Unfurl yourselves under my banner, noble savages, illustrious guttersnipes, wrote Mark Twain sometime around 1869. Twain was among the first writers to use guttersnipe for a young hoodlum or street urchin. In doing so, he was following a trend among writers of the time to associate gutter (a low area at the side of a road) with a low station in life. Ballards research takes the form of city wide wanderings,  scavenging materials, discarded building materials, site hoardings, the ripped and weathered stickers and posters from illicit advertising, Scaffold netting,  elements and remains of an environment in perpetual change. 

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As an artist living in London, surrounded by the wave of gentrification flooding the city, Ballard is a spectator of the everyday urban environment in its constant flux. Using the cityscape as his primary source for material, Ballard conveys the weight of visual noise displayed in the urban matter, immortalizing the fabric of a city, giving new life to the often ignored. For his forthcoming show at The Bomb Factory Art foundation, Ballard will be showing his most ambitious sculpture to date.  A new piece especially made for this space, Constructed from wooden  building site hoardings sourced from various locations across the city. Alongside a series of new paintings and installation pieces.

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Mike Ballard (b. 1972, London, England) graduated from Central Saint Martins with an MA in Fine Art. He has previously exhibited at Union Gallery, The Silver Building, London; Royal Academy of Arts, London; KARST, Plymouth; Unit 1 Gallery, London; Griffin Gallery, London; Parafin Gallery, London, amongst others. Residencies include the KARST Residency, Plymouth; Untapped Residency, Cyprus, Griffin Gallery Project Based Residency, amongst others. Collections include but not limited to David Roberts Foundation, Qatari Royal Family Collection, and University of the Arts, London.  

Ballard currently lives and works in London.

 

For further information on this event, please contact Pallas Citroen:

E: info@bombfactory.org.uk  T: +44 (0) 7939 049731

 

Notes to Editors

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About The Bomb Factory

 

The Bomb Factory Art Foundation was founded on the premise that art, artists and creative culture offer significant value in our society. Our mission is to support artists, cultural organisations and educational institutions to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in the viewing and creation of art. The Bomb Factory enables contemporary visual arts practice to thrive through the provision of affordable studio and exhibition space as well as a supportive network of artists where peer collaboration and critique is encouraged. 

Location: The Bomb Factory, Unit 2, 9-15 Elthorne Rd, London N19 4AJ 

+44 (0) 203 211 0034

info@bombfactory.org.uk

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