DUNCAN WESTON’S SOLO SHOW ‘DON’T ASK’ OPENS FRIDAY 6 MAY 2022
Photos from the opening of ‘Don’t Ask’ by Duncan Weston on Friday 6 May 2022
‘DON’T ASK’
We invite you to experience the world of multidisciplinary artist Duncan Weston at new show ‘DON’T ASK’. The show is the culmination of a three-month artist-in-residency in a new DIY creative space in the heart of Plymouth’s cultural quarter. Weston embodies and utilises the building and its surroundings at a time when this 120-year-old building begins its transition from its purely commercial past.
AN EVER-UNFOLDING STORY IN THE WINDOW
Weston is fascinated with the hidden infrastructure of local entertainment, culture, delicacies and folklore of a place. He learns the map of a city via its fly posters, graffiti, things of unintentional interest and the people he meets. As he traverses Plymouth, he collects materials and ideas which are being retold in a narrative and ever-unfolding story in the building’s front window for passers-by as they walk up and down North Hill.
A RESIDENCY IN PLYMOUTH AND ONGOING JOURNEY
The multi-media show marks the end of Weston’s residency and an ongoing journey. Now aged 49½, Weston has occupied spaces across capital metropolises, from London to Amsterdam, to seaside towns and cities, including his hometown of Folkestone, and now Plymouth. The show questions consumerism within society, reflecting back to us our own desires and insecurities with reassuring effervescent nostalgia. Weston shares his experience through the eyes of an iconic fashion house and designer mogul, which includes wearing the brand head to toe for over 25 years. This obsession became to mean more to his own identity and aspirations, even the semblance of a father figure, as Weston becomes the brand and the space turns into a luxury flagship store.
PART OF A YEAR-LONG SERIES OF POP-UP CULTURAL EVENTS
Weston’s show will be the first of a year-long series of pop-up cultural events working with partners to experiment and celebrate the building, its surroundings, heritage and looks to the future in terms of sustainability, inclusion, food and drink, grassroots arts, music and culture. The top floors have recently been converted into studios, which are now creative home to painters, audio artists, printmakers, installation and socially engaged artists.
EVENT DETAILS
Address: Grow, 14 Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AQ
Private View: Fri 6 May 2022, 5-9pm, Open to all. RSVP
Show open to General Public: Saturday 7 - Friday 13 May, 12-6pm
ABOUT DUNCAN WESTON
Duncan Weston was born in Folkestone UK in 1972. His work is multimedia, often autobiographical, site-specific and carries a mix of nostalgia and acute observational skill. Starting out as a graffiti writer in the 1980s, Weston's work is continually evolving in a contemporary context, leading to intense periods of exhibiting his narrative and circumstance as a nomadic artist as he explores identity, place, consumerism and class.
Weston’s works have been exhibited across the UK, including London’s Somerset House and Saatchi Gallery, and internationally, including Finland, Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Norway, France and Sweden. Weston also has a MA from University of Creative Arts, UCA. @byduncanweston
Exhibitions
2020
Solo show - WHOLE TRUTH, Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton, UK
2019
Group exhibition - Oslospa, Oslo, Norway
Solo exhibition - Urban Boat, Residency and Show, Lille, France
Solo exhibition - Works on Paper, China Heights, Sydney, Australia
Group exhibition - Trophy, Duncan Weston and Zo Defferary, Limbo Project Space, Margate, UK
Group exhibition - Gas contemporary, Morecambe, UK
Group exhibition - Chapter II - Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton, UK
2018
Group exhibition - White & Black, Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton UK
Hack Morecambe, Gas Contemporary, Morecambe, UK
Solo exhibition - Marry Me, Weston and Weston Gallery, Folkestone, UK
Solo exhibition - Lauren and Ralph, Silver Building, Residency and Show, London, UK
Group exhibition - Up Yules! - Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton, UK
2017
Solo exhibition - Ismerockerski, Le Fix Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Fluorescent Smogg, Residency and Show, Barcelona, Spain
Group exhibition - Works on paper, China Heights, Sydney, Australia
Group exhibition - Unruly Suspects, Unruly Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016
MA show, University of Creative Arts, UCA, Canterbury, UK
Group show - Out of sight, Proof Gallery, London, UK
Group Show - Venturing Beyond, Somerset House, London,UK
2015
Group Show - Cossmogg, Bristol, UK
Solo exhibition - Works on paper, China Heights, Sydney, Australia
Mapping the City, Somerset House, London, UK
2014
Group Show - Cult of Rammellzee, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Pilgrim, Russell Maurice and Petro, Margate, UK
Margate, D. Weston, Margate, UK
2013
Solo exhibition - Petro, Tower Gallery, Newcastle
Solo exhibition - Beg, Borrow and Steal Galleries, Goldstein, London, UK
2012
Solo exhibition - Stendahl Syndrome, Stockholm, Sweden
Solo exhibition - Hey You, B and B Gallery, Sheffield, UK
2011
Egs and Petro, Make Your Mark Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
Demon Hell Riders, Rag Factory, London & Bristol, UK Solo exhibition - Hit by the Windmill, Unruly Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2010
Solo exhibition - Petro, Kind Regards Gallery, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPetro, Friend and Co Gallery, Bristol, UKSolo exhibition - Too Big to Be Human, China Heights Gallery, Sydney, AustraliaSolo exhibition - Too Big to Be Human, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2009
Solo exhibition - Multi Storey, Strange Cargo, Folkestone, UK
Solo exhibition - Petro, Rag Factory, London, UK