If you’re a follower of this blog, you may know that we opened an exhibition of work by Scottish artist Steve Murison last night (1st February) at Gallery Lock In, Brighton (UK). The exhibition so far has been a huge success, with a new record for Gallery Lock In for the number of people who attended the opening night. If you haven’t seen it already, it continues until 5th February, 1-7pm daily, with a special ‘Werewolf Swap Shop’ taking place on Saturday 4th February. Read on for more!

The Cat Cave, Jazz Up Your Lizard at Gallery Lock In

The exhibition is the second physical exhibition I have co-curated on behalf of kdoutsiderart.com, but the first solo show, and the first where I have been working very closely with the artist during all stages of the project.

I have wanted to exhibit Steve’s work for a number of years, but often timing hasn’t been right, or practicalities have got in the way. However, the five year anniversary of this blog, and the kind donation of gallery space from Beth Troakes (Gallery Lock In) provided the perfect combination of right timing and most importantly – a venue!

The interactive chalk cat wall, Jazz Up Your Lizard

The initial idea came about in late 2016, which gave us quite a short schedule to work to. We agreed that Steve would travel down from Aberdeen with his work, and we would hang and open the show on the Wednesday – quite a risk! But it was a risk that astronomically paid off. On the opening night, the show was incredibly well received, with people eager to see Steve’s curious works in the flesh and, sometimes more importantly, meet the artist behind them.

Although Steve’s ethos is incredibly humbling – he is adamant anyone should be able to own good art, regardless of how much money they have – we managed to sell six pieces on the first night. But there was a part of the show that wasn’t for sale – the Cat Cave. To take away one of his ‘Cats of the Roman Empire’, Steve asks for a drawing of a werewolf in return. To honour this tradition, we are holding a ‘Werewolf Swap Shop’ on Saturday 4th February, inviting people of all ages to join Steve in the gallery, draw their own interpretation of a werewolf, and leave with one of Steve’s characterful cats.

Cats of the Roman Empire, Jazz Up Your Lizard

Jazz Up Your Lizard has so far been very well received, with press coverage in the Brighton Argus and Viva Brighton (click here to read the article). Thank you so much to everyone who came along on the opening night, and if you haven’t yet seen the show, there’s still time! But most of all, I want to say a huge thank you to Steve for his unstoppable and uninhibited creation of amazing work, his incredibly helpful and laid back approach to the exhibition, and for agreeing to take part in the show in the first place!

Werewolf Swap Shop
The Werewolf Swap Shop is taking place in the gallery space on Saturday 4th February. Come along and exchange a drawing of a werewolf for a Cat of the Roman Empire! You can also be creative and leave your mark on our chalk cat wall.

Jazz Up Your Lizard: an exhibition of work by Steve Murison continues until Sunday 5th February (1-7pm) at Gallery Lock In, Little Western Street, Brighton, BN1 2PU.