Open Gallery signs new talent

Open is proud to announce the signing of two talented young artists. Gabrielle Le Bayon and Alys Williams with their unique backgrounds aim to bring new perspectives to the established collective Open's artists.

Gabrielle was born in Paris and educated at the University of the Arts in London, where she studied Film. She has exhibited at a variety of international festivals and galleries including the Talent Circle Super Short Film Festival, London; The Projection Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool; Intermix06 Pavilion, Leeds; BBC Big Screens, Leeds; East End Film Festival, London and Athens Video Art Festival, Greece.

Speaking about her upcoming work with Open, Gabrielle elaborates on what areas of video art she plans to explore:

“Looking at the language of moving-images as a purveyor of contemporary myths, my interest lies in the multiple modes of representation of the real that our culture uses. Questioning the values and limits of the language of space and time within the expression and the communication of a situation, my work explores the way in which films use specific situations to develop and confront the visual and acoustical elements of any form of narrative.”

Alys is an emerging artist working in installation, live art and short film. She graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with a BA in Visual Arts and went on to study at Goldsmiths and then to gain a Masters in Scenography at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2004.

Alys has presented public Installations across Europe and her work has been included in various festivals and group exhibitions, including the Installation Portico (2006), an unprecedented collaboration with an Architect and Butoh Dancer, which was sponsored by The British School at Rome for the Romadesign+ International Expo. Her work has recently been included in the publication Shibboleth (2007), a catalogue documenting the group exhibition at Dilston Grove in London in 2006.

Working with Open represents an exciting new journey for Alys:

“Open is an opportunity for me to explore the richness of architecture, focusing on buildings that through habitation have a voice, which communicates history and memory, both real and imagined. Looking at temporary visual imprints such as light, shadow, nature and people, I will examine contrasts between solid and fluid, stillness and movement and surface and depth.”

These additions to the gallery’s group of artists come at a time when the Artscape Project is becoming increasingly involved with private collectors, public galleries and commercial installations. The gallery anticipates Alys’ and Gabrielle’s contributions to its existing collection of video art with great excitement.