ON THE SIDE: Sidings Exhibition Set to Inspire Art Lovers of Tomorrow with 8 Week Event

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London’s art lovers are in for an eight-week treat as The Sidings, LCR’s experience-led destination at Waterloo, gears up to host an exhibition consisting of a range of works by 43 eclectic, diverse and emerging artists.

The On the Side exhibition opens to the public on December 2 and will run until January 28. Amongst others it will feature works by Pigcasso, the painting pig internet sensation, professional doodle artist Frankie Curtis and sneaker artist Stella Stockbridge.

All of the artworks will be open daily to the public to view in person from noon to 8pm and also showcased online with other works from each artist. Original 1m x 1m artworks, starting from £1,000 will be available to purchase, as well as a collectible, limited edition print run available online from capsandcans.com store, powered by Print Foundry.

As an added bonus Martin Grix will also be showing his Beyond the Streets exhibition of toy graffiti subway carriages, Apples and Snakes will be championing poets and poetry in performance over the course of the exhibition, and VIP Graffiti will be providing two mannequins for people to tag as part of the creative interaction at the event.

New guest exhibitors showcasing every week

Seven weekly guest exhibitions will also be featured throughout the On the Side two-month programme.

The show will open with MAX THE VIRUS, which will run from December 2 to December 8. These paintings will complement the artworks on show in the ON THE SIDE online/virtual exhibition with Leake Street Galleries with the red, black and white colour theme. Halfway through the week the artist will also be doing a large-scale mural in Leake Street which will incorporate his Artist in Residence work.

That will be followed by the WOM Christmas Pop Up Christmas Market, which will run from December 9 to December 16. It has been curated by ELNO, the London-based art maverick and women’s empowerment advocate.

Pigcasso will run in the third week from December 17. Pigcasso, rescued from the brink of slaughter in 2016, wields the brush with her snout to create mesmerising masterpieces. The exhibition will also feature a film showcasing Pigcasso’s extraordinary painting process.

Murwalls, the street art collective, will be displaying its graffiti art, featuring limited edition prints and canvases from January 2 through to January 8. This will incorporate an exclusive collection that encapsulates their artistic essence and include works by Care Bear, Transformers, Count Duckula and Danger Mouse.

The Art House Project will run a pop-up shop from January 9 featuring affordable art, T-shirts and small decorative art items, with a paint jam scheduled for Leake Street Arches on January 13 consisting of music and immersive visuals provided by E-Kay and friends.

From January 16 to January 22 the Bickerton Grace Gallery will be showcasing the works of eight up-and-coming London-based artists it has supported through its programme of collaborative exhibitions. These include Oana, a Romanian-born painter and Eddie Wells, who used the London landscape as well as street signs to create masterpieces.

The final exhibition will come from Blossom House School, the independent school for pupils with speech, language and communication needs. From January 23-28 the school will be showcasing a remarkable art installation integrating and celebrating elements of its pupils’ mural work after a programme of immersive graffiti workshops from Marc Craig.

On the Side is the brainchild of MAX THE VIRUS artist Marc Craig and art enthusiast and collector Richard Nyman. Marc has been a leading force in the graffiti-inspired Leake Street Arches underneath The Sidings since 2018. Having recently become Leake Street’s Artist in Residence, he aims to engage the public in collaborative and interactive ways through the exhibition, and inspire a new generation of art lovers.

Apples and Snakes, England’s leading organisation for spoken word poetry, has also commissioned six early-stage career poets to be in residence as part of the programme.

Each poet will each spend six days in the exhibition space, using it as their creative studio and writing space, crafting poems in response to the 43 artworks on display. Poems will appear on large boards within the space, allowing the public to see the creative writing process in full flow. There will also be an opportunity to have a bespoke poem written by one of the poets.

Alongside this, the poets in residence will receive professional development via a series of workshops led by established poets.

Marc Craig, MAX THE VIRUS artist, Leake Street Arches' Artist in Residence and founder of On the Side, said:

“The enduring impact of On the Side extends far beyond its eight-week program, much like the legacy of Leake Street Arches. This initiative is driven by our commitment to fostering collaboration, forging meaningful connections, and nurturing creativity.

“Our mission is to not only spotlight some of the most captivating talents in the art world but also to leverage this platform to support remarkable charitable causes and ignite a fresh wave of lifelong art enthusiasts. These ambitious goals are elevated by the remarkable artists we have on board and the exceptional exhibition spaces at The Sidings.”

Sian Evans, Asset Management Director at LCR, said:

“We never fail to be blown away by the imagination and artwork of Marc Craig, and his impact on Leake Street Arches speaks for itself. When we initially discussed the concept of an exhibition that would showcase not only artists from Leake Street but also artists from around the world, it was a clear opportunity for us to work together at The Sidings and create an amazing event that will inspire the current and next generation of art lovers.”

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