Ikon Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Ikon Gallery is an English
gallery
of contemporary art
, located in Brindleyplace
, Birmingham
. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School
, designed by John Henry Chamberlain
in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins
.
Ikon was set up to encourage the public to engage in contemporary art. As a result of this, the gallery runs an off-site 'Education and Interpretation' scheme that educates audiences, promotes artists and their art. The gallery is open every day of the week except Mondays, though it opens on bank holiday
Mondays.
Featured artworks include all forms of media including sound, sculpture
and photography
as well as painting
s. Exhibitions rotate throughout the year so that as many pieces can be displayed as possible. Ikon is a registered charity
which is partly funded by Birmingham City Council
and Arts Council of England.
and four artists from the Birmingham School of Art
- David Prentice
, Sylvani Merilion
, Jesse Bruton and Robert Groves - after Skene bought Prentice's painting Kate and the Waterlilies in 1964, and the two started discussing the lack of support for contemporary artists provided by Birmingham's existing artistic institutions. Originally conceived as a "gallery without walls" (exhibitions were planned to tour unconventional locations such as cinema
s and post office
s in a motorcycle sidecar
) it was eventually established in 1965 in an octagonal glass-walled kiosk in Birmingham's then-new Bull Ring shopping centre. The first exhibition was of work by John Salt
, and the venue was staffed by the founding artists and sometimes their spouses on a voluntary basis.
The venture was funded by Skene, but control was left in the hands of the artists. The name of the gallery was coined by Groves, who was interested in the icon
s of the Eastern Orthodox Church
. The name was agreed by the other founders partly on the basis that it "divides beautifully geometrically and was splendid in all directions". Ikon's founding prospectus declared: "Ikon is intended as an antithesis to exclusive art establishments and galleries … it has been formed because of the need for an accessible place where the exchange of visual ideas can become a familiar reality"
The lease on the kiosk expired after three years, but with Arts Council support the gallery was able to move to the former mortuary in the basement of Queens College in Swallow Street in 1968 and appointed Jeanette Koch as gallery manager.[3] During the next 4 years Ikon held 93 exhibitions and 40 group shows,[6] by which time the lease on the Swallow Street premises came to an end. Under the direction of Simon Chapman (who had previously run the Birmingham Arts Lab
) assisted by Jeanette Koch, the gallery embarked on an ambitious expansion of broadening the exhibition programme to include the works of nationally and internationally recognised artists, and to move to a busier location in order to gain greater interest from a wider public. In the autumn of 1972, with increased financial support of The Arts Council together with new funding from West Midlands Arts Association, The Gulbenkian Foundation and a number of local charitable trusts and industry, Ikon re-located in The Birmingham Shopping Centre, a newly built shopping mall above New Street Station. The fitting out of the gallery was designed by Walter Thomson of Associated Architects and provided a space four times larger than the Swallow Street gallery and virtually forty times larger than the original Bull Ring kiosk. The number of visitors to the gallery rocketed into the hundreds and on occasions peaked at over a thousand a day providing many with their first opportunity of seeing modern art by living artists. The opening show of large chalk on blackboard wall drawings by John Walker firmly established Birmingham as a city with a gallery devoted to the contemporary visual arts.
During the next 6 years, Ikon became positioned as one of the most important contemporary art galleries outside London, attracting both exhibitors and visitors from far beyond the city. Amongst the artists who had solo exhibitions were Ivor Abraham, Allen Barker, Barry Burman
, John Copnall, Vaughan Grylls, Trevor Halliday, David Hepher, Harry Holland, David Leveritt, John Mitchell, John Salt, Peter Sedgely, David Shepherd, William Tillyer and Roger Westwood. Notable group shows included Midland Art Now featuring the work of 20 of the most prominent Midlands based artists including Roy Abell, Barrie Cook, John Farrington, Dick French, William Gear, Colin Hitchmough, John Melville, David Prentice and Peter Tarrant, and which was accompanied by a full colour printed broadsheet catalogue distributed free to the 40,000 readers of the Birmingham Post. Ikon replaced the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as the venue for travelling exhibitions of contemporary art such as Diane Arbus curated by John Szarkowski, Chris Orr curated by Nick Serota, Objects and Documents featuring works selected by Richard Smith, An Element of Landscape curated by Jeremy Rees, The Human Clay featuring works selected by R B Kitaj, and Berenice Abbott.
By 1978, Ikon had again outgrown its premises and it moved to a former carpet shop in John Bright Street adjacent to the Alexander Theatre.[7]
The gallery moved to its current site in 1997 with the cost of the conversion partly funded by a grant from the National Lottery
. The refurbishment work was designed by Levitt Bernstein
, who reinstated the tower which had been demolished during the 1960s. Café Ikon, on the ground floor, was designed by Birmingham-based architects The Space Studio and opened in December 1998. Form, Space & Order were the contractor
s. In July 2006, it opened a second site in Digbeth
- Ikon Eastside
.
Ikon is a limited company
, registered as an educational charity. Ikon receives core funding from Arts Council West Midlands and Birmingham City Council and raises additional income from a variety of sources, including charitable trusts and foundations and corporate sponsorship.
, On Kawara
, Roy Arden
, Marcel Dzama
, Olafur Eliasson
, Simon Patterson, Richard Billingham
, and Julian Opie
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
of contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, located in Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It is often written erroneously as Brindley Place, the name of the street around which it is built...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School
Oozells Street Board School
Oozells Street Board School was a Victorian board school in Oozells Street, off Broad Street in Birmingham, England.Designed in 1877 by local architects Martin & Chamberlain, responsible for over forty of the Birmingham board schools, it opened on 28 January 1878 to serve 807 primary children.In...
, designed by John Henry Chamberlain
John Henry Chamberlain
John Henry Chamberlain , generally known professionally as J H Chamberlain, was a nineteenth century English architect....
in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins
Jonathan Watkins
Jonathan Watkins is an English curator, and is currently Director of the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.Watkins emigrated to Australia with his family in 1969 and studied Philosophy and History of Art at the University of Sydney. He is the older brother of Philip Watkins, renowned artist and musician....
.
Ikon was set up to encourage the public to engage in contemporary art. As a result of this, the gallery runs an off-site 'Education and Interpretation' scheme that educates audiences, promotes artists and their art. The gallery is open every day of the week except Mondays, though it opens on bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
Mondays.
Featured artworks include all forms of media including sound, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
as well as painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s. Exhibitions rotate throughout the year so that as many pieces can be displayed as possible. Ikon is a registered charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
which is partly funded by Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
and Arts Council of England.
History
"The Ikon" (as it is colloquially known) was founded by Angus SkeneAngus Skene
Angus Skene was a Scottish accountant, art collector and art gallery-owner, notable as the founder of the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.-Biography:...
and four artists from the Birmingham School of Art
Birmingham School of Art
The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, its Grade I listed building on...
- David Prentice
David Prentice
David Prentice is an English artist and former art teacher. In 1964 he was one of the four founder members of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery....
, Sylvani Merilion
Sylvani Merilion
Sylvani Merilion is an English artist and former art teacher. In 1964 she was one of the four founder members of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery....
, Jesse Bruton and Robert Groves - after Skene bought Prentice's painting Kate and the Waterlilies in 1964, and the two started discussing the lack of support for contemporary artists provided by Birmingham's existing artistic institutions. Originally conceived as a "gallery without walls" (exhibitions were planned to tour unconventional locations such as cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s and post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
s in a motorcycle sidecar
Sidecar
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, producing a three-wheeled vehicle.-History:A sidecar appeared in a cartoon by George Moore in the January 7, 1903, issue of the British newspaper Motor Cycling. Three weeks later, a provisional patent was...
) it was eventually established in 1965 in an octagonal glass-walled kiosk in Birmingham's then-new Bull Ring shopping centre. The first exhibition was of work by John Salt
John Salt
John Salt is an English artist, whose obsessively detailed paintings from the late 1960s onwards made him one of the pioneers of the photorealist school....
, and the venue was staffed by the founding artists and sometimes their spouses on a voluntary basis.
The venture was funded by Skene, but control was left in the hands of the artists. The name of the gallery was coined by Groves, who was interested in the icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. The name was agreed by the other founders partly on the basis that it "divides beautifully geometrically and was splendid in all directions". Ikon's founding prospectus declared: "Ikon is intended as an antithesis to exclusive art establishments and galleries … it has been formed because of the need for an accessible place where the exchange of visual ideas can become a familiar reality"
The lease on the kiosk expired after three years, but with Arts Council support the gallery was able to move to the former mortuary in the basement of Queens College in Swallow Street in 1968 and appointed Jeanette Koch as gallery manager.[3] During the next 4 years Ikon held 93 exhibitions and 40 group shows,[6] by which time the lease on the Swallow Street premises came to an end. Under the direction of Simon Chapman (who had previously run the Birmingham Arts Lab
Birmingham Arts Lab
The Birmingham Arts Laboratory or Arts Lab was an experimental arts centre and artist collective based in Birmingham, England from 1968 to 1982 – an "arts and performance space dedicated to radical research into art and creativity"...
) assisted by Jeanette Koch, the gallery embarked on an ambitious expansion of broadening the exhibition programme to include the works of nationally and internationally recognised artists, and to move to a busier location in order to gain greater interest from a wider public. In the autumn of 1972, with increased financial support of The Arts Council together with new funding from West Midlands Arts Association, The Gulbenkian Foundation and a number of local charitable trusts and industry, Ikon re-located in The Birmingham Shopping Centre, a newly built shopping mall above New Street Station. The fitting out of the gallery was designed by Walter Thomson of Associated Architects and provided a space four times larger than the Swallow Street gallery and virtually forty times larger than the original Bull Ring kiosk. The number of visitors to the gallery rocketed into the hundreds and on occasions peaked at over a thousand a day providing many with their first opportunity of seeing modern art by living artists. The opening show of large chalk on blackboard wall drawings by John Walker firmly established Birmingham as a city with a gallery devoted to the contemporary visual arts.
During the next 6 years, Ikon became positioned as one of the most important contemporary art galleries outside London, attracting both exhibitors and visitors from far beyond the city. Amongst the artists who had solo exhibitions were Ivor Abraham, Allen Barker, Barry Burman
Barry Burman
Barry Burman was an English figurative artist known for his dark and often disturbing subject matter. He was a successful as an artist and teacher. He took an overdose and died aged 57.- Early life :Burman was born in Bedford in 1943...
, John Copnall, Vaughan Grylls, Trevor Halliday, David Hepher, Harry Holland, David Leveritt, John Mitchell, John Salt, Peter Sedgely, David Shepherd, William Tillyer and Roger Westwood. Notable group shows included Midland Art Now featuring the work of 20 of the most prominent Midlands based artists including Roy Abell, Barrie Cook, John Farrington, Dick French, William Gear, Colin Hitchmough, John Melville, David Prentice and Peter Tarrant, and which was accompanied by a full colour printed broadsheet catalogue distributed free to the 40,000 readers of the Birmingham Post. Ikon replaced the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as the venue for travelling exhibitions of contemporary art such as Diane Arbus curated by John Szarkowski, Chris Orr curated by Nick Serota, Objects and Documents featuring works selected by Richard Smith, An Element of Landscape curated by Jeremy Rees, The Human Clay featuring works selected by R B Kitaj, and Berenice Abbott.
By 1978, Ikon had again outgrown its premises and it moved to a former carpet shop in John Bright Street adjacent to the Alexander Theatre.[7]
The gallery moved to its current site in 1997 with the cost of the conversion partly funded by a grant from the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
. The refurbishment work was designed by Levitt Bernstein
Levitt Bernstein
Levitt Bernstein Associates is an English architectural design firm, established in 1968, by David Levitt and David Bernstein. The practice is known for its residential and arts projects, having won awards for both...
, who reinstated the tower which had been demolished during the 1960s. Café Ikon, on the ground floor, was designed by Birmingham-based architects The Space Studio and opened in December 1998. Form, Space & Order were the contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
s. In July 2006, it opened a second site in Digbeth
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment scheme that will regenerate the old industrial buildings into...
- Ikon Eastside
Ikon Eastside
Ikon Eastside is an art gallery in the Digbeth area of Birmingham, England.The gallery opened in 2006 as a second venue for the long-established Ikon Gallery in Brindleyplace...
.
Current activities
The Ikon has an artistic programme consisting of three interdependent strands.- The gallery features temporary exhibitions over two floors totalling 450 square metres (4,844 sq ft). A variety of media are represented, including soundSoundSound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, mixed mediaMedia (arts)In the arts, a media or medium is a material used by an artist or designer to create a work.-Architecture:In the art and science of architecture, the design and construction of buildings and interiors, infrastructure and other physical structures are created...
, photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, paintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculptureSculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and installationInstallation artInstallation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. - There is also an off-site programme which helps develop dynamic relationships between art, artists and the audience outside the gallery. The projects and events vary enormously in scale, duration and type of location, challenging expectations of where art can be seen and by whom.
- Education is at the heart of the Ikon's activities, stimulating public interest in and understanding of contemporary visual art. Through a variety of talks, tours, workshops and seminars, the Education & Interpretation programme recognises that artistic expression can empower people, heightening individual and community experience.
Ikon is a limited company
Limited company
A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. And the former of these, a limited company limited by shares, may be...
, registered as an educational charity. Ikon receives core funding from Arts Council West Midlands and Birmingham City Council and raises additional income from a variety of sources, including charitable trusts and foundations and corporate sponsorship.
Artists
Some recent artists include Santiago SierraSantiago Sierra
Santiago Sierra is a Spanish artist. He lives in Madrid.Sierra's most well-known works involve hired laborers completing menial tasks...
, On Kawara
On Kawara
is a Japanese conceptual artist living in New York City since 1965. He has shown in many solo and group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1976.-Early life:After graduating from Kariya High School in 1951, Kawara moved to Tokyo...
, Roy Arden
Roy Arden
Roy Arden is a Vancouver artist.Arden has had solo exhibitions at the Ikon Gallery, Galerie Tanit and Vancouver Art Gallery. Other exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp . His work is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art - was featured in...
, Marcel Dzama
Marcel Dzama
Marcel Dzama is a contemporary artist who lives and works in New York. His work has been exhibited internationally, in particular his ink and watercolor drawings.-Range of practice:...
, Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research...
, Simon Patterson, Richard Billingham
Richard Billingham
Richard Billingham is an English photographer and artist who is best known for his photobook Ray's A Laugh which documents the life of his alcoholic father Ray, and obese, heavily-tattooed mother, Liz.-Career:...
, and Julian Opie
Julian Opie
Julian Opie is a visual artist, and one of the New British Sculpture movement.-Life and work:Julian Opie was raised in Oxford, England, where he attended the Dragon School and Magdalen College School. He attended Goldsmith's School of Art in London from 1979-82...
.