February 10th saw the launch of the first exhibition from the newly founded Gazelli Art House in London. The Gazelli Art House, founded and managed by the young Azeri curator Mila Askarova, presented Fired Up, the first in a series of exhibitions to be shown during 2011. Later this year, Askarova will coordinate the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. The series of exhibitions centres around the five elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Aether; each will draw upon artists and artworks that relate to these themes. Fired Up showcased the work of Joe Clark, Lauren Cotton, Rory McCartney, David Jones and Farid Rasulov. The scale of the show was truly ambitious; however the art more than filled the cavernous spaces in The Dairy. Rasulov, an artist from Baku, presented particularly strong photorealistic works, depicting dead chickens and broken eggs. Joe Clark's installations, toyed with images and their presentation. All the artworks were united in evoking strong reactions in the mind of the viewer, both visually and emotionally - 'firing up' perceptions. After this bravura debut, the upcoming exhibitions from the Gazelli Art House, Down to Earth, Still or Sparkling and Air I Breathe are hotly awaited. Fired Up, The Dairy, Wakefield Street, WC1 London. 10 - 25 February 2011.
