Peter Murray: One Way Streets - a polemic in maps: 7 April – 12 April 2010 AT Conway Street, London
Rebecca Hossack Gallery 2a Conway Street, Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6BA
A series of works in enamel defining movement though key areas of London: Fitzrovia, Chelsea, Borough, the City of London, Belgravia, Victoria, Waterloo, Bloomsbury Mayfair, St James's and Covent Garden.
One way streets in cities reflect the dominance of the car and the failed go-faster policies of the traffic engineers. As we begin to realise that walking and cycling should be the dominant forms of private transport the one way street should be consigned to the dustbin of history. Murray's enamel works are based on the pattern of one way streets in 13 areas of central London.
With the recent announcement that Piccadilly and Pall Mall will return to two way working and with plans to do the same to Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street, Murray's images illustrate the way our understanding of city patterns is corrupted by the dominance of the car and reveals a palimpsest of the historic structure of London.
Rebecca Hossack invited Peter Murray to put on a show in her gallery after seeing maps of London drawn by Peter in a presentation he did at the New London Architecture centre. One Way Streets tells stories about the way the city is formed and how we use it. Peter had long admired Rebecca's championing of Australian aboriginal art which tells stories about landscapes and so was pleased to accept her invitation.
The enamel pieces are made by the same process as TfL street signs.
Peter Murray is founder Director of the London Festival of Architecture, Chairman of New London Architecture and of Wordsearch.