LONDON.- Gazelli Art House announces This Is Today, the largest group exhibition the gallery has held to date, celebrating the influence of artists living and working in Britain during the 1950s, as well as tracing developments in their individual bodies of work during the 1960s and 1970s.

This is Today features artists who were producing work whilst under the influence of western abstract expressionism, serving as a precursor to pop art. The artists illustrate the expansive outreach Britain had in the development of new ideas and movements at the time through their broad use of mediums; Paolozzi used collages and drawings, Boshier chose film, Cordell McHale, Cohen, Stephenson and Plumb favoured sculpture and painting and Archigram branched into architecture.

The exhibition also marks the 60th anniversary of This is Tomorrow , an exhibition held at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1956 that presented the Independent Group (IG), which exhibiting artists Paolozzi and Cordell McHale were founding members of. The IG carried out their sessions from 1952-1955 at the Institute of Contemporary Art, then located on Dover Street in place of the current Dover Street Market.

This is Today highlights the historical influences that affected these artists, the developments of the industry and the relationship between the influencers and support mechanisms that are in place today. It reiterates the importance, relevance and security of institutions, curators and critics acting as facilitators of the new and contemporary.

A panel discussion will be held on 9 February discussing ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ with speakers including Victoria Walsh, Ben Cranfield, Rosie Ram and Dennis Compton.

A series of archived and commissioned texts and interviews will accompany the exhibition; writers include: Lawrence Alloway, Reyner Banham, David Sylvester and Gillo Dorfles.