ULTRAMEGAOK
10th - 20th December 2009

The Framery,
3 Academy Buildings,
Fanshaw Street,
N1 6LQ

Matthew Atkinson, David Northedge, Andy Wicks

Ultramegaok brings together 3 emerging British painters in an exhibition at the 'pop up space' The Framery, a disused office within spitting distance of Hoxton Square's galleries and bars. Matthew Atkinson, David Northedge and Andy Wicks each reference a moribund and derelict world within their work yet beyond the darkness lurks a nostalgia and warmth.

Ultramegaok refers to Soundgarden's 1988 debut album (Ultramega OK), an album full of youthful enthusiasm which singer Chris Cornell later stated, "we really liked the songs on that record but we were disappointed in the production. We were sort of making fun of the finished product".

Even during a global recession the numbers of artists looking to exhibit is as competitive as ever, in an art world where space is hard to come by, the falling of banks and gloom for businesses has given rise to the pop up space with artists taking advantage of the climate and showing their work any which way they can. With this exhibition the artists are forgoing the gallery system and its glossy production values to show works fresh from the studio in its unadulterated state.

In an ironic twist, many of these paintings relate to space, whether it's physical, personal or emotional. The spaces created or revealed in these works may no longer exist having been a passing memory revived in the moment by brush mark, or erased from their physical landscape as an unwanted reminder of our past, creating new space and profit.