Simon Leahy-Clark curates Champs Noir

A multi-disciplinary exhibition of black artworks curated by SPACE studio artist Simon Leahy-Clark, featuring SPACE artists Michael Ashcroft (Britannia Works), Jost Munster (Deborah House) and Mutalib Man (Haymerle Road).

Prompted by a large flat-screen TV that intruded on Terrace’s previous home at the William IV public house in Leyton, and acting as an epilogue to his solo show of black works (2018-2022) at Barbican Arts Trust Group late last year, Simon Leahy-Clark has curated a multi-disciplinary exhibition of black works at Terrace’s new home at Patchworks in Leyton.

Including over 30 artists working in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage and print, this exhibition brings together works from the 1970s to the present day and examines the continued allure of monochrome black in artistic practice, given all its historic precedence. The works in the exhibition come from disparate starting points and processes but all explore black as the main theme. The curation was initially conceived as a way to take authorship of the ready-made blank TV screen and incorporate it into the hang of the works. After the move to Patchworks, this concept became redundant – the TV has gone but the exhibition remains as a residue.