Murray Grigor’s 1975 documentary Blast! splices together newsreel, text and images to transport us back to ‘the years of the vortex’, to a pre-war society revelling in the advances and liberations of the machine-age.

Propelled forward into avant-garde territory by the material and social changes around them, the British Vorticist artists adopted an angular, yet whirling style of painting and sculpting to depict novel machinery and energetic urban life. Although he was never officially affiliated with the rebel group, David Bomberg’s ‘In the Hold’ of 1913 is one such work, executed in the spirit of the short-lived vorticist movement before the outbreak of WWI.

This bold experiment in dissecting figures into geometric forms can perhaps be seen as an early iteration of Bomberg’s search for ‘the spirit in the mass’ beyond naturalistic representation. The painting evidences the artist’s desire to attack established points of view and ways of doing things, a conviction which persisted throughout his career as both artist and teacher.

Join us on Wednesday the 28th of November at 6.30-7.30 PM for a private screening of Blast! to discover a group of artists who became first radicals then soldiers in their art and sensibilities.

The screening will be introduced by Bernard Vere, Program Director of the MA Fine and Decorative Art and Design at Sotheby's Institute of Art. Vere specialises in art from the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. His work explores the connection between technological advances and the rise of the metropolis in modernist art, particularly in its implications for the individual subject.

Spaces are limited, so please RSVP boroughroadgallery@gmail.com to reserve a place at this event.

Please note, this event will be held in the Lecture Theatre at The Elephant Studios, LSBU, London Road, SE1 6JW - not the Borough Road Gallery!