Feature: Exhibition - Danny Pockets at Highgate Contemporary Art until May 21

Published: 5 May, 2011
by DAN CARRIER 

DISCARDED cans of White Star super-strength cider and run-down fish and chip shops in Seven Sisters Road are not the traditional landmarks of London – but they are objects that make up the very fabric of our city, and therefore deserve to be noticed, marked and celebrated.

This is the premise  for a new exhibition by Danny Pockets, who finds inspiration walking the streets, nosing in skips and soaking up the atmosphere of north London. 

The artist, who trained at Chelsea and the City and Guilds of London Art School, spent years working through different genres such as installation and performance, and he says this new body of work reflects that.

“I experimented a lot until I came up with something tangible,” he says. “This is the culmination and distillation of these different disciplines. 

“All the materials I use are recycled from skips. I do a lot of walking to find subject matter and this means the materials I use are also relevant to the location.”

It was while he was working in a studio in Curtain Road in the East End that the idea for the current show hit him.

“It was a very empty and run-down area then, not bustling like it is now,” he recalls.

“I was looking out of the window hoping for some inspiration. 

“I saw these old, deserted shops and I suddenly thought – that is it. I realised I needed to work with the city around me. I had been looking for something more highbrow and more intellectual, but I realised that what was in front of me was more honest.”

It also made him realise that his subject matter – London – changes every day.

“I am constantly struck how things progress, how things disappear,” he says.

“I am not against progress but you need to note what is there and be aware of it. Chip shops and cafés – they are landmarks that you may not see immediately.”

He features a Percy Ingle bakery – “a very iconic shop front to me” – and another, called the Victory Cafe, in Euston.

“I saw it and wondered when it was built,” he recalls.

“I imagine perhaps just after the war? Its name would have had a very different meaning back then. It looks rather lost now.”

• Danny Pockets is at Highgate Contemporary Art, 26 Highgate High Street, N6, until May 21. For further details call 020 8340 7564.