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Islington Tribune - by SARA NEWMAN
Published: 1 August 2008

Mark Bracegirdle and Vanessa Hemmings of SHP with Matthew Small (front)

Art with attitude comes in from street

Works produced in garden of hostel for homeless will be shown at fashionable gallery

AN artist who paints on abandoned fridge doors has dipped into his own pocket to help fund a pioneering street art project.
Work produced in the garden of a Holloway hostel for the mentally ill will be seen at a fashionable Finsbury gallery in September.
Artist Matthew Small is the driving force behind the exhibition at the Black Rat Press art gallery in Leonard Street.
He has been working with the first-time artists at the Single Homeless Project’s hostel in Holloway Road. He has spent £1,000 of his own money on spray paints and materials and has borrowed items from scrapyards and contacts.
Mr Small, who has exhibited at Ronnie Wood’s Scream gallery in Mayfair, said: “I believe that if you do well in life you have to give back.”
One of those taking part in the art project, Dave Best, from Hoxton, has a back problem which affects his mobility. “When you have a disability you can spend a lot of time indoors and it can get a bit isolated,” he said.
“This is great because you can just come down on a Thursday and do your own thing and just let go.”
Another participant, Zachary Walsh, said: “We all add to each other’s work. It’s a communal endeavour.”
Single Homeless Project chief executive Liz Rutherford said: “I suppose this kind of art is frightening to some people because of its association to graffiti and crime but I don’t think there have been any objections.”
Mr Small, who paints on found pieces of metal, giving his work a raw, urban edge, has been nominated for a number of awards, including the BP Portrait Prize.

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