Ex-Saatchi curators open gallery in Hastings’ Priory Quarter
 "artwork by Mario Rossi")
A top-class contemporary art gallery - named F-ISH - opens this weekend in Hastings’ new Priory Quarter business and leisure district. The gallery has been created by Sea Space at 45 Robertson Street, on the ground floor of the Creative Media Centre – the suite of serviced offices for design and media-related businesses. The F-ISH gallery opens its doors to the public at 11 am this Saturday, 20 September.
F-ISH is being run by two well-established figures from the UK art world – Simon Hedges and Jenny Blyth – alongside Hastings-based entrepreneur Peter Stonham.
Hedges and Blyth have extensive experience of running galleries around the country and worked together to curate the Saatchi Collection. Hedges grew up in Bexhill and studied design at Hastings College before moving to work in London and founding the Underwood Street Gallery in Shoreditch. Blyth was curator of the Saatchi Gallery for 12 years where she directed over 40 exhibitions.
The first art collection being exhibited at F-ISH, from this Saturday to 16 November, is a series of large-scale seascape oil paintings by renowned artist Mario Rossi. With many of them as large as 9 ft by 12 ft (2.7m by 3.7m), they are available to view or to buy. After 16 November, F-ISH will exhibit work by Paul Amy, Hadrian Pigott and many others.
In addition to displaying art works inside the 2,500 sq ft gallery, F-ISH will project images on the 5m wide front window of the Gallery, creating a large ‘night screen’ for all to see from Robertson Street. The images to be projected may be still, moving or even interactive, web-based content.
Simon Hedges comments: “This is a serious push to make Hastings a new centre for cutting-edge art. The contemporary art world has for too long revolved primarily around London and we’re out to prove that it doesn’t have to be that way. We’re particularly thrilled to be opening with work by Mario Rossi. As people will see for themselves, Rossi’s huge paintings are striking and dramatic – they celebrate the awe and majesty of the sea and exude a spirit of exploration. This will be just the first in many great exhibitions to come.”
Keith Sadler, Deputy Director at Sea Space, comments: “The new gallery is an important development in Hastings’ cultural portfolio – complementing the De La Warr Pavilion a few miles west along the seafront, the proposed Jerwood Gallery a couple of miles east and the rest of the thriving local arts community. Alongside new offices, shops, restaurants, cafes and the forthcoming Priory Square, F-ISH is an important part of Priory Quarter which is rapidly emerging as an exciting new district in the town centre.”
Notes to editors:
For more about F-ISH including images of the Rossi paintings, see www.f-ish.co.uk.
For Sea Space see www.seaspace.org.uk; for Priory Quarter visit www.prioryquarter.com.
The Creative Media Centre is a 13,000 sq ft set of high quality serviced offices and desk space, supported by training and events, for up to 60 media-related companies. For more see www.creativemediacentre.co.uk.
Mario Rossi is Senior Lecturer in Painting at London’s Central St. Martins College of Art & Design. He lives and paints from his studio near Hastings. The Independent recently wrote: ‘Rossi comes to the sea as a 21st century painter. He is aware of its symbolic potency. He knows how it is never the same from one second to the next, and how it opens up endless possibilities for visual interpretation’. ‘There is no denying that much of his work represents a tour de force’.
Jenny Blyth was curator at Saatchi Gallery for 12 years (1990-2002). She directed the gallery, mounted over 40 exhibitions and the international show ‘Sensation’ and was responsible for sales and acquisitions from the Saatchi Collection. She was also curator at the Louise T. Blouin Institute.
Simon Hedges founded and directed The Underwood Street Gallery (1991-2003), one of the formative galleries in Shoreditch for young emerging artists. This was an umbrella of four galleries and 50 studios and acted as a springboard for many British and international artists, mounting 50 exhibitions in 15 years.
Peter Stonham has run a publishing and events company for over 20 years, based in London and Hastings. Among his enterprises, Stonham has led the development of The Resource in Urban Design Information, Altwear Magazine, Cinema Business, UKTourismpro.net and a range of industry seminars and awards.
For more media information and images, including of the Rossi paintings, please contact Tariq Khwaja from TK Associates on 07833 336 271 or tariq.khwaja@tk-associates.com
End
Wednesday, 17th September, 2008
