I guess I owe you all an explanation to this word I made up. Artade is a play on the word grenade; bombs of colour are thrown into spaces that allow explosions of viewing joy. To bomb a space is also very familiar in the graffiti world and of course it’s an aid to like minded artists in Cornwall. So there you have it. Artade.

Cornwall is a funny place for artists. Its beautiful and provides the ideal life to paint, only the wage is rubbish and therefore studio time seems sparse, then once the time has been made to create, the galleries don’t want to support the work due to fear of tourists not supporting the work. A lot of artists leave, well the ones that don’t paint the sea that is. The ones that stay stuck inside this beach life bubble have to fend for them selves and reinvent the ways to present work. That’s why the collective started. At first it was very simple, bad posters inviting artists to join in with a street show of work. The brief was to bring 2 pieces of art and leave one swapping the other with another artist. Several shows went by, the peeps kept coming and the list of artists grew.

I guess I owe you all an explanation to this word I made up. Artade is a play on the word grenade; bombs of colour are thrown into spaces that allow explosions of viewing joy. To bomb a space is also very familiar in the graffiti world and of course it’s an aid to like minded artists in Cornwall. So there you have it. Artade.

Cornwall is a funny place for artists. Its beautiful and provides the ideal life to paint, only the wage is rubbish and therefore studio time seems sparse, then once the time has been made to create, the galleries don’t want to support the work due to fear of tourists not supporting the work. A lot of artists leave, well the ones that don’t paint the sea that is. The ones that stay stuck inside this beach life bubble have to fend for them selves and reinvent the ways to present work. That’s why the collective started. At first it was very simple, bad posters inviting artists to join in with a street show of work. The brief was to bring 2 pieces of art and leave one swapping the other with another artist. Several shows went by, the peeps kept coming and the list of artists grew.

A collective had begun so it became evident that a live show needed to happen to make the general public aware of what was going on. The event square seemed an ideal place and the cold concrete environment was taken over by 18 live artists painting all day long. Demelza walked through on that day and approached us to do an exhibition in her gallery. Yes, we had made an impact. With a healthy catalogue of art and artists on the myspace, I pushed the idea of doing a live show at the beach breaks live festival last year which turned out to be immense. 2008 is the second year at the festival and we are stoked to be back.

Within the collective there are many different styles and talents whether it be a camera, computer, pencil, brush, sewing machine or spray can. When we exhibit we try and incorporate two additional elements to the preview night or live event. We always carry with us a source of heavyweight deejays and we offer a space for the audience to create work so that the exhibition looses the hardness of contemporary and traditional galleries. These elements always give a really fun party atmosphere to the shows.

Now you know a bit about us and what we do you gotta go check out the work, its sick, trust.

Louis.