Paint Talk Presents, Dream Baby Dream, a group show of work by Alice Macdonald, Andras Nagy-Sandor, Ben Jamie, Daniel MacCarthy, David Auborn, Ethan Caflisch, Emma Cousin, Hannah Tilson, Heidi Ukkonen, Holly Mills, Jade Ching-yuk Ng, James Lincoln, Joshua Armitage, Lian Zhang, Max Boyla, Rae Hicks, Ralf Kokke, Ranald Macdonald, Rebecca Harper, Rhiannon Salisbury, Sean Rohr, Sophie Lourdes Knight, Sophie Ruigrok, Stevie Dix, Thom Trojanowski, and Vilte Fuller.

It’s 1979 in Max’s Kansas City, a freewheeling nightclub and restaurant on Park Avenue South, New York. Two men climb onto the stage, both dressed in dirty jeans and tight-fitting leather jackets. One wears dark wrap-around glasses, that make him look like a character from a second-rate sci-fi movie. The other carries an oily stainless-steel motorcycle chain, sporadically thrashing the stage with it. These men look dangerous; not to be messed with. At first, we hear just the pop-pop-pop of a drum machine. Then, a distorted keyboard comes in, repeating the same euphoric chords over and over. “Hmmm…” Suicide’s legendary vocalist Alan Vega intones, mumbling like a late-career Elvis. “Dream baby dream...Dream baby dream. Forever.”

Suicide, a two-piece formed by Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev 1971, was one of the most combative bands of the early punk scene. In early 70s New York, pop music was dominated by groups that offered an escape from gritty reality. However, Suicide revelled in the urban decay that blighted the city in which they lived. The band pulled on the warm melodies of 50s and 60s rock n’ roll, but something seemed to have been lost along the way. The dream of youth culture had turned into a nightmare. Electronic delay effects made Vega’s voice sound haunting and unfamiliar. And, the insistent beat of Martin Rev's drum machine generated an overwhelming sense of anxiety in the listener. Though they would become influential on later bands such as Duran Duran or Radiohead, early audiences were not receptive to Suicide’s unusual mix of sounds. Opening for The Clash in Edinburgh in the late 70s, Vega almost took a hatchet to the face. In Metz, an audience member threw a wrench that hit him on the jaw. In an interview shortly before his death in 2016, Vega recalled the band’s early struggles. “The crowd knew we were creating something for the future, but it wasn’t a future that they wanted to know about,” he said.

“Dream Baby Dream” includes the work of artists who, like Suicide, offer us the future, whether we like it or not. At Fitzrovia Gallery, you’ll find a heterogenous mix of styles and approaches. Some artists channel the unconscious mind, whilst others are concerned with the visible world. Some want to change our minds, but others seek simply to enthral us. Many draw on personal experience, but a few consider universal themes that affect us all. You’ll see illusionistic oil painting, geometric abstraction, surreal semi-figurative imagery and motifs appropriated from advertising. Don’t let this variety put you off. It’s 2022 and everything is up for grabs. Like Suicide, these artists refuse to be labelled. Each in their own way, they keep the spirit of painting alive. So, dream baby, dream…Forever, and ever. The old rules no longer apply. 

Text by Isaac Nugent, @isaac.nugent