Almost There Blog » Exhibitions

June 6th Concert

joesimpson — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:00:57 +0000

Things are more than a little frantic at the moment, with moving house, learning to drive, trying to paint paintings three times the size of the ‘Almost There’ canvases in half the time etc. So the blog is less of a blog, but more of a news bulletin board for the time being. With that in mind, here are a few news things:

A few of my older paintings are on show at Cornerhouse in Manchester. It’s a wonderful place, with exhibitions , a cinema and a swanky café. Details here:

http://www.cornerhouse.org/

Also, a big concert is scheduled for the ‘Almost There’ exhibition. The last big event for the project, and a sort of closing party.

The concert is a chance to hear live performances from four of the contributing music acts from the ‘Almost There’ project. The evening will start in the gallery to view the paintings and move into the seated theatre to hear sets from:

NEW CASSETTES, RIC NEALE, THE LAYLANAS AND MATT TRINDER.

Tickets are on sale now, priced just £5 each.

Please purchase tickets in advance to avoid disappointment, they are available to buy:

In person at the Waterside Arts Centre box office

By phone from the box office: 0161 912 5616

Online: http://www.quaytickets.com/WhatsOn/EventDetail.aspx?EventId=3080

meet you at the waterside

joesimpson — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:32:49 +0000

The exhibition is launching up North in two weeks, at the Waterside Art Centre, Sale. It will run from April 4th - June 27th (an extended run), Open Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm, Admission Free.

There is a super duper launch night being held on Friday April 3rd 7.30pm - 9.30pm, featuring special live performances from Kathryn Edwards, Mike Braye and Matt Cameron. If you are interested in attending, please email me on joe@almostthere.co.uk to request an invite.

I’m currently starting work on my commissions for P&O. After the stress of installing the exhibition in Sale has subsided, I’ll write a proper write up about the difference in starting another series of work, and how this will be different because it is for a corporate client, and how it has a specific space that it is being created for.

It is perhaps ironic that when I’m most busy and have the most interesting things to blog about - I never seem to get chance to write on this. And when I’m twiddling my thumbs surfing the internet, I tend to get the urge to update it with skateboarding dogs etc. Alas, it’s a modern dilemma.

the launch night

joesimpson — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:35:09 +0000

The launch night took place on Friday night (20th February) - and it was a huge success. I would like to thank everyone who came along, all musicians who played - Ric Neale, Jose Vanders and Matt Trinder and everyone involved in making it a really special night. A serious amount of wine was consumed and a few bad heads in the morning, but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I’ve posted a few photos from the evening, more to come in later days. If you came and enjoyed the show, please tell friends, family and colleagues about the show and to come down in the week. It’s on at the Candid Arts Trust, Islington until March 1st - Open Daily 11am - 8pm Admission Free. Come on down…

post on posters

joesimpson — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:07:36 +0000

It’s promotion mania in the ‘Almost There’ camp (that’s me in my bedroom by the way). I think I’ve settled on a design for the posters, check it out:

Also, a few nice people have mentioned the project on their blogs - check out lovely words and download a free track from the soundtrack, Matt Cameron - ‘River Cafe’. Have a look at:

Captain Obvious

The Devil Has the Best Tuna

Mainstream Isn’t So Bad…Is It?

I had a trip down to London at the weekend to visit the Candid Arts Trust where the exhibition will be held. It looks awesome. It got me very excited for the show.

stressed eric

joesimpson — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:23:25 +0000

I’m stressing out. After eating and drinking my way through the Christmas holidays and not doing much of anything else, I’ve put off a lot of work. Now I’m faced with preparing everything for the exhibition which will launch in about six weeks. There’s so many little jobs like designing the launch night invitations, posters, press packs, music player units – it’s all starting to blur. Everything requires a definitive decision, there’s so many different options for the tiniest of details.

I couldn’t get to sleep last night because I was thinking about it, so I distracted myself by concentrating on things that have absolute no consequence – like trying to make up a plot for an action movie – that sort of thing always works.

I’ve come to the conclusion delegating and calling on favours is the way forward, I’ve just emailed my friend Chris to ask him to think of something nice to write on the invites. My housemate Elliot is sat across the table making a posh flash banner for people to put on Myspace. My mum and grandparents are coming over next week to stuff envelopes, it’s a regular old workhouse at the Simpson residence.

You can head over to the Myspace page to sample three finished songs from the ‘Almost There’ soundtrack.

hell, i still love you, new york

joesimpson — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:20:05 +0000

So I finally found out the verdicts of the two decisions I’ve been waiting on - and by some great chance of luck - both are good results. The Arts Council England have approved my application for funding for the ‘Almost There’ exhibitions, and P&O have green lit commissioning a new series of paintings by me.

Firstly, the Arts Council - this is really great. It will go a long way to making the exhibitions a success and hopefully help both the paintings and music reach a lot more people. To get a nod from them that they endorse my work is a great compliment and a real boost of confidence when I really needed it. So thanks to everyone who came up with that decision, and to Ailis Ni Rain from the Arts Council for her advice and encouragement. I’m most excited about sticking the Arts Council logo over everything…here’s the first stamp…

The P&O commissions also sound really exciting. I’m normally unenthused by the thought of commissions, but this feels different. I am producing eight large New York themed paintings for a NY style bar. This means I’ll be heading to NY city within the next couple of months to do research and take a million photographs. I’ve been playing ‘New York, New York’ by Ryan Adams full blast for the past couple of days, dancing around in my underwear… calm down ladies.

So 2009 is shaping up to be a hectic year, but in the best possible way. I’m going to really start getting ready and promoting the ‘Almost There’ exhibitions as of December. But now, time for bed…

looking for answers

joesimpson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:23:28 +0000

Here is the first in a series of trailers to be released in the lead up to my exhibition. I’m really pleased with it, the song featured is ‘Answers’ by Nizlopi. If you like it, please feel free to post it to your blog/website/facebook etc.

Almost There - Trailer #1 ‘Answers’ from Joe Simpson on Vimeo.

with all your lies, you’re still very loveable

joesimpson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:00:45 +0000

Breaking news! So, the dates and venues of the ‘Almost There’ exhibition are:

20^th February – 1^st March 2009

Candid Arts Trust,

Angel Islington, London

4^th April – 13^th June 2009

Waterside Art Centre,

Sale

I’m planning on getting my funding application sent off asap now. Still no word on headphones though…

To celebrate this news, I’ve compiled a few MP3s of songs that I like for you to download. All of these songs have been given away by the musicians on their own websites and myspace pages at some point, so if you like them check out the rest of their stuff:

Nizlopi - Helen

Bon Iver - For Emma (Live)

Klaus Says Buy The Record - Linen Cloth

The Kambourines - Houses Fall Down