Thursday 26 March 2015

London Fashion Kick calling ♥

London Fashion Kick is one of many events created and produced by my good friend and fellow art curator Nadia Spita

Nadia is an incredibly talented young woman with 15 years experience in organising events, but not only that, she is also the most easy going and cheerful person you can come across in this business. 

Last year she has helped me with promoting and curating the Desperate Artwives' Up the Wall exhibition for the Barbican Arts Group Trust (see May 2014 blog entry) and at the end of our two installation days, the Director commented that never in his career had he witnessed so much contentment during such a critical stage of the job.

We worked hard but we also laughed a lot and I guess this is because essentially we both really enjoy what we do.

Fashion is not something I relate to much these days - I'm always too busy and usually too skint to be preoccupied with being glamourous. Nonetheless, fashion is great and yes, I occasionally dream about tossing away my old scruffy, overused 1990s wardrobe and starting over. One day...

In the meantime I got a glimpse into this magical world by designing goody bags for the debut of London Fashion Kick.




The design of these goody bags is inspired by a combination of the fashion world and my own deluded attempts as a mother of three to keep up with times. I carefully "Tipexed" the faces of the beautiful, glamorous models, intentionally leaving them with one eye, one ear or the nose as a reminder that beauty remains within myself but is slowly being stifled by reality.

The signature on the back of the bags is made by cutting from fashion magazines (mainly Vogue) the lettering of major fashion designers and sticking them together to create the impression of a really powerful and attractive name for myself, although made from other people's accomplishments.

For more information about the London Fashion Kick please follow this link http://londonfashionkick.com/

Amy Dignam 2015 ©

Monday 2 March 2015

Exhibition at Ruben's @rt.house ♥

Some of my artwork is currently showing at Ruben's bakehouse in Twickenham. Please do pop by and have a look if you're ever around that area! 


The exhibition is on until Sunday the 8th of March.

Thank you! 
Amy x

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Franko B 'Woof Woof I'm back" ♥



On Friday the 6th of February I went to the new Franko B exhibition "Woof woof I'm back!" at the Mayor's Parlour Gallery in Bow House.




"Woof Woof I'm back" is the first exhibition of Franko's work in the last four years. Franko is an italian born artist who has lived and worked in London since 1979. His work - mainly performance in nature  - is internationally acclaimed and features in the Tate and V&A's permanent Collections.

I met Franko B a good few years ago through a mutual friend and I was immediately taken by the way his body and his personality didn't seem to coincide. His soft voice was not strong enough for his mouth, jam-packed with golden teeth and his body, completely covered in tattoos and scars, could not have been greater in contrast with his lovely and gentle nature.

I fell in love with him instantly. Well, I always really admired his work but now it was personal. 

Franko is mainly known for his performances. Extreme and sometimes dangerous actions in which the body is the main focus and becomes a space to speak and confront not only his own fears but also ours;  our limitations - wheelchair, cage, catheter etc. "The social body written in the physical one*".




In "Woof woof I'm back" the white canvas takes central stage and the body is transferred on to it. Using wool stitched on paper he narrates scenes of his everyday objects, everyday sex, everyday feelings, everyday battles.

Soft wool, pastel colours, strong images. Forget all you know about embroidery! Franko's sewing is not there to prettify the walls but to raise a political discussion in both the real world and the art world. Controversial and argumentative he doesn't lack the confidence to raise his head above all others. He uses sarcasm to address his contemporaries and implores you to go fuck something in your life, don't we all need that?


"Fuck your democracy", "Fuck dead art", "Fuck poverty", "Fuck heroes", "Fuck wars", "Fuck nothing", "Fuck what you want"...








Woof Woof I’m Back!! is on show at the Mayor’s Parlour Gallery, 1st Floor, Bow House until 27th February 2015


* Francesca Alfano Miglietti , Identita' Mutanti 1997


Amy Dignam 2015 ©