aim of depicting malfunctions within the digital, highlighting a resistance to new technologies. The grainy, dream-like qualities of film help redact information, alluding to the absent details perhaps lost in thought, whilst challenging different modes of painting.
@markburch_art
Why not share this article?