murmurART at Selfridges - Rose Blake

murmurART at Selfridges - Rose Blake

25 June, 2009
by: Tom Jeffreys

Back in November last year I heard about a new online art gallery going by the name of murmurART. I did an interview with co-founder Will Conibear and was impressed by the strength of the talent they’d got on board. Helped by former ArtReview editor Catriona Warren and all-round contemporary art guru Flora Fairbairn, murmurART had got over 40 up-and-coming contemporary artists on their books, including such names to look out for as Hugo Wilson, Bethany Murray, Jeni Snell, Seiko Kato and Giles Ripley.

The advantage for these artists are twofold: firstly, because there's no expensive gallery space, a much higher percentage of proceeds goes direct to the artists themselves; and secondly, their work is on display not just for a month-long show, but 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And now, this July, murmurART is launching for real with a pop-up exhibition at The Wonder Room in Selfridges. murmurART have put together a panel of ten important art world types - including Tracey Emin, Kevin Spacey, Zaha Hadid, Sir Peter Blake and Kay Saatchi - and asked each one to choose their favourite emerging young artist.

So there's work on display by the likes of Rose Blake, Hugo Wilson and Jo Robertson, all of which is for sale with prices starting at £1000 and 100% of that going to the artist. Alongside this exhibition, there's artist editions by Sam Buxton and Toby Christian, in collaboration with The Multiple Store and 176.

I caught up with one of the artists selected – Rose Blake – to see what she thought about the whole thing. Daughter of esteemed Pop Artist Sir Peter Blake, Rose is a London-based illustrator, artist and designer who's produced work and t-shirts for a whole host of clients, including Vice, Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair and the Barbican Art Gallery Shop. She describes her work as 'illustration basically.' She does what she calls 'self-obsessed, narrative-based works, usually with me pictured. I mainly do screenprints at the moment.'

On her thoughts on the murmurART show at Selfridges, Rose admits to being 'pretty excited, although a little nervous'. Given that Rose was selected by her father for this show, that's understandable. 'It feels a bit weird as I was chosen by my dad – so there is a huge amount of nepotism involved.' But she's keen to stress that her father has been a tremendously positive influence: 'I have spent most of my life with one of the most creative, interesting and, above all, kind people that I have ever met'.

I ask how her work will fare alongside that of the other artists involved. 'It'll probably be the worst,' she charmingly responds. 'My stuff isn't really "proper" art.' Don't believe a word of it! Rose's work is characterised by a childlike-sense of glee, but there is something a little dark or uncanny behind the understated DIY aesthetic. Along with the other artists on show this July, she's definitely one to keep an eye on.

murmurART is at Selfridges from 1st July to 15th July 2009

Click here to visit the murmurART homepage.

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Tom Jeffreys