FUTURE FOCUS in QUAD Gallery

Featured Artists: Armaghan Fatemi, Ash//Ella, Benjamin Hall, Sarah-Jane Field, Takudzwa Chandiwana, You Hah Kim and Yuhong Wang.

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DE'ANNE CROOKS: SEEKING in QUAD Extra Gallery Spaces

Join us in person in QUAD’s galleries as we launch two exciting new exhibitions: FUTURE FOCUS in QUAD Gallery featuring 7 early career creatives / recent graduates of UK art schools, alongside a new solo exhibition in QUAD Extra Gallery Spaces by Birmingham-based artist/ educator De’Anne Crooks.

Tickets are free, but spaces will be very limited. Refreshments will be provided, with speeches launching the exhibitions and the FUTURE FOCUS Exhibition awards presentation taking place in QUAD Participation Space, next to the Gallery.

FUTURE FOCUS

QUAD Gallery & QUAD Resource Area Big Screen

29 January – 27 February 2022

Curated by Niamh Treacy, Jodi Kwok and Peter Bonnell

QUAD and FORMAT have long supported early career artists – such as with the FUTURE FOCUS programme, that was initiated in 2001. The FUTURE FOCUS Open Call was aimed at graduates from UK based BA Degree courses who graduated in 2020 and 2021 – during the Covid-19 pandemic – but were limited in opportunities to show their work. Submissions featured a range of artistic disciplines: photography, painting, illustration, graphic design, animation, performance, installation, sculpture, and moving image.

70 artists were longlisted from the Open Call, with 25 selected for the final shortlist. Seven of the shortlisted artists: Armaghan Fatemi, Ash//Ella, Benjamin Hall, Sarah-Jane Field, Takudzwa Chandiwana, You Hah Kim and Yuhong Wang will have their work exhibited in QUAD Gallery and will also be eligible for a series of special awards: the QUAD Award, FORMAT Award, John E Wright print Award, and the Audience Award sponsored by Unite the Union.

The remaining 18 artists, all highly commended, will have their work shown on the QUAD Resource Area Big Screen. These artists are: Alana Lindsay, Alexander Komenda, Anna Sturgeon, Annabelle Richmond-Wright, Ben Dawson, Callum O'Keefe, Daragh Drake, Eden Sandy, Eleanor Sykes, Jasmine Pope, Khadija Cecile Niang, Megan Watson, Miriam Levi, Radek Wyjadlowski, Risa Ueno, Rosie Dale, Sophie Holden and Tina Salvidge.

The FUTURE FOCUS jury comprised a range of artists, writers and curators: Abbas Zahedi; Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad of The White Pube; Lucy Sollitt; Maitreyi Maheshwari; Jamila Prowse and Saziso Phiri, alongside the QUAD/FORMAT curatorial team members: Louise Fedotov-Clements; Niamh Treacy; Jodi Kwok and Peter Bonnell.

The FUTURE FOCUS exhibition is co-curated by Niamh Treacy (FORMAT Coordinator); Jodi Kwok (QUAD Assistant Curator) and Peter Bonnell (QUAD Senior Curator).

The FUTURE FOCUS Open Call was organised by QUAD in partnership with FORMAT and Picter.

QUAD and FORMAT are generously supported by Arts Council England, Derby City Council and University of Derby. With thanks to John E. Wright and Unite the Union.

Image credit: Ash// Ella, Ash Ella Mechanical Dissatisfaction. Courtesy of the Artists.

DE'ANNE CROOKS: SEEKING

29 January - 27 February 2022 | QUAD Extra Gallery Spaces

Curated by QUAD Assistant Curator Jodi Kwok

Seeking is a solo show by De’Anne Crooks that shares themes of belonging, care and intimacy. As an educator, De’Anne intends for their work to create and continue conversations. De’Anne’s use of painting, moving image and text all exist to challenge themes of politicised identities and western ways of teaching and learning. The exhibition includes paintings from De’Anne’s 2019 project Two Truths and a Lie, their FVU commissioned film and a series of letters from their MA Arts and Education Practices major project.

The moving image work featured in this exhibition can also be seen in the Film and Video Umbrella watch archive online https://www.fvu.co.uk/watch/great-ish

Image above: De’Anne Crooks, Great-ish The Gaslighting of a Nation.