From the 22 - 30 September, the Hoxton Gallery will host Correspondences, a Ben Wilson Retrospective. The exhibition, curated by Chiara Famengo, will guide the public into the art journey of Ben Wilson, best known as the Chewing Gum Man, from his very beginnings to the recent evolution of his practice.

Encompassing giant wood installations, assemblages of litters, tiles transformed into intimate diaries and works on canvas, “Correspondences, a Ben Wilson Retrospective” will display a vibrant and heterogeneous body of work.

It will portray Wilson as more than the “Chewing Gum Man” an artist who acts and reacts to the diverse materials he encounters.

He works “with what is already there”, no matter at what scale or with what substance.

The show demonstrates his practice as fluid, open-ended and ever-changing but also firmly bound together by the twin needs of corresponding with the environment and with the people who live and walk through it.

“Correspondences” is a celebration of personal stories that gives expression to individual meaning while at the same time strengthening the social fabric of the individuals communities.

Attention will be given to the grassroots features of the artists practice.

With this in mind there will be a series of artistic “interventions” accompanying the exhibition in the Shoreditch neighbourhood.

With a period of subversive activity in the run-up and during the show itself, the artist in collaboration with the curator will create new chewing-gum and tile artworks whilst also connecting with the local urban area and its community.

The audience attending the show will be invited to explore and correspond both with the inside and the outside of the gallery space.

Sometimes hiding peacefully in unnoticed corners, sometimes sitting happily in plain sight, Wilson’s artworks will be waiting to be discovered.

Corresponding with you: The public programme of the event

As part of the corresponding process, a programme of talks and events has been devised in collaboration with Ben Wilson to run throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Sunday 26th September, 11.30 am

The artist Workshop

Bring cans, papers, chewing gums and any rubbish you might find on the way to the gallery. Guided by the artist Ben Wilson you will transform discarded material into colorful personal artworks. The workshop is designed for any age.

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Thursday 30th September, 6 pm

Artwork-hunting

As part of the Correspondences Public Program, the artist Ben Wilson in collaboration with the curator leads a walk exploring the hidden trail of pictures in the Shoreditch neighbourhood. Hidden, colourful, microscopic artworks are waiting to be discovered. Let’s go hunting!

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RSVP for Private View 6pm - 9pm 21st September 2021  

Exhibition 22nd - 30th September 

Hoxton Gallery 17 Marlow Workshops, Arnold Circus, London E2 7JN 

Exact address: https://w3w.co/extend.union.motor

About the artist Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson has worked and exhibited in Europe, the USA and Australia and has been featured in The New York Time, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Der Spiegel, the BBC, Sky and YouTube. Long before the national and international media discovered him, Ben started his journey into art by building large-scale constructions and installations from found wood and open spaces. He moved into the urban environment with billboard paintings and assemblages of litters. Since 2004, he has focused his practice on the chewing gum artworks that can be found on pavements across London, all the way down to the mental treads of the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames, on the Berlin sidewalks, on the Belgian footpaths, in Paris and Zurich, on the rocks of Senja within the Arctic Circle.