December 21, 2011 – January 12, 2012

This December, an intrepid group of emerging Contemporary British Artists from London’s Debut Contemporary will set foot in LA for their showcase at The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA). 

The roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene with involvement from Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale and Agnetha Sjogren, amongst others. The incredibly talented artists have a wide number of achievements amongst them including Nicola Anthony who has received exhibition sponsorship from Tate Britain, had pieces shown at Tate Modern; Tinsel Edwards who has both Saatchi and Banksy as collectors of her work; and Rosie Emerson who recently exhibited at The Southbank Centre as part of The Women of The World Festival, Somerset House, as well as being featured in Vogue.

Selected by OCCCA Executive Directors and Curators, the flavour is undeniably British. It centres around the culture and vibrancy of the London and LA scenes, with works such as 'Benji' by Victoria Heald which references a pose taken from Antonioni's iconic 1966 film 'Blow-Up' - the epitome of 1960s 'Swinging London'.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this collective is that in our climate of limited art funding, the artists have taken it upon themselves to promote and raise the profile of the London Art scene overseas. They are working collaboratively to come up with creative solutions, opposing the diminution of diversity in art, and extending the reach of UK arts: Fundraising to get as many of the talented artists to LA as possible, to be true ambassadors of the London art scene. They are empowering themselves to create their own opportunities. Find out more on their fundraising platform and Etsy art shop. 

The Debut Contemporary artists were invited to show at OCCCA - having been discovered by their Head of Outreach, Joella March at a unique alternative LA Art Fair which they were showcased at during September 2011, alongside some of LA’s leading artists, curators and art industry heavyweights. During September, the artists attracted attention from the likes of LACE of Hollywood Boulevard and MOCA amongst other galleries from the buzzing Los Angeles art scene.

Samir Ceric, Director of London’s Debut Contemporary notes passionately, “I feel this is just the beginning of a very exciting project which has come out of this unique way of collaborating between Debut Artists and art professionals in the industry... One of Debut's very important roles is to serve as conduits of information and opportunities between the Debut collective and community and the art world at large.”

Note to Editors:

Indiegogo Fundraising platform 

Find more of their work in the fundraising Etsy art shop

LONDON CALLING – LA

OCCCA, Orange County, USA

December 21, 2011 – January 12, 2012 

List of London Calling exhibiting Artists:

Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Alyona Larinova, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas, Carlos Martyn Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling, Lyndsay Martin, Masa Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang, Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale, Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald, Vikram Kushwah

OCCCA acts as a catalyst for self-organised initiatives with a keen focus on social engagement, intellectual and cultural exchange and endeavours to produce a forward-thinking intellectual framework. LA  www.occca.org

Debut Contemporary showcases new works by a group of internationally bold and incredibly talented contemporary artists http://www.debutcontemporary.com

For press enquiries and high res images, please contact Ben Austin at Fluff PR , Tel: 020 7424 9599/ 07703 185291 ben@fluffpr.com 

“LONDON CALLING”  

December 21, 2011 – January 12, 2012

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art showcases emerging British Artists represented by the London Gallery, Debut Contemporary, located in Notting Hill. 

Their roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene, including Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale and Agnetha Sjogren. Works by these and other collectible artists will be available for sale at OCCCA.

The founders of Debut Contemporary are husband and wife duo, Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight, named by the British press as, “one of UK’s most powerful couples in Art and Fashion.”  

On September 2nd 2011 selected artworks by thirteen exciting emerging artists representing the UK were revealed to LA. The artworks featured in a brand new art event called Flag Stop alongside some of LA’s leading artists, curators and art industry heavyweights. The UK collective: The London Art Box (LAB) was curated by Samir Ceric from London’s Debut Contemporary Gallery in collaboration with three artists from Debut: Nicola Anthony, Abigail Box and Kimi Wylde and Flag Stop’s Ryan Noble.

Yesterday evening saw the first panel discussion from the Flagstop event in LA. The panel included Debut Artist and UK Ambassador Nicola Anthony, Debut's Founder & Director, Samir Ceric and Ben Austin from Fluff PR. We also had Curator William Moreno and Debut Artist & USA Ambassador Ryan Noble in via Skype from LA!

William Moreno is principal of a Los Angeles -based art advisory and curatorial practice - William Moreno Contemporary. He was most recently the Associate Director of *ArtPadSF *– a contemporary art fair launched at San Francisco’s famed Phoenix Hotel in 2011.
William was the founding Executive Director of the Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, California and also served as the Executive Director of The Mexican Museum, San Francisco. He has experience as the Director of a commercial gallery Director. A featured speaker at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, the American Institute of Architecture he has appeared on PBS station KCET, as well as other television and radio shows. He is an Advisory Board member of the California Association of Museums and Board Vice President of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). William has reviewed thousands of artists’ portfolios and possesses unique insights and perspectives gleaned from his work in the alternative space, commercial gallery and museum milieus.

Ben Austin literally grew up in the art business, having learnt the trade from his mother, Mrs Gillian Catto one time owner of the Catto Gallery in Hampstead. He also has a practical experience in art, having taken the art scholarship for this school. After curating a few shows at his mother’s gallery, Ben went on to set up an art for offices and business venture called – CoporateCatto and the success of that lead to the creation of Catto Contemporary in Shoreditch - which quickly established itself as one of the leading galleries in the area. The gallery staged over 12 exhibitions per year and developed a database of over 4,000 and a client base of nearly 300 customers. The gallery took part in Art Fairs both in the UK and aboard). Catto Contemporary received a huge amount of publicity on nearly every exhibition, with features in magazines such as The Face, Arena, I-D, Blueprint, Vogue, Wallpaper and reviews in the weekend colour supplements as well as numerous reviews national newspapers. The gallery was the first commercial space to showcase urban artists such as Banksy and Anthony Micallef, together in a seminal exhibition entitled, ‘Perverse Pop’.

Ben is also a curator, having staged ‘Light Divided’ at the Blouin Institute as part of the ‘Art after Dark’ series in 2008. The show was critically very well received and featured some of the most exciting emerging artists currently around, including Alice Anderson, Nathaniel Rackowe and Justin Coombes. More recently he curated – ‘Unnatural Selection’ at Londonewcastle Project Space in June 2010. In 2007 for the preview evening of the Frieze Art Fair, Ben staged the highly acclaimed exhibition and art party - ‘Decadence, Decay and the Demimonde’ at Home House, 20 Portman Square. The main sponsors were Tanqueray, Hiscox and Bentley. The Saatchi Gallery loaned three major pieces for the show. The event was described as the Vanity Fair – Oscar Party for the art world and was covered in The Times, The Guardian, Time Out, The Standard and featured in the FT – How to spend it magazine.
Ben is presently the owner and Director of Fluff PR - A small creative agency, promoting galleries/dealers, independent artists and fashion designers. Fluff also stages events and shows. Ben has worked for Art Review and is editor at large for FAD website.

The panel discussed topics such as how emerging artists are to equip themselves for changes in the gallery model and how emerging artists can best reach curators and collectors in an international market.

The collective joint efforts from Ceric, the artists and Noble are what created these opportunities for the LAB artists, including sponsorships ensuring Nicola and Abigail’s successful representation of the LAB group. This in turn has opened up opportunities for other UK Debut artists who may be selected for future US based projects.

The LAB artists are: • Robert West • Vikram Kushwah • Chantal Powell • Tinsel Edwards • Nicola Anthony • Sylvia Morgado • Kimi Wylde • Abigail Box • Darren MacPherson • Katrina James • Twinkle Troughton • Carlos Martyn Burgos • Azadeh Fatehrad

http://www.flagstopart.com/index.html

Debut Contemporary’s ‘London Art Box at Flag Stop’ Los Angeles

VIP Press night invite

Event Date: 28.09.11

Time: 7 – 9pm

RSVP: rsvp@debutcontemporary.com

Address: Debut Contemporary, 82 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RT

On September 2nd 2011 selected artworks by thirteen exciting emerging artists representing the UK were revealed to LA. The artworks featured in a brand new art event called Flag Stop alongside some of LA’s leading artists, curators and art industry heavyweights. The UK collective: The London Art Box (LAB) was curated by Samir Ceric from London’s Debut Contemporary Gallery in collaboration with three artists from Debut: Nicola Anthony, Abigail Box and Kimi Wylde and Flag Stop’s Ryan Noble. 

To say the UK artists caused a splash stateside is an understatement, the ripples are still crossing the ocean as you read these words! 

The 28th September is an opportunity to be present at a pivotal moment in these artist’s careers, and to have the unique opportunity to take part in a post-exhibition discussion where the artists will be deconstructing the exciting curatorial concepts which were created especially for the Flag Stop show. 

With an exhibition now confirmed at the Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) in December – January, this will be the springboard for many other opportunities to follow such as:

- Lined up Pop up exhibitions with Hudson-linc amongst others.

- Exchange exhibitions with several LA and San Fransisco Galleries

- Making specific opportunities and connections for LAB and Debut individuals to be discussed in further detail on the 28th

Overwhelmed by UK support and questions, the LAB artists involved in this unique event would like to invite you to a VIP press night at Debut Contemporary. They will bring you the energy and excitement of LA back to London, to enable interaction and discussion with the artists and see their works including some new pieces, for one night only. 

There will also be a live Skype link up with Flag Stop event directors and some of the key curators who we were involved in the show such as Bill Moreno (LACE, William Moreno Contemporary), Jane Chaffin (Offramp Gallery), Justin Hoover (SOMArts).

The three LAB artist representatives who went to the LA event (Nicola Anthony, Abigail Box and Kimi Wylde) will be talking about and showing documentary films of their incredible experiences, the innovative concept of the LAB microgallery and audience responses to the LAB artists. They will also be telling usabout many other exciting happenings, such as Nicola taking part in a panel discussion alongside founders and curators of the Flag Stop exhibition and LA art scene, being featured on LA TV and interviewed by press and journalists. 

The collective joint efforts from Samir Ceric, the artists and Noble are what created these opportunities for the LAB artists, including sponsorships ensuring Nicola and Abigail’s successful representation of the LAB group. This in turn has opened up opportunities for other UK Debut artists who may be selected for future US based projects. Nicola’s role representing the Debut concept on behalf of Debut Gallery as the first officially appointed Debut ambassador is central to the concept Samir Ceric is keen to highlight, which is the uniqueness and power of the collective. 

Debut Contemporary and the LAB artists would like to underline that this is not a private view, the doors will be open for selected VIP guests only to partake in this unique evening. Refreshments will be served and we hope you not only have a wonderful evening but take away some of the LA buzz that has followed the LAB artists home!

The LAB artists are: • Robert West • Vikram Kushwah • Chantal Powell • Tinsel Edwards • Nicola Anthony • Sylvia Morgado • Kimi Wylde • Abigail Box • Darren MacPherson • Katrina James  • Twinkle Troughton • Carlos Martyn Burgos • Azadeh Fatehrad

www.debutcontemporary.com

www.flagstopart.com