Opening night - exhibition will continue until 4 October, open Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm, or by appointment.

Niles Crane, an exhibition exploring the positioning of food and art within each other’s spaces. A group show curated by Lauren Godfrey and featuring the work of eleven emerging and established artists including Erik Benjamins, Kathrin Böhm, Alex Brenchley, Celine Condorelli, Mike Cooter, Simon Dybbroe Møller, George Little, Bruce McLean, Bella Pace, Amanda Ross-Ho and Ettore Sottsass for Alessi. This exhibition explores some of the institutional and conceptual frameworks around food and art, further drawing upon their status as both sensorial and social objects.   Although perhaps not traditionally contextualised together, food and art commonly occupy the same environments, even fusing together at times with food represented in art - or even as art - in both the gallery and restaurant. As restaurants or cafes have now become the standard within most major museums, and with art adorning the walls of many a dining establishment, each are exploited in the other’s space as an added level of engagement. The exhibition queries these spatial relationships, as well as inviting contemplation around how levels of value are ascribed within both contexts, and how different they really are.   For this exhibition Turf’s gallery space is transformed into an ambiguous restaurant-style environment, but where the menu is undeniably art. Encouraging reflection upon the place-based distinctions between art and food, curator Lauren Godfrey has sourced tables and chairs that double up as plinths for other works, whilst Bella Place’s commissioned sign adds a further dimension to the site-specificity of the show.   Accompanied by a text from Lauren Godfrey, the show draws on historical representations of food in art, as well as current conceptualisations of how the two come together. Visitors are invited to consider these relationships through their own choices and definitions in the space, whilst a series of events accompanying the exhibition encourage further live interaction with these ideas.

The exhibition was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Arts Council England and Mayor of London.   Turf Projects are a non-profit organisation based in Croydon, South London, working to support the development of artists, curators and the public through free exhibitions, workshops and events.

Art in restaurants is the third exhibition to be presented within their Keeley Road exhibition and workshop space which opened in May 2015.  

Lauren Godfrey is a London-based artist whose recent exhibitions include Entrée, Stage left, a solo show at Kingsgate Workshops, and group show Longing for Leisure at the Open Space Gallery, Baltimore, USA.

www.turf-projects.com @Turf_Projects #ArtInRestaurants