Introducing… Kosar Contemporary, Bedminster

“Curating our first three exhibitions, it became obvious to us that there is a shortage of contemporary art spaces in Bristol where artists can exhibit with the freedom that their work requires.”

This is Béa Kayani of The Artist Project Space, a Bristol collective that came into existence in order to link artists with each other and with places to exhibit their work – and which has recently opened its own dedicated gallery space in a former industrial building in the heart of Bedminster.

Kosar Contemporary has launched in a 6,000 sq ft former light industrial factory on Malago Road, spearheaded by Béa – herself an artist – in association with Bristol arts charity Gathering Voices.

Béa spent the latter half of 2018 converting the building into the Paradise Studios, a new creative hub for contemporary artists studios, and the spacious Kosar Contemporary art gallery. The gallery is to host a programme of regular exhibitions, which began in December 2018 with The Artist Project Space’s third collaborative exhibition, SPACEs Reimagined.

Scenes from the first exhibition at new Bedminster artspace Kosar Contemporary

That inaugural show featured paintings, sculptures, photography and multidisciplinary art works on the (very on-point) theme of “recycling a redundant industrial space into an artspace in the context of technological, political and societal change”.

Paradise Studios forms a part of The Works, a collection of ex-commercial, industrial and office buildings managed by Gathering Voices, a Bristol arts charity working in music, performing arts, mentoring and youth leadership. The building is due for redevelopment within three years: during this time, Gathering Voices is using the sites on a ‘meanwhile’ basis with a vision to create affordable, flexible and practical workplaces for the creative community.

The Artist Project Space is an artist-led initiative for painters, sculptors, multimedia, experimental and interdisciplinary artists who are interested in developing their art practice through mentoring, peer support, dialogue and collaboration. And the new gallery space and accompanying artists’ studios are absolutely central to its future plans.

“The gallery space has been vital in realising my dream of creating a hub where artists can focus on developing their art practices, while also getting an injection of critical rigour,” Béa explains. “Otherwise, it has become increasingly difficult for independent artists to acquire decent-sized places as artists’ studios in Bristol.”

Artist and Kosar Contemporary founder Béa Kayani in the new gallery space

Further ahead into 2019 and beyond, Kosar Contemporary plans to run a curated programme of art exhibitions by artists from BS3 and further across the city. Next up, this spring, is EmBedded Stories, an open-submissions show that will feature pictorial representations of Bedminster.

“Bedminster is a unique area of the city, featuring a huge amount of creative talent,” Béa explains. “EmBedded Stories will be a celebration of this talent, and of the area itself. We are also hoping to bring international artists from a diverse range of artistic backgrounds to the gallery.”

Plenty to look forward to in this little corner of BS3…

For more on The Artist Project Space, Paradise Studios and Kosar Contemporary, visit www.theartistprojectspace.com

Read more: Best of Bristol 2018: Art