Money Talks: Penny Parlance, by QUIETBRITISHACCENT

Saturday 16th July – Saturday 6th August 2022

private view: Friday 15th July, 17:30-19:30

open Wednesday-Saturday 12:30-5:30pm

Free entry

 

 

QUIETBRITISHACCENT (QbA) is artist duo Sharon Gale and Jason Gale, who are based in Westward Ho! (Northern Devon). QbA work across print, textiles, painting, sign-writing and digital art, often using text and depictions of money to question the value of art and the limitations and abuse of language.

 

Since 2015, QbA have become known for leaving hand painted messages on pre-decimal pennies stuck to walls (#pennydrops). Sometimes these pennies have accompanying clues to their location left on social media, on other occasions the pennies are left in obscure locations and lie undiscovered for years, and some have been left in the change trays of vending machines. The duo think of their pennies as individual, quiet voices in a loud environment.

 

Last year, QbA began producing NFTs, digital data stored on a blockchain. The duo are interested in the polarizing and controversial nature of this new artform, and how it makes us question traditional systems and the possibilities that this disruption can cause.

 

‘Money Talks’ brings together QbA work from the past seven years and the couple’s new ‘Plausible Deniability’ series of work (recently featured at this year’s Upfest in Bristol and the Art Car Boot Fair in London).

 

QbA began in 2011. Sharon was born and educated in North London, while Jason was born and educated in Northern Devon. The couple relocated from Hertfordshire to Northern Devon in 2020 and Sharon has recently led a series of art workshops aimed at connecting young adults in the Braunton area. QbA’s work is held in The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Clayhill Arts in Somerset and Otkritie Bank Arena in Moscow. QbA have exhibited as part of the Artist Prison Residencies Programme at Shepton Mallet Prison in 2021, Take Back Control at Crypt Gallery (London, 2020), Subcultures at Beecroft Gallery (Southend 2018), a three-month residency at Elements Gallery (East London, 2017) and Factual Nonsense in Hoxton in 2014.

 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a talk about their NFT journey and a workshop where you can stamp your own pennies. QbA will also be part of our summer holiday workshops, offering free workshops to children and young people.

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