Dean Chalkley

 

 

 

SHOW OPENS : May 19 2021 Beecroft Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex

A touring art exhibition inspired by the songs & lyrics of Ian Dury

Ian Dury was a rock and roll vagabond whose wit and verbal dexterity gave the world some of its most iconic lyrics; ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock ’n' Roll’, ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ and of course ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’.  A true renaissance man, Dury was a brilliant wordsmith and musician, painter and actor who left behind a body of work that has inspired ALL KINDS OF NAUGHTY, a touring exhibition by the Thames Group of Artists, featuring original work by Ian plus some very special guest artists including Sir Peter Blake, Ian’s family, friends and former bandmates. Oh oh!

March 27 2020 was the twentieth anniversary of the death of Ian Dury. To mark the occasion the Thames Group of Artists created a touring exhibition of artwork inspired by the songs and lyrics of the great Lord Upminster himself. Mischievously entitled ALL KINDS OF NAUGHTY after an unrecorded Dury lyric, the show was due to open on the same day of the first COVID lockdown in March 2020.

Fifteen months later the Thames Group of Artists are delighted to announce that the exhibition will now open at the Beecroft Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex and go on to tour select galleries in London and the South East of England until late September 2021.

The Thames Group comprises of 20 Artists (of which Dean is one..) each with a connection to the River Thames, working across many different disciplines including; painting, sculpture, performance art and photography. This show also features work by many notable guest artists including Ian’s wife, Sophy Dury (sculptor and daughter of the great British ‘Pop Artist’ Joe Tilson), Sir Peter Blake (Pop Artist), Kosmo Vinyl, (Ian’s former press officer/media consultant at Stiff Records in the 70’s). Former Kilburn and the High Roads band members, Rod Melvin (co-writer with Ian Dury of ‘What a Waste’) and Humphrey Ocean RA (current Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy). The show also features some lost portraits of Ian taken only a few months before his sad passing by photographer Han Lee de Boer and the man himself Ian Dury is personally represented with an original mix media painting, two never presented before Ian Dury estate limited edition prints one being a print of a rediscovered hand written lyric to All Kinds Of Naughty.

For this exhibition Dean collaborated with his good friend designer Ciaran O'Shea aka Discordo to produce three photographs 'Here's Business Good', Window Rock Cut', 'Know Every Clothing', All three images refer to an Ian Dury and the Blockheads song, see if you can guess which one it is when you visit the gallery. Dean and Ciaran have worked on many projects together including Reverberation, artwork for the band The Horrors and the Kojey Radical film to name just three...