Polite Notes.

When he’s not here at the Polite office, talking to our...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:22:38 +0100

When he’s not here at the Polite office, talking to our customers, Mike likes to spend his time curating exhibitions – This year he’s been working on ‘Unrealised Potential’ at the Cornerhouse in Manchester which runs from 17th July - 12th Sept.

The show aims to explore the creative potential of artists unrealised projects and features contributions from dozens of artists including:

Featured artists include:

Artgoes, Artlab (Charlotte Cullinan & Jeanine Richards), Franko B , Edward Barton, Megan Bell, Eddie Berg, Bert & Ganddie, Monica Biagioli, Paul Anthony Black, Garth Bowden, Andrew Bracey, Roisin Byrne, Jane Chavez-Dawson, Norman Clayture, Conor McGarrigle, Contents May Vary, Benjamin Cove, Nick Crowe, Neil Cummings, Oliver East, Volker Eichelmann, Tim Etchells, Doug Fishbone, Leo Fitzmaurice, Yuen Fong Ling, Sue Fox, Mark Garry, Liam Gillick (Realised), David Gledhill, David Griffiths, Janet Griffiths, Richard Healy, Harry Hill, Clare Hope, Len Horsey, Dave Hoyland, John Hyatt, Mark Kennard, Jessica Lack, Laurence Lane, Little Artists (Darren Neave & John Cake), Leigh McCarthy, Roger McKinley, Jim Medway, Jason Minsky, Tom Morton, Neil Mulholland, Robin Nature-Bold, Hayley Newman, Franz Otto Novotny, Owl Project, Graham Parker, Simon Patterson, Adele Prince, Magnus Quaife, Brian Reed, David Shrigley, W. David Titley, Surplus Value, Beata Veszely, Jessica Voosanger, Cecilia Wee, Richard Wilson, Christine Wong Yap, Stuart Wright, Kai-Oi Jay Yung

Read about Redstone's new Alphabet postcard book in the guardian.

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:58:09 +0100

Read about Redstone's new Alphabet postcard book in the guardian.

Two new postcard books by Redstone Press. Our friends at...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Alphabet

Mayakovsky

Two new postcard books by Redstone Press.

Our friends at Redstone press have published two new large-format postcard books.

MAYAKOVSKY features 22 postcards representing every facet of the poet/artist/activist’s restless creativity.

ALPAHBET features 25 postcards.

“Here is the alphabet imagined as never before. Choreographed by the beautiful dancer Milca Mayerová into a brilliant photo-ballet in twenty-four hypnotic poses. Each move in the dance is made to the visual counterpoint of Karel Teige’s astonishing typographic music: as angular as jazz, as syncopated as Stravinsky!”

Visit the Redstone Shop to by copies of these and other beautifully printed editions:

www.theredstoneshop.co.uk

Nefertiti - New Work by John Squire. The Henderson Gallery,...

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0100

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:

http://www.johnsquire.com/statement.php

Watch out, Arthur! by Magda Archer. Just out is a new book by...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Watch out, Arthur! by Magda Archer.

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.

Find aout more about Magda’s work here:

www.magdaarcher.com

Barbican Lates - Sat 3rd July This Saturday, as part of the...

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Barbican Lates - Sat 3rd July

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.

Click for more information…

Rude Britannia: British Comic Art - at Tate Britain 9 June - 5...

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:52:58 +0100

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’ve just got some new products in stock – including next...

Wed, 19 May 2010 15:29:34 +0100

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...

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:27:30 +0100

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...

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:55:55 +0000

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.

You can find out more here: http://www.glasgowinternational.org

Magne Furuholmen talking from Edinburgh printmakers gallery...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

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

ALPHA-BETA by Magne Furuholmen Many of you will know Magne...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

ALPHA-BETA by Magne Furuholmen

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.

Available now from the Polite Shop - click here for more information and to buy.

New Shrigley Box sets. We’ve just added 4 greeting card...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

New Shrigley Box sets.

We’ve just added 4 greeting card box sets to our shop, featuring the full set of new cards by David Shrigley. Perfect for collecting or using each set contain 6 of the new Shrigley cards, supplied in a custom made box. The cards are also available individually from your nearest Polite stockist. shop.politecards.com

We’ve made a special screen printed edition of David...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

We’ve made a special screen printed edition of David Shrigley’s ‘25 postcards for writing on’ - which is available for a limited time from the Polite Shop. Click here to visit the shop and for more images. shop.politecards.com

The New Polite Catalogue - available now online

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

The New Polite Catalogue - available now online:

The new polite catalogue is out now, and because our product range changes quite a lot, we’ve added a constantly evolving digital version to our website. You can flick through the pages and download a copy to keep. catalogue.politecards.com

Archie Grand Note/Sketch Books - available soon from...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Archie Grand Note/Sketch Books - available soon from Polite

“The legend of the Archie Grand notebook family goes a little like this: Founded in the recession of the 1980s, the original family company found itself in dire straits after the death of Archie’s grandfather, Reinhold. Archie was at this time in London attending Central St Martins and The Royal College of Art. A further decade was spent embroiled in artistic practice until, last year, Archie decided to revamp and revitalize his grandfather’s company. Having met some of the characters of English society (Alan Clark, Nigel Coates, Lord Archer, Bruce Bernard, to name a few) during his London years, Archie came upon the notion that each of these charming charlatans should each receive a notebook of matching colour – a gift to aid them in their creative pursuits. And so Archie Grand Notebooks, for friend and foe, came into being.”

We’ll be distributing and selling the full range of Archie Grand titles from Spring, to find out more visit www.archiegrand.com

2011 Redstone Diary - The Artist’s World We’ve just...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:53:58 +0000

2011 Redstone Diary - The Artist’s World

We’ve just had a preview copy of next years Redstone Diary and it looks brilliant. It’s themed around ‘The Artist’s World’ and includes a fantastic year planner featuring the diary drawings of Pierre Bonnard.

“The everyday is seen differently though the eyes of the artist, ‘ready to be changed into something rich and strange’. With Redstone’s 2011 Diary you can share a year in their company, in which the ordinary becomes extra ordinary.

Get to know: Louise Bourgeois, Georges Braque, Paul Klee, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Kurt Schwitters, Claude Monet, Varvara Stepanova and many others…”

The diary will go on sale around June.

Edward Barton and the new album we’ve made with him...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:58:21 +0000

Edward Barton and the new album we’ve made with him ‘and a Panda’ is featured in this month’s issue of ‘Word’ - The album is available in record shops and a limited edition box set version is available here : http://shop.politecards.com/collections/objects/products/panda

We’re adding 24 new Shrigley cards to our range this...

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:55:25 +0000

We’re adding 24 new Shrigley cards to our range this weekend, launching at the NEC Spring Fair (6-11 Feb). There aren’t many things that would keep me at the NEC for a week (except perhaps the practical caravan show) - but really looking forward to showing these cards. They’ll be on our website next week if you’re not going to the show - and you’ll always find our latest catalogue here: catalogue.politecards.com

Here’s David Shrigley’s film for Pringle - shown for...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:39:36 +0000

Here’s David Shrigley’s film for Pringle - shown for the first time at their menswear show in Milan yesterday, and one of a number of projects Shrigley is working on for the Heritage maker of ‘Jumpers’.