James Castle / John Riddy: Of Things Placed, Frith Street Gallery

This exhibition at Frith Street Gallery brings together two unlikely allies in art - self-taught American artist James Castle and urban photographer John Riddy. While you might be wondering what an earth these two have in common, Frith Street Gallery argues that they share an interest in curious framing devices and the illusion of space. 
Frith Street Gallery London exhibition
The featured James Castle drawings, showing landscapes and buildings in his native Idaho, are all made with soot from a wood burning stove and monochrome ink. Dating from around 1915 to the 1970s, these hypnotic images are worked into using found materials that rub and mark countless scraps of paper that fizz with energy. 
John Riddy photography
In contrast, John Riddy is best known for his timeless black and white prints, which you might be familiar with after the 2013 Frith Street Gallery show, Palermo. For this exhibition, you'll find photographs of contemporary South Africa mounted on the walls, including recent events like the fires of March 2015. Soaring skylines, crashing waves and vistas of the National Park in John Riddy's images all reveal how carefully each photograph is put together.
This is where we start to see the overlap between Riddy and Castle. They both share a fascination with composition and how structures are integrated into space.
A curious collision between two artists that will never meet, except on the walls of a gallery. Pay a visit to this Soho gallery to decide for yourself whether this is a match made in heaven.