04/10 Ladder Art Space Gallery – RAAC ‘Just Doing It’ & Yudha Scholes ‘At the Forest by the Sea 4th October – 26th

THIS EXHIBITION IS STILL ON! 4TH-26TH OCT. GO VISIT.

As I’d shamelessly plugged three weeks back when I wrote about Susan Hase’ exhibition, this week I visited Ladder Art Space Gallery in Kew for RAAC’s (Red Army Artist Collective) exhibition ‘Just Doing It.’ An exhibition I both curated and had my artworks in.  I originally didn’t intend to write about this show, but I kind of had to after the busy week I had (and because I love talking about myself). 

For about the last six months, I’ve been slowly working alongside my boss, Yudha Scholes, arranging this event at Ladder, where he held his series of works occupying Ladders main room to the right, and where RAAC, an artist collective I’ve helped come to fruition after graduating, could have the rest of the space. There’s been a lot of work and time that went into the planning and administration to make this exhibition happen, especially around my very busy and important 21-year-old adult life, so writing on it as a finishing piece seems somewhat fitting. 

I’ll admit though, due to the nature of the show and my heavy involvement in the night, I was quite busy being chatty with visitors etc, so I hadn’t sketched, note-taken, voice memo’d… you get it. I didn’t undertake my normal blogg routine you guys are so fond of, but hopefully my writing can be just as stimulating. 

The Collective started, or at least the idea of it, back during covid I believe or even earlier with my studio art teacher, now boss, Yudha wanted to keep his artistic relations with students pursuing fine art post-graduation, and uplift/motivate/encourage them on the start of their career. young artists doing their thing in the creative world after graduating, this exhibition is a celebration of the different directions that each of these talented artists has travelled since completing their studies. The collective has been set up by passionate curators to support each other’s art practices and encourage the pursuit of excellence in their artmaking. Creating opportunities for commercial ventures and building an audience are also important goals for the group. Ultimately the aim to create a flourishing and supportive creative community is the driving focus of the collective. 

One thing I realised after kind of planning this exhibition is out of the 20-something artists involved in this specific exhibition, with ages ranging from 18-87, is that not everyone exhibiting wants to be an artist necessarily. We had works from 9-5 insurance job finance-guys for example, people who might not necessarily get the opportunity to exhibit their art otherwise due to their lack of artist CV. So, through dealing and working with people like this, I realised how many people out there make killer art such as this 9-5 finance-guy I’m thinking of, who will most likely find it hard to exhibit their art otherwise. ‘Just Doing It’ was pretty much as broad as it gets. The exhibition’s sole purpose was to create a space where all different kinds of individuals and artists can come together with their respective mediums; video, drawing, tattooing, fashion, textiles, digital renders, etc… and show off their art without restrictions, and honestly give them the experience of exhibiting their works for the sake of just doing it because we have the opportunity to. Maryam at Ladder Art Space (the owner) was very welcoming and patient with the whole process and dealing with me to make the night one to remember. 

If you can’t already tell, I’m finding it difficult to write about the night and myself without my notes by my side. Doesn’t really make sense because I’ve done so much work for this exhibition and now can’t really talk about it, but fuck it… we move. 

The night was so sick honestly. I was setting it up, with help from Matt, for three days prior, skipping uni class and learning how to properly hang artwork, but it was all worth it in the end. The space was packed. The crowd from 6-8 pm was just constant. Friends, family, mutuals, randoms, etc… there were so many people coming in and out, hanging outside that I honestly couldn’t even guess a figure, but just believe me, there was a lot. 

Free drinks thanks to OSCA and Tommy’s Booze. We were drinking Furphy ale (it sucked. I hate Furphy ale but it was cheap) and Tommys Spitz cans, courtesy of my other Boss Dan. Thanks, Dan. (you probably saw on my Instagram story all the marketing # ads I was doing on my story for Tommy’s. That was part of the donated drinks deal). Funny actually, we had to stop serving alcohol towards the end of the night as the 6-8 pm exhibition time was extending closer towards 9 pm, and my friends were extending closer towards drunk than sober, this opening was somewhat of a party. 

Typically, as I’m sure a lot of you know who frequent my blogg, the openings I attend are social to an extent (or at least from my POV), but this night was legit reminding me of a super bright house party. Something foreign in the rest of my experiences. 20+ standing on the road drinking and smoking, stairs always crowded with groups of people just chatting and admiring the wall art blocking anybody coming up or down, and a shit load of beers being consumed. 11 slabs excluding wine. (think that scene of Bad Neighbours at that Frat house party. Exactly like that, just with all the lights on..)

Floorplan-wise, RAAC had the middle room downstairs, the front foyer as you enter, and the staircase leading you to the upper room, whilst Yudha had the far right open room where the speeches were held and food was (I had none of the food so that should give a good measure on just how many people were there… seriously. There was a fairly large table with a wonderful-looking spread that was empty by 7:30. Couple of piggies in the mix, you know who you are…)

As I said, the array of works stemmed from so many different mediums. Around 50 works were on show from RAAC. All of which I pretty much hung (only one fell during the night… sorry Josh). My work occupied the back wall upstairs. Five smaller works and one large canvas painting. I’ll attach some flicks below.

Something to note is all works were for sale, and still are. Opposed to the somewhat traditional print-out catalogue, this exhibition catalogue was online. QR code scan brings you to a page where you can literally add artwork to your cart and checkout within minutes. The ability to swiftly purchase an artwork without even speaking to them about it shows the style of support from the night. Supporting individuals/creatives who mightn’t ever be expected to make money or be appreciated in the art industry.

I wore a black T-shirt. A loop wheel construct inspired by Carmi from the bear with short enough sleeves to show my tattoos and give off the small tee big pant move. I wore the Japanese denim jeans I pretty much live in and those same loafer shoes I always mention in my blog. Pretty typical outfit from me. 

Something funny from the night was the weather. If you remember being there, maybe you can agree with this but I have this theory that the space was constantly packed because nobody wanted to go outside/leave until the storm passed. Either way, I don’t care, just funny like, forced to drink free beer inside and stare at really cool art because of the weather. Forced to chat with really cool people, such as me because of the weather. Not that I noticed, but maybe someone actually hated the night so much (doubt it) that they ended up facing the weather because they’d rather get struck by lightning and rained on than drink free booze and admire art. weirdos. 

I really don’t have much more to say about the exhibition. I had the best time; we all went to the Skinny Dog afterwards for even more beers and even more fun. (maybe too much fun judging from how I felt yesterday..)

One thing before I bombard you guys with a massive photo dump to speak so many thousand words, before the opening I was nervous for my friends who’d never experienced an opening. I feared they’d have an a-typical experience because like I said, this night turned way more social than any opening I’ve been to (excluding ACCA’s), thus either tarnishing or creating an unrealistic expectation for future exhibition openings. On the other hand, I was nervous that my friends who don’t frequent openings wouldn’t have as much fun as they’d expected, solely through the lack of visiting them and knowing what to expect. 

In the end, I want to give a massive thanks and congratulatiuons to all those involved in setting up and helping me along the way and all the artists involved with RAAC and Yudha himself. Thanks to everyone who came and supported us and thanks to you reading, and also fuck you to those who didn’t show up. Respectfully.

Anyways. Here’s a bunch of photos of the space.