Art / art exhibition
Centrespace hosts Ashley Loxton’s solo exhibition ‘Big Yellow’
Ashley Loxton is a Bristol-based painter, as well as a visual and spoken word artist.
Bringing together his diverse skillset, his forthcoming solo exhibition Big Yellow at Centrespace Studios & Gallery is set to launch with a private view, live poetry and spoken word on July 28, before the works are made available to view across the weekend.
Loxton’s chosen title refers to a house on Cheltenham Road that became a hub for young Bristol artists and musicians in the early 2000s, and served as an inspiration for his own creative development.
is needed now More than ever
Using and repurposing found materials, the work shown is a reflection of the most prolific spells of his creative life.
“I’ve been acting on impulse,” he admits, “using a fetishist compass to pick up material with the aim of turning nothing into something.
“There was once a grandiose plan to make emotionally charged evocative works of art. But from the urgency to produce work, came something separate.
“There is a loud internal voice that tells me my work needs to meet a number of criteria. Whether it’s set by industry or institutions, that inner dialogue says that my work should be theoretical, academic, meaningful, lucrative, and the rest.
“For me, the necessity to just make overtakes all of this. Through the act of doing, the work takes on a life of its own. It inadvertently creates meaning, despite the freedom of concern or the intention to avoid it.
“The Big Yellow House is a distant memory, but the spirit of creative freedom that came from this period of my adolescence is cemented into my consciousness. It recalls a time when impulsive artistic energy was everything.”
Big Yellow is at Centrespace from July 28 at 7-9pm (private view) and then 11am-3pm until August 2, although viewings are by appointment only on July 30. For more information visit www.centrespace.org.uk.
All photos: Ashley Loxton
Read more: Backhand: The group exhibition exploring the word ‘dreary’
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
