Interview with French, the initiator of the new 101 Gallery at the Allersbergerstraße 101.
The gallery is an artist run & curated creative space, aiming
to support, promote and showcase emerging & established
artists from Germany and all over the world.
KunstNürnberg: You are the initiator and owner of the new gallery on Allersbergerstraße 101, 90461 Nürnberg. Please introduce yourself to our readers.
French: My name is French, I am an artist from England. I am from the south, a small town called Aldershot. I have been a freelance artist since about 2004. This is me:
- funeralfrench.com
- Instagram : @funeralfrench
I lived in London for about 10 years and in that time I have traveled a lot and exhibited all over the world, I have exhibited in the USA, Australia, France, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and a few other places. I mainly make artwork for the skateboard, streetwear and music industry. From 2013-2017 I lived in Melbourne, Australia.
KN: Why did you open a gallery in Nürnberg?
French: So the idea behind the gallery was literally that I wanted to have a studio to make work in. And when I started looking for a space I found out that I could rent an old shop space.
I just thought it would be super fun to open the front part of the space as a small gallery, while I work in the back and I could just ask artists that I knew or that I liked what they did if they would like to come and show their work.
Its just that simple.
And then when there’s not an exhibition I can use the extra space to make larger pieces of work.
I work as an artist so I have met a few people over the years that I love what they do and I thought there wasn’t really a gallery in Nuremberg showing work like that. So I just figured why not, if it works that will be great and if it doesn’t I haven’t really lost anything.
There’s not really a theme for the gallery, so far its mainly been a little more ‘lofi’ and illustration, drawing style work, but I don’t think it will stay always 100% that way. I think we will just show people that I find interesting or have a good vibe about them.
KN: Which artists did you already show?
The first exhibition we held was: ‘Kogan at 101’ – all ink on paper drawings. There were 59 works in the show. Kogan is originally from Russia, but grew up in Nuremberg and now lives and works in Berlin.
His work is really loose and super spontaneous, he’s recently been making a lot of work for skateboard brands & street wear labels. His animations are also amazing & he has exhibited all over the world. Check him out on instagram: @kogancult
We also showed Johannes Stahl ‘BLOCK PRINTSCUM – all block printed artworks, in many sizes from 20x20cm to 110x60cm.
Johannes is a print maker who lives in Nuremberg, his work is insanely intricate and detailed and when you realise this is all carved into Lino and then printed its crazy to see that much skill and technique.
All of the works in the show had a fantasy, dungeons and dragons mixed with punk and metal culture theme. Again check his Instagram for more @johannes.stahl
The current exhibition is ‘THATS HOT’ by Gabriel Hollington (aka Pizzaboobs), this is a mix of 63x93cm acrylic on canvas and A4 Posca pen and ink drawings.
We also made a skateboard jump ramp for Gabe to paint and then we made small skate event with Bretterbude Skateshop and invited skaters to come and skate it. Here’s a small video :
Gabriel is an artist from England, this is his first solo exhibition. Gabriel comes from a graffiti back ground but now works as an artist and illustrator. He makes a lot of editorial artwork for newspapers and magazines such the NewYork Times & artwork for the music business.
The main element in his work is humour and simplicity, back up by an amazing use of colour. His instagram is @pizzaboobs
All the exhibitions have had a zine of the artists work, like a catalogue to accompany the show and so far each show has had it own t-shirt and patch of the artists work. Like a little gift shop section / merchandise.
KN: What comes next?
French: There are exhibition’s planned roughly one a month until June 2021 and there will be artists from all over the world, not just Germany and Europe. There’s a timetable on our website 101alle.com, the artists coming up include Ragner Persson (Sweden), Chrissie Abbott (GB) , Stefan Marx (DE), James Jarvis (GB), Anthony Eslick (USA), Annu Kilpeläinen (FIN).
And also a group exhibition is coming up in November with many artists from all over the globe sending works that are A4 in size. The list of artists should be confirmed soon.
101 Gallery
Allersbergerstraße 101, 90461 Nürnberg
Opening hours: Wed–Fr 15–18:30| Sat 11–16