An exhibition in aid of The Art Room

Facetime - a fundraising exhibition of artwork by major UK and international contemporary artists in aid of The Art Room - can currently be seen at The Threadneedle Space at the Mall Galleries until Saturday. It's all for a good cause......

With the patronage of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, The Art Room provides art as therapy to 5-16 year old children who are experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Some of the Facetime clocks painted by leading contemporary artists
- the Chapman Brothers clock (£25,000) is in the middle and Gerald Scarfe's clockface (£1,400) is middle row on the far left

Left - Yinka Shonibare
Right - Jan Pienkowski

Which is why you can see work by globally renowned artists (eg Jenny Saville, Yinka Shonibare MBE RA, Cornelia Parker RA, Antony Gormley RA) and other well known artists (eg Nicola Bayley, Gerald Scarfe, Roger Law) and the odd newsreader (Jon Snow).

Working in partnership with the Threadneedle Foundation, The Art Room, a national charity offering art as a therapeutic intervention to children and young people, have invited artists to contribute a clock or original piece of work for this important fundraising exhibition. Painters, sculptors, illustrators, architects and photographers have all contributed to Face Time and many have chosen to produce a clock face which reflects a key element of The Art Room’s methodology and practice.

You can see some fantastic pieces in the Facetime catalogue  - and at the Mall Galleries until Saturday.

Clocks represent an important part of The Art Room’s own practice: the child’s transformation of regular items such as clocks, aprons and stools can help work towards increasing self esteem, confidence and introduces the children to a sense of empowerment through their own creativity.

I have to say I shall remember the exhibition for a while for the unique materials which some artists used - such as

• Cornelia Parker - rattlesnake venom and black ink, anti-venom and white ink
• Jason Schulman - unspecified use of Bank of Engand sealing wax
• Joseph Steele - silk screen paint fired from a Liquid CO2 gas cannon