LONDON.- Intoart announces the second annual Summer Collection Exhibition, titled A Lion in the Studio, which will take place in the organisation’s home ground of Peckham, South London. On show at Copeland Gallery from 29 June - 2 July, the exhibition will celebrate 22 artists from the Intoart studio. Intoart is a pioneering visual arts organisation championing people with learning disabilities to become visible, equal and established artists.

A Lion in the Studio will bring together a selection of works, ranging across disciplines including painting, ceramics, drawing, print and textile. The exhibition will offer a glimpse into the experimental and thematically diverse works made at Intoart, exploring the artists’ respective passions, such as Nineties street-fashion, the restorative calm of nature and the joys of dancing to pop music. As well as themes of community, cultural identity and the politics of our everyday lives which are recurrent motifs throughout the show. The exhibition will feature new pieces created over the last year, as well as past works selected from the Intoart Collection, which features over 5000 works of art created in the Intoart studio over the last 23 years.

Ella Ritchie MBE, Intoart Director, says “Each year we are blown away by the quality and range of artwork made by the artists working in our studio. We are excited to showcase these outstanding artists to collectors, curators, writers and wider communities.”

Nancy Clayton, Intoart artist, says “Being an artist means moving forward and not being invisible with our disability. I want people to know that people with a disability can be artists. Not an outsider. Being an independent artist means getting work out there, to show that there are artists with a disability.”

George Vasey, Intoart’s Writer in Residence 2022/23, says “From friendly deer to hip Nineties street- wear, explorations of cultural heritage through to the politics of everyday joy; the artists of Intoart show us that claiming pleasure is a deeply political undertaking. A Lion in the Studio is, then, a very very very good exhibition. It is also an exhibition that shows us that art is a way of being in the world by transforming it through joy, tenderness, love, fun, play and community…Curators and gallerists reading this: get your skates on, these artists aren’t messing around.”

At the Intoart studio, rules are lightly and joyfully upended, resulting in a range of highly expressive works brimming with dynamic forms, vibrant colour and an abandonment of precision and exactness. The artists on show seek to dismiss the policed boundaries between art, design, theatre, music and fashion through their work.

The full list of artists are: Andre Williams | Aysen Aktu | B Taylor | Christian Ovonlen | Clifton Wright | Danielle Green | Dawn Wilson | Ishaq Beckford | Jordan Moody | Kevin Jacobs | Lisa Contucci | Lisa Trim | Luigi Lollobrigida | Mawuena Kattah | Nancy Clayton | Nick Fenn | Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye | Philomena Powell | Samuel Jegede | Stanley Galton | Uduehi Imienwanrin | William Mukui.