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PREVIEW: Club Abstract at the Towner

August 6, 2015

Legendary club night returns to the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, all themed with the dynamism of Abstraction.

Club Abstract

The night is inspired by the current exhibition of the radical abstract artist William Gear.

Expect live music, DJs and interactive fun with:

♦  an Abstract ‘dance-off’

♦  an ‘Ab-tract’ word search around the building

♦  and a ‘We are William Gear’ collective painting, where everyone will be invited to be part of creating a large abstract painting.

You can join in the lift for snippets of words on the Abstract world, and watch abstract films in the gallery’s screening room.

There is also an invitation to view the exhibition at night:  ‘William Gear 1915-1997: The painter that Britain forgot’ all within the ticket price.

This will be a radical interactive experience in an amazing space.

On the centenary of his birth, Towner are presenting a major retrospective of William Gear, one of the leading abstract British painters of his generation.

William Gear, The painter that Britain forgot traces the influence and prolific output of a now little-known painter from Fife. Scotland, who was associated with CoBrA in the 1940s, Europe’s most important avant-garde movement of the mid-twentieth century which produced some of the most radical and controversial compositions of the 1950s.

Beyond his association with CoBrA Gear had a long and successful career in his own right. For example, he was awarded the prestigious Festival of Britain Purchase Prize in 1951 and his work appeared at the 1954 Venice Biennale.

Gear was Towner’s curator from 1958 until 1964. During this time, he added to the diversity and modernity of the permanent Collection with his acquisitions. So successful was he in increasing the reputation of Towner, that in 1962 the Observer newspaper hailed it as the “most go-ahead municipal gallery of its size in the country”.

He became a Senior Royal Academician in 1995 and work is held in many major public and private collections around the world.

The exhibition draws together over 100 works representing the different phases of Gear’s oeuvre.

Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, is an award-winning gallery, presenting major exhibitions of contemporary and historic visual art, as well as displays from the internationally renowned 4500-strong Towner Collection. The Collection is best known for its modern British art – including the largest and most significant body of work by Eric Ravilious (1903 – 1942) – and a growing collection of international contemporary art.

Towner delivers a dynamic associated public programme and learning offer and welcomes more than 120,000 visitors each year, with a strong commitment to inclusive practice and accessibility.

On July 1 2014, Towner became an independent charitable Trust, supported by a Board of Trustees, chaired by David Dimbleby and is supported by Eastbourne Borough Council and Arts Council England through its National Portfolio Programme.

For more information about The Towner, click here:


Event: Club Abstract

Where: The Towner Art Gallery, Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ

When: Saturday, September 19

Time: 8.30pm – 12 midnight (Doors open 8.30pm)

Tickets: £8 advance/£10 on the door – Full price (+ Booking fee): £6 advance/£8 on the door – concessions – students/pensioners and job seekers (+ Booking fee): Over 18’s with ID

 

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