London's artists: the Peckham set

(Left to right) Bobby Dowler, James Capper, Oliver Griffin, Christopher Green, James Balmforth

Hettie Harvey|Es Magazine. Photograph|Matt Holyoak

10 April 2012

In 2006, a group of young artists in need of a place to live and work stumbled on an abandoned four-storey Georgian townhouse, 78 Lyndhurst Way, in Peckham. They transformed the house from a rat-filled wreck into a gallery, and turned to a friend, Hannah Barry, to act as curator and gallerist.

Under her guidance, Lyndhurst Way quickly became one of the most talked-about art venues in South London, with regular group shows, until they were evicted mid-2007. Since then, Hannah has started her own gallery in a disused warehouse in Peckham and represents the Lyndhurst Way group.

Her artists showed in the Peckham Pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale and a new group show, Time Flies, opens this week.

Bobby Dowler

Bobby, 26, found the Lyndhurst Way house, while studying at Camberwell College of Arts, and struck a caretaking deal with the landlord to allow him and his friends to transform it into a gallery. He lives in Peckham.

Describe your work
It's an exploration of existence. I paint, sculpt, do collages and draw.

How does one explore existence?
By waking up in the morning and deciding what to do with the day. When the basic needs are done, I ask myself, 'What do I want to do now?' I might get some materials and make some experiments to see if I can cause a revelation. And then if I think the revelation is interesting, I'll show it publicly.

What materials do you work with?
Canvas, paint, paper, pencil, iron. I use found stuff; I don't really like shopping.

Is there an advantage to working alongside other artists?
You can identify with other creative people. But if you're an artist, you have to do something whether you're with people or not.

Why Peckham?
It's quite accepting. If you're a Muslim or if you're an artist, no one bats an eyelid.

James Capper

James, 22, studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art. He joined Lyndhurst Way at the suggestion of one of the founder members, Shaun McDowell (a fellow Chelsea student), exhibiting in the first show, 10 Rooms and a Sculpture Garden.

'It seemed very professional,' he recalls, 'and it was the first show I didn't have to pay to be in.' He works in Southwark and this summer was awarded the Jack Goldhill Award for sculpture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He has pieces in the Cass Sculpture Foundation.

Are the Lyndhurst Way artists a coherent group?
Everyone's individual but we've become good friends. We don't have a lot of money so if someone's got a skill, like I do welding, we swap.

Describe your work
I build graceful machines that demonstrate what machines are capable of - the marks they can leave. I work fast: it takes me about six months to build one.

Why South London?
Many of my artist friends are East; you get thrown in a current at art school and there's hype about certain areas of London having great galleries and up-and-coming art. But at my degree show I had a one-tonne piece that I had to find a home for and Hannah Barry had a multistorey car park gallery space. As a sculptor, for me it's a lot about space.

Is Peckham creative?
Is Peckham the new Shoreditch? I'm not sure. I think it could be something great. There is a keenness around us.

Oliver Griffin

Oliver, 26, grew up in Bournemouth and studied photography in Falmouth. He moved to London to live at 78 Lyndhurst Way and remembers it as 'really fun - I was quite slack on the work front'. Oliver describes himself as an activist, archivist, curator, director of photography, elementary interior/ architecture photographer, researcher, publicist, topographer, typologist and psychogeographer. He lives in Camberwell.

Describe your work
It's photographic topographies and typologies. I'm very influenced by the Dusseldorf School of Photography, and American and British reportage.

Is it helpful to live surrounded by other artists?
It can be but it can be a hindrance. You might think, 'I should be doing something else,' rather than following your heart.

Who would be alongside you in your dream group show?
Bernd and Hilla Becher, Walker Evans, Robert Frank - people who have made me think about what photography really is.

What do you think photography really is?
An art of documentation of the real world.

Christopher Green

Originally from Bournemouth, Christopher, 26, studied graphic design there before moving to Lyndhurst Way. 'It was impractical as a living space but for work it was amazing.' He lives in Peckham.

What brought you together as a group?
I've never been able to see a link between our work, or the principles behind it. I think we just felt a connection as people.

Describe your work
I use the same elements in every painting - circles and lines. They're about colour and how that affects those elements. I spend a lot of time mixing ground colours.

Is Peckham good for artists?
There's something emerging; I hate the word but I think there's a 'scene' developing. It's much cheaper here and you can get a lot more space than in East London.

James Balmforth

James, 29, studied at Chelsea College of Art before becoming a member of the South London-based !WOWOW! artists' collective - as famous for its parties as its art - through which he came to show at 78 Lyndhurst Way. 'It seemed more stable, even though it started as a squat.' One of his works was recently bought by the Cass Sculpture Foundation. He lives in Elephant & Castle and has a studio in Peckham.

Why the collective approach?
As young artists we all needed access to space and that's expensive. We came together by being resourceful.

Describe your work
I make sculpture and video to do with the structure of materials, playing with the idea of forces and structures. I write about each piece as well, as part of it. Video is what I do when something can't be a sculpture, when it exists only in a particular moment in time.