Art / 17 Midland Road
17 Midland Road to exhibit Ashley Loxton and bill daggs
Nestled in the heart of Old Market, 17 Midland Road is the latest venture from Barney Beech – who is a partner at the design practice Burgess & Beech – and novelist Charlotte Philby (Edith and Kim, The End of Summer).
Billed as “part-gallery, part-space for culture, collaborations, new ideas and community”, this unique space is playing host to GOING HOME, a new exhibition from Ashley Loxton, opening on February 22.
Loxton is a Bristol-based mixed-media artist, whose visual work often uses paint, reused fabric and found material. Performing under the name Tony Yella or Yellatone, his poetry, spoken word and storytelling draws on the vocabulary of Drum & Bass and UK Rap to explore “personal trauma and euphoric recall”.
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In this collection, Loxton harnesses the full breadth of his skillset to reflect on issues of attachment, the boundless quest for identity and belonging.
“Loxton seeks understanding of his own paradoxical desire to both Attach and Set Apart – a not uncommon duality in most underground subcultures pre and post Y2K,” contend the notes to the exhibition.
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“Hedonism, counterculture, fashion, symbols, musical sub-genres – these are all pathways that lead to both escape and solace.
“GOING HOME embodies a similar duality, whilst serving as a metaphor for the artists journey to find reassurance and hope.”
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Some of the pieces shown point back to the artist’s adolescence, a time when underground culture, consumerism and music figured large in his life, filling “the voids of boredom and insecurity”.
Accompanying Loxton’s work is a video installation from self-styled artist, archivist and musiker bill daggs, called If The Rain Stops, Don’t Think That We Gave Up On You, 2023.
Ashley Loxton: Going Home, and bill daggs: If The Rain Stops, Don’t Think That We Gave Up on You, 2023 are at 17 Midland Road on February 22-29, at 11am-6pm or by appointment. Both exhibitions are free to attend, and all artwork is for sale. For more information, visit www.17midlandroad.co.uk or follow @17midlandroad.
All photos: Ashley Loxton
Read more: Centrespace hosts Ashley Loxton’s solo exhibition ‘Big Yellow’
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