Polite Company are a small art and design collective based in the UK. We publish the work of some leading contemporary artists, and make products featuring their work.
Polite Notes.
Nefertiti - New Work by John Squire.
The Henderson Gallery, Edinburgh, July 10 - August 19 2010.
A new exhibition of work by artist John Squire is running from next weekend at the Henderson Gallery in Edinburgh. The work is inspired by the music of Miles Davis.
‘Working with oils on canvas and paper, while using linocuts for repetitive structural elements, John has embedded a coded musical soundtrack in each piece through references to systems of guitar tablature, which seeks to translate the “spontaneity, depth and ambiguity of Miles Davis and his musicians”.’
You can find out more about the work in an artist statement on John’s site here:
Just out is a new book by Polite artist Magda Archer. Created using vintage toys and collage the illustrations for the book - which tell the tale of clumsy Arthur and his friends is set to become a timeless classic, already appearing in top ten lists of kids books.
Polite also publish a range of cards featuring Magda’s work, and a new book featuring celebrity shopping lists is planned for later this year.
This Saturday, as part of the Barbican Lates series, Polite’s Mike Chavez-Dawson, along with Len Horsey will present ‘Re-motive View(s)’. The pair will adopt the guise of Estate Agents, selling the Surreal House which currently occupies the gallery.
Rude Britannia: British Comic Art - at Tate Britain 9 June - 5 Sept.
Here’s Gerald Scarfe talking about some of the pieces he’s curated in the British Comic Art Show, currently running at Tate Britain.
“Put together with some the country’s best-known cartoonists and comedy writers, this exhibition explores British comic art from the 1600s to the present day. Bringing together a wide array of paintings, sculptures, film and photography, as well as graphic art and comic books, the exhibition celebrates a rich history of cartooning and visual jokes.”
Harry Hill has also curated a brilliant room at the show, the Absurd room - which features diverse exhibits including sculpture by David Shrigley and illustrations from Alice in Wonderland.
Also look out for some rarely seen Vic Reeve’s cards which we’ve supplied to the shop for the show - which includes ‘M Winner work out dummy.’
We’re looking forward to launching Magda Archer’s new book – What the stars buy! next month, and are posting a few previews here over the next few weeks.
What the Stars Buy! is a collection of over 100 found shopping lists by Magda Archer and and the celebrities - she’s pretty sure - they belong to. Click here for more info or to order a copy.
We’ve just got some new products in stock – including next year’s Redstone diary. The theme for the 2011 edition is ‘The Artist’s World’ -
We’ve also got some fantastic bookmarks by David Shrigley that will be randomly available for free from our stockists - keep an eye out, as they are things of simple beauty.
We’ve just got some copies of the latest publication from Cosmic Wonder from our Friends at Nieves. You can find out more about this edition here: http://www.cosmicwonder.com/ and can buy copies from the polite shop - Click image to buy. Includes free delivery.
David Shrigley will be exhibiting as part of this years Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts.
Visual art happens all year round in Glasgow but this festival brings the art of local and international artists to Glasgow for a stimulating two-week burst of exhibitions across the city, starting 16th April right through until 3rd May 2010.
Magne Furuholmen talking from Edinburgh printmakers gallery about the Alpha-Beta project, which is now available as a limited edition postcard box set from Polite. For more information and to buy your click here: shop.politecards.com
Many of you will know Magne Furuholmen as the keyboardist and songwriter with the Norwegian band A-ha, but what you might not know is that in tandem with his career as a musician Magne has maintained a life as an artist, having first exhibited in 1989. For the last 10 years he has developed an interest in the use of words and language, and this work has naturally developed into Alpha-Beta, a series of prints of all the letters of the alphabet, along with some Norwegian specific characters.
We are really pleased to present a special edition boxed collection of 30 square postcards featuring the full collection of Alpha-Beta prints, along with a special paper multiple by the artist and enclosed within a custom made box.
