Musical Loot
Stolen Recordings' third annual exhibition of their contrabands
Words Phil Hebblethwaite
Stolen Recordings are the kind of label that send their music to a newspaper like this with a hand-written message on an old faded postcard of a British seaside town, or something like that. It’s noted and it’s appreciated. They’ve got a great little roster too, of bands like Matthew Sawyer & The Ghosts, Tap Tap, and Pete & The Pirates. “Stolen Recordings is an independent label set up to release the fractured and melodic,” they say, and they have Let’s Wrestle too. Ho ho.
Most of Stolen’s bands do their own sleeves, seem arty and seem to be encouraged to be so. Two years ago, Rachael from the label collected together their drawings, paintings, photographs and fragments with those of others associated with Stolen and exhibited them as the Aquarium Gallery in London - a spot that has a close association with rocker/writer/painter Billy Childish. The show was a success, so they did another in 2007.
For this year’s exhibition, Rachael has opened up the remit to include musicians who are known to be visual artists too, and visual artists who are known to have worked with musicians. So, yup, that means Billy, but also graphic designer and sculptor Jack Mooney, who does Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip’s artwork, painter/filmmaker Geraldine Swayne, also of Bender, Pigeon super-snapper Rebecca Miller, and a host of others slick as thieves.
S T O L E N exhibition
The Aquarium L-13
63 Farringdon Road
London
EC1M 3JB
Thursday July 3, for one week
Cow
Geraldine Swayne
Watercolour
Sugar
Mathew Sawyer
Photographic rint
Man In Landscape
Billy Childish
Oil on canvas
