The story behind this show

^{(and about the one that didn’t end up happening)}

Freddy submitted a proposal in December 2020 for a solo show in the Spring. It was to be an exhibition of 2D works that he was going to mail to us with plenty of spare time before his April show. Due to the effect that Covid was having on the international postal services, the show was moved back to July.

Closer to the time, Freddy had priced up the parcel of less than 20 small photos with their corresponding lightweight plastic frames, and it turned to cost £85 to post it from Mexico to the UK.

Freddy asked if he could send digital prints instead, but we didn’t have a printing budget between us. So we sadly agreed it would be best to cancel the show.

Then in May, Freddy saw Alex Pearl’s Small House Two show on our instagram feed, and reached out to propose sending some video files to us, suggesting that they could project onto one of the houses. Such a lovely idea, but a) the projector belonged to Alex, not Small House G, and b) we’d already given Freddy’s slot to another artist, so as much as we wanted to make it happen for him, it wasn’t going to be possible, because c) all the houses were booked solid until January 2022, and d) we weren’t taking on any new shows beyond that because we decided to wind down the project and make January our last shows.

Then a house became available because someone had to postpone their show, and luckily, another artist further back in the schedule preferred the Cottage to the more trad house, so we were able to offer that Autumn slot to them, and now that the June slot was now free, we were able to offer it to Freddy, if we were able to get an affordable projector. There was very little time to put another artist in there, so we tried to make it work for Freddy.

Well, after ‘sleeping on it’, Eldi figured, “Why not do a quickie bonus show of Freddy’s projected videos in between shows?” She told Freddy to email one of his videos over and, she told him that if there was time, and if it wasn’t too hectic to do so, she’d project it onto the exterior of the house in the shed (nice and dark in there) and post it on the website and socials as a surprise bonus pop-up.

So here was Freddy, asking for a show of projections, and here was Alex, with a projector…

After a random conversation on IG about projectors between (former SH2 artist) Ian Andrews, Alex and Eldi, Eldi asked Alex if he’d consider parting with his mini projector at the end of his show… he said yes! They agreed a price and Eldi told Freddy that he could have the Skip Sisters’ spot for the whole month! And he could send several films over to be projected into different rooms of the empty house, not just the exterior.

But Eldi didn’t buy the projector straight away, and Alex thought she’d changed her mind, so he’d planned to use it for his next show and would need it back! (Fair enough!) So she told Freddy they might have to revert back to plan B – the quick show, exteriors only. But then, again, with the Skip Sisters dropping that slot, the house would be empty for a month, and with the schedule ‘chocka-blocked’ until January, and the project winding down, it would be hard to fill it last minute, and it would be a real shame for that spot to go to waste. So she was hoping to be able to hold onto the projector for a couple more weeks…

Alex didn’t need the projector for a little while, so he was happy to let Eldi borrow it until the middle of the month, and she told Freddy to send all the videos he wanted in the show asap so she could get them into and onto the House over those 2 weeks, and add them (at a more leisurely pace) over the course of Freddy’s month-long show.

And that’s what you’re seeing now. We did it! We made it! Hip hip hooray and all the fanfare it deserves…

Keep checking back throughout June and you will see the progression of the show.

At the time of writing (30 May 2021) we are showing the title video: Sonic Portal Boom!

All the videos will be projected onto the exterior/interior including a specific room of the house, as if all rooms are inhabited by a different video. Maybe one day we can knit them together in one big video projection on the wall of a ‘real life sized’ gallery.

Sonic Portal Boom! is on the ground floor, in right-hand room. It’s not decided where the other 4 videos will be going yet. Yes, there are 5 videos in total.

Once all is documented, the projector gets packed up, along with Larry’s puzzle pieces, and a gift of the teddy bear tea set as a thank you to Larry and Alex for their wonderful show in SH2, and for their help in making Freddy’s show possible after all! (And for saving Eldi’s Bank Holiday weekend from being spent in the studio frantically trying to get it all done in a couple of days instead of a couple of weeks!)

In the face of all this uncertainty, Freddy’s attitude along the way has been exemplary! The man is a sage. So chill and positive, it’s humbling. He’s like: “Whatever, if it’s meant to be, great, and if not, it will happen at some point in the future, and it will be even better.” And he was absolutely right! We love this show!

So all this is offered as an insight into what happens behind the curtain at Small House Gallery, and to laud and applaud Freddy D’azure-Hernandez, the artist and person, and to show gratitude to Alex Pearl, the artist and the person, for helping make this wonderful unexpected, unplanned-for show possible.

Just look at it! Isn’t it marvellous? (Cue the club music and dancing!)