The venue has been chosen, the dates have been decided and the artists have been selected for the first Fantasista exhibition. While the first two decisions were straightforward enough the third was much harder.
Since Fantasista was first conceived we’ve had many and varied artists contact us and we’ve looked at loads of remarkable work. If we’d been able to hire the Royal Albert Hall we would have put all (or most) of it in. But our space, the perfectly formed Cello Factory in Waterloo, is a little smaller so we had to apply some strict criteria.
So the show has developed into an investigation about the way in which contemporary artists use the themes, imagery and nature of football and its following within the framework of their work. Many artists work with football in an illustrative way, this exhibition seeks to go beyond this and look at some of the physical, practical and passionate responses that draw out artistic responses to the beautiful game. As such the selection panel were particularly interested in work that explores below the surface of football, not always obvious, but which speaks to artists, curators and sports fanatics alike
We intend the upcoming show to be the first of many. And we are exploring different ways to increase the exposure of the work of all Fantasista artists across the web and beyond. So, in addition to the inspirational artists featuring in July’s exhibition, many others will be included in future activity.
For now, we hope that all visitors will find next month’s show awe-inspiring.
