Estonian artist Meru Meru has created an incredible set of artistic works. Her paintings are very colourful, thought provoking and intense. She seeks to paint alluring and provocative pictures by using bright imagery and soft brush strokes.

Her communication with art grew stronger while she was studying law and working on various creative projects at the same time. Studying such an academic subject as well as exploring her artistic talent, allowed her to discover contrasts. She learnt how different things complement each other, which helped her to realize her ideas. This is probably reflected in her works.

She often compares herself to the famous Salvador Dali – believing that each dream is can be experienced as if it were real. Many of her paintings are inspired by the subconscious and particularly this collection has a strong correlation with her dream state.

She recalls the night she painted the main piece for the upcoming exhibition at The Islington Company gallery:

“it all started from a strange dream I had. I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt like creating a painting. I didn’t even have an idea what the painting was about. I went back to sleep after I finished it. The next day I couldn’t explain it to myself at all and I wondered why there is a Picasso bird on that girls shoulder. But I thought, they look like they love each other.”

This gave her the title of her exhibition "Love the little bird on your shoulder." After the ideas came to her in her sleep, it was only later she managed to decipher their meaning  “I just googled ‘Love the little bird on your shoulder.’ And yes Google helps – I found the meaning of it and it scared me a bit.”

She discovered that according to Zen Buddhism, there is a little bird on each of our shoulders, which reminds us of death. Telling us that death is inevitable, and unpredictable, that each day could be the last day of our life as we know it.

She explains, “the purpose of this imaginary companion, the bird on our shoulders, is to make sure we NEVER lose sight of death.”

The significance of the themes of life and death play a large role in her work. She explores how to truly remain alive until we die and how to value all the little things and to cherish the moments in life. Love the little bird on your shoulder attempts to provide an answer.

By expressing the delight she receives from painting through her vibrant works, she seeks to create beautiful pieces that generate positive thoughts. Her works will be on display at The Islington Company gallery from the 27th of May until the 26th July.

The Islington Company will be hosting a private view on the 14th of June complete with music, waffles and wine. So come and join us for an evening of art, fun and delicious goodies.

The Islington Company is holding an art exhibition by the renowned artist Efrain Vidal, in support of the Margins Project at the Union Chapel. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of each painting will go to the charity. There will also be a free drinks reception hosted by The Islington Company at our gallery space in Essex road, where we will be encouraging donations.

Margins is a small local project run by the Union Chapel in Islington. They run both an art group and a framing workshop. The project aims to provide a safe space for people who have been affected by homelessness and those often living on the margins of society.

The diverse groups are really close and engage in creative activities mostly painting, clay sculptures, film, photography. They also run a framing workshop run professional framer by Liz Walker, which allows local artists to attend and frame their work. These workshops encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to interact with one another.

One member, after a traumatic 8 months away, came back to the Art Group because it was a safe space.  He came back on a Tuesday afternoon, sat down with a cup a tea, started conversing about politics and began his work on a painting of ships. 

Another member comes to the art group regularly and mainly focuses on modeling clay figures.  He uses his art to work through mental instabilities that he experiences, but he also comes because it is a place where he feels protected.  The group makes sure that he is taken care of by making him lunch, giving ideas on what to create and providing him with a space in which to express his creativity.

The art and framing group operate as a studio instead of an instructed class.  This allows people to explore what makes sense for them at the time.  Art has a funny way of bringing together people of different backgrounds and different experiences and giving them a common language. The group can talk about darkening colors or known artists or ask someone’s opinion on a piece.  This language puts everyone on the same ground, creating an atmosphere where people are equal and comfortable around each other. 

Interacting with a range of different people these groups would not normally come into contact with, such as artists struggling to find work and those engaging in creative projects for therapeutic reasons normalizes their respective situations.

If pretentions are left aside, art has a wonderful ability to bring people together regardless of whether it is hanging at the Tate Modern, the Islington Company Studio, or the hallways of Union Chapel. 

Come and visit us at The Islington Company and enjoy the artwork in our brand new gallery space, all in support of a local charity.

At The Islington Company we have a great space we use for events. These events range from art exhibitions, meetings, small gatherings to large property events. Our facilities allow us to host a wide variety of events particularly surrounding property. 

This month we are hosting a private view in our brand new exhibition space for the widely celebrated Peruvian artist Efrain Vidal. After winning the First Prize at X National contest for young artists Southern Peru Corporation in 1995, he has been also selected to represent Peru in exhibitions in Indonesia, Brazil and Geneva. Since then his artwork has been exhibited all over the globe including in Paris, New York, Zurich and Miami.

Efrain’s paintings reveal the hidden aspects of human behaviour. His work attempts to show the real motive of personal and interpersonal relationships and actions. 

Due to the way he handles perspective, his use of strong, bright and vivid colours in the paintings actually have a very gentle effect on the obsever. Through his construction of space, which is so characteristic of his work, he manages to instil an existential, emotional and intimate feeling in the audience. 

The Islington Company is holding the exhibition in support of the Margins Project at the Union Chapel. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of each painting will go to the charity. There will also be a free drinks reception where we will be encouraging donations.

Come and join us for a great evening of art, drinks and good conversation in our brand new gallery space, all in support of a local charity.