David Shillinglaw: Living and working as an artist in London I am Lucky to see a massive amount happening in a city that never seems to sleep. When not making art I travel, making and exhibiting art along the way. I paint, draw, make books and other stuff. This blog report takes you through a few things I have seen and been up to so far this year. I am currently based in an old false teeth factory in North London, where I run a gallery called Nowhere North. Come by to see the gallery and have some coffee.

2008 began with a great time exhibiting at the Seimens Senat (Centre for Contemporary Art), Istanbul, Turkey. This was my first visit to Turkey and it blew my mind. My works were placed along side Erkut Terliksiz and Aksel ZeydanGoz, The show was Curated by Murteza Fidan and T.Melih Gorgun. Show runs till 22nd FEB.

To see a complete journal of this trip, other trips and residencies visit my web site.

Here's a little piece of my installation from the show: paintings on found blue-prints.

Istanbul is an amazing city, serious contrast of old meets new, the place is non stop. Great galleries, food, people and places to visit. Here are two photos that kinda sum up my time there, photo *1 is the view from my 11floor hotel room, overlooking snow covered roof tops. Birds eye view, Istanbul by day:

Photos *2 is one of the many winding ally ways that lead you through the city centre. somewhat fairy-tale like. Ground level, Istanbul by night:

I got to spend some time with Erkut Teliksiz, a great artist and awesome guy. Here are a few pics from his studio, check out his paintings and graphic design at http://www.erkutterliksiz.com/.

Above is a drawing by Erkut from the show. His original drawings were transfered to Vinyl and thrown up, larger than life onto the gallery walls .

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This month also saw some amazing shows happening in London.

96 Gillespie celebrated animals of all types. The show was a blast and bought together artists from around the world. Thanks to Pat and Melanie for putting together such an awesome event. Great to see so much good work in one place. Show runs till Feb 17th. Follow this gallery at www.96gillespie.com

I love the rich Jacobs addition to the gallery door:

Elms and Lester made a superb solo exhibition of works by Anthony Lister. check his work out at www.anthonylister.com/. Visit the gallery online at www.elmslesters.co.uk, the gallery is in Covent Garden and always has something good showing. I got to hook up with Mister Lister a few days before it opened, here's a pic of the man doing his thing.

The show had a bit of everything, old works, new prints, some tied up super heros and a homage to Heath Ledger:

Nowhere North Gallery put on "When Things Come Together", celebrating 1 year of Nowhere North. Show runs till March 1st. To find out more about this and view more photos from this show go to www.nowherenorth.co.uk

Site specific work by Sam Bassett: see more of sams work here.

Below are shots of my double sided door painting, handing next to some sweet drawings by Robin Footitt, check his stuff out at www.gooutinthesun.com.

Robin Footitt:

something for everyone at this group show in North London, A mix of painting, drawing, graff, and I love this screen print by FEFE:

No matter how long I live in London, I am always finding new stuff in familar places. Here are a few snaps from late night wonderings in the East end.

Something special of the 'swoon' variety:

Finally, an example of what can be done with a lonely traffic cone:

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