Not paying artists is bad for you…Discuss

A group of Birmingham artists have launched a campaign promoting fair pay from galleries exhibiting their work this month.

The group of artists led by Ruth Claxton, of Eastside Projects, and Cheryl Jones, of Grand Union, are hoping to encourage galleries to be more transparent about their policies of paying artists.

The campaign is part of a national Paying Artists initiative launched by a-n / AIR, the largest artist membership organisation in the UK, in the wake of a survey which showed that 71% of artists got no fee for exhibiting in publicly funded spaces in the UK over a three year period.

FOUND, The New Art Gallery Walsall – 30 January- 3 May

FOUND brings together seven contemporary artists who work with found images to explore themes of loss, memory and mass cultural experience.

By transforming, cutting, embellishing and re-working visual material sourced from the internet, flea markets, magazines and discarded personal collections, the artists enter into the histories and narratives present in strangers’ images.

Drawing attention to our relentless consumption and self-projection of visual information in a digital age, the selected works by Paul Chiappe, Ruth Claxton, Julie Cockburn, Ellen Gallagher, Vesna Pavlović, Erik Kessels and John Stezaker reverberate and bring into question the feeling of being suffocated and framed by representations of other people’s lives, tastes and experiences.

The exhibition will include six new works specially commissioned by The New Art Gallery Walsall.

These are a few of my favourite things

Ikon has invited key figures from Birmingham’s cultural life to reveal some of their personal artistic inspirations each Wednesday evening (starting this week)  during the summer. In These are a few of my favourite things, invited guests will discuss their eight favourite works of art in a format loosely inspired by Desert Island Discs. The event offers an interesting insight in to the guests through their favoured selections and gives the audience an opportunity to hear from some of the city’s key cultural movers.

Places are free but should be reserved by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708.

9 June – Ikon Youth Programme participants
16 June – Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters’ Club
23 June – Ruth Claxton, Birmingham-based artist
30 June – Laura McDermott and Harun Morrison, Joint Artistic Directors of Fierce Festival
7 July – James Langdon, designer
21 July – Anthony Cartwright, Dudley-born author of The Afterglow
28 July – Lynsey Hanley, writer and journalist for The Guardian

Ikon, Oozells Square, Brindleyplace
6.30-7.30pm, Free admission