Danse Macabre is a creative business collaboration between Matthew Vickerstaff, Charlotte Thomson and Paul Bowring. Matthew Vickerstaff's business, Darkwave Art, encompasses graphic design, press, promotion, records and clothing. Charlotte Thomson runs her own company Charlotte Thomson Art & Illustration and has experience in the gallery sector. Paul Bowring (aka The Paintdistresser) is a fine artist who regularly exhibits in the Nottingham area.
It was Matthew's idea to hold an exhibition in Nottingham that included creative industry practitioners alongside fine artists with a theme that drew on the interests of the Gothic sub-culture. He invited Charlotte and Paul to join him in this venture which became known as Danse Macabre .
Right from the start it was intended that Danse Macabre would be an annual exhibition and to bring together artists whose work can be seen to revive the essence of the Romantic and Gothic movements. The artists chosen to exhibit would be inspired by love of the bizarre, the macabre and the otherworldly and there would be a juxtaposition of more traditional art-forms with types of media regularly used in the creative industries but not often found on display in contemporary fine art galleries.
The first Danse Macabre exhibition was held in Nottingham at the VIEW from the top gallery and ran from 30th October to 5th November 2007. It was a highly successful event which drew over 200 guests to the private view. The combination of involving creative industry practitioners alongside fine artists, as well as the Gothic 'flavour' of the artwork on show helped to draw a wider audience than normal by accessing the combined creative and social networks of all those involved. This was very evident during the private view which had an exciting cross-section of guests which helped stimulate a vibrant atmosphere. Due to the affordable prices of the artwork, 11 of the 14 artists sold work during the exhibition, with one artist selling all 5 pieces he displayed.
2008's Danse Macabre exhibition was again held in Nottingham at VIEW from the top , and ran from Wednesday 29th October to Monday 3rd November. This time it was expanded to 19 artists and the feed back was that it was even better than the first one!
It's not the intention for Danse Macabre to solely present an annual gallery-based exhibition, but rather to work with performers, artists, musicians, photographers and other organisers to create events in a variety of venues and locations
Matt, Charlotte, Paul
Danse Macabre
The Pit of Curiosities - Friday 13th February 2009
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Facebook event here
Private view photos from 2008: