FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRIVATE VIEW 30 June 2009, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Exhibition runs through September 22, 2009

This season, the journalist and author, Helen Chislett, will be curating a show at the ROVE gallery Hoxton Square, courtesy of Kenny Schachter, including Based Upon, Jessica Zoob, Carolyn Quartermaine, Karl Smith, Rolf Sachs and the Inchbald School of Design.
   
Called Midsummer Dream, the show promises to be an antidote to economic gloom by bringing a sense of magic to a rather neglected space. It unites work by a handful of extremely diverse artists working in media that range from paint and sculpture to limited-edition design and film. This multi-disciplinary concept has been woven into an entire story over the gallery's ground and first floors.

Ian Abell, founder of London atelier Based Upon, has curated the ground floor space of Midsummer Dream. Abell presents a new series of Based Upon sculptural tables and wall-based work, which are contextualised by a sound installation and a film made in Ugandan villages along the Nile. Part of the film shows a Ugandan woman outside her cracked mud house, possibly the dreamer  of the world 'upstairs'.

In stark contrast, on the first floor, Andrew Duff and Chloe Leaper, of the Inchbald School of Design, have installed a garden of wild meadow grasses and flowers that punctuates the space. On the walls are huge site-specific dreamscapes in oils by Jessica Zoob - her largest works to date which together form the Bliss collection - that echo the lushness of the garden and speak of the reflections inherent in water. Karl Smith will also be exhibiting the Wishing Tree - a collaboration with Zoob - a real oak tree that has been both carved and painted internally with messages and symbols of love - secrets that can be seen only when you look through certain specially illuminated holes in its bark. Rolf Sachs is showing his ‘Pouring-light’ watering can, a witty reference to the show’s theme. Chairs covered in hand-printed silks by Carolyn Quartermaine complete the beauty of the dream - a startling contrast to the heat of midsummer below. Colour, light and romance are the primary inspirations of this 'upstairs' world.

While the messages of Midsummer Dream may at first appear clear, not everything is as it seems. The cracked earth on the mud hut that inspired Based Upon's installation is in fact located within the fertile lands at the source of the Nile. The garden on the first floor appears lush and full of life, but is rootless and therefore fragile.

The ROVE gallery is to be demolished in a year or so, and will then become the site for the first-ever commercial/residential building by Zaha Hadid in London. Midsummer Dream will be a part of its heritage. Admission is free, but visitors will be invited to make contributions towards the charity WaterAid.

Curator, Helen Chislett is hopeful that Midsummer Dream will capture people's imagination: “This is an event that centres on creativity, optimism and ultimately joy. I hope it will put a smile on people's faces and encourage people to recognise that the greatest contribution of art is to help us all to connect to one another”.

For press enquiries or further information please contact Ann-Michael Waldvogel
+44(0)7525 039 582 / ann-michael@rovetv.net

KENNY SCHACHTER ROVE Lincoln House 33-34 Hoxton Square London N1 6NN
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm and by appointment
+44(0)7979 408 914   schachter@mindspring.com