Press Release for immediate release 07/02/14

Exhibition Opening EventSaturday 8 March 2014, 3–5pm, freeEdward Chell will talk about the exhibition from 4pm._

Prints made using road dust and etched car parts, a film of roadside shrines, and a new essay by nature writer Richard Mabey are just some of the highlights of a new exhibition opening at Spacex. ‘Soft Estate’, the title of which derives from the Highways Agency term used to describe the natural habitats that have evolved along motorways and trunk roads, looks at how these borders offer a refuge for wildlife and a modern form of wilderness in the midst of intense urbanisation and agro-chemical farming. Artist and academic Edward Chell investigates these contemporary motorway landscapes, linking them to 18th century ideas of the picturesque and exploring the interface between history, ecology, roads and travel through a series of new works. The publication that is launched in conjunction with the project, features a number of photographs and paintings shown in the exhibition, as well as the aforementioned essay by writer and broadcaster Mabey. Other artists who interrogate themes of ‘edgelands’ – those familiar yet ignored spaces that are neither city nor countryside – have been invited to exhibit alongside and in conversation with Chell. Their works present juxtapositions commonly experienced in edgelands, such as beauty and pollution, wilderness and human agency.

Highlights of the exhibition include:• Chell’s presentation of sixty silhouette paintings of motorway plant life and a selection of beautiful prints made using road dust.• The inclusion of lithographic prints by George Shaw.• New photographic works by John Darwell taken whilst dog-walking along a river marking the boundary between arable land and town in Carlisle.• Abstract paintings by Day Bowman on disused industrial urban areas.• Large installation of paintings by Robert Soden spanning a thirty-year period.

Chell said: ‘While 18th Century tourists travelled to areas such as the Lake District to capture images of wild places, in today’s countryside, uncontrolled wilderness only springs up in the margins of our transport networks and the semi-derelict grid plans of industrialised corridors. These soft estates invite a new kind of tourist, new ways of looking and new forms of visual representation.’

Edward Chell: Soft Estate8 March to 3 May 2014

Invited artists include Tim Bowditch and Nick Rochowski, Day Bowman, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale (The Caravan Gallery), John Darwell, Laura Oldfield Ford, George Shaw, Robert Soden, and Simon Woolham.

Spacex

Notes to editors

Edward Chell Edward Chell is an artist, and is represented by Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Düsseldorf. He is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at UCA Canterbury. Recent projects include ‘Eclipse’, Beaney Museum, Canterbury (2013), whose accompanying publication, published by Stour Valley Arts, included a text by author and historian Jenny Uglow; ‘Viewing Stations’, Tank, London (2011); ‘Gran Tourismo’, Little Chef, Ings, supported by Grizedale Arts (2011); and permanent installations for Swedenborg Society, London and Stour Valley Arts (2010). In 2012 he co-edited the publication ‘In the Company of Ghosts: The Poetics of the Motorway’ with Dr Andrew Taylor.

Spacex is a leading contemporary art gallery located in the centre of Exeter. Its diverse programme encourages public engagement with the latest developments in contemporary art through a changing exhibitions programme, which includes new commissions, projects and activities. A significant part of the programme, including artist-led projects, events and research, takes place outside of the gallery. Spacex has an international reputation for presenting ideas from some of the most daring and exciting artists working today.

http://spacex.org.uk / @spacexgallery

For further information please contact Spacex marketing manager Rowan Green tel: 01392 431 786, email: rowan@spacex.org.uk

45 Preston StreetExeter, Devon EX1 1DFUnited Kingdom

+44 (0)1392 431 786mail@spacex.org.ukspacex.org.uk Company Limited by Guarantee no. 1202997 Registered Charity no. 1054163 VAT no. 631332870

‘Soft Estate’, the hardback publication, 160 pages, 100 colour illustrations, published by the Bluecoat will be available in gallery for £16.

#SoftEstate

ENDS

Edward Chell: Soft Estate8 March to 3 May 2014

Edward Chell, installation image, Chisenhale Gallery, London, 2013. Oil on shellac on linen, 180 x 140 cm.

Laura Oldfield Ford, ‘M6 Junction 9, Bescot’, 2011. Chalk, acrylic & ink on watercolour paper. Collection of Moses Luski

For further information please contact Spacex marketing manager Rowan Green tel: 01392 431 786 email: rowan@spacex.org.uk

Image Sheet

John Darwell, ‘Collapsed Brussel Sprout’ from the series ‘An Allotted Space’. Chromogenic colour print.

Robert Soden, ‘Picnic River Wear’, 1983. Watercolour, gouache & acrylic on Fabriano 5 paper.

For further information please contact Spacex marketing manager Rowan Green tel: 01392 431 786 email: rowan@spacex.org.uk

Image SheetEdward Chell: Soft Estate8 March to 3 May 2014