“Just because someone says, "I like what you do" or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not.”—Ornette Coleman

43 Inverness Street is pleased to present I Like What You Do, a group show of paintings by Anthony Faroux, Michel Castaignet, Tommaso Nelli and Sherman Sam. Faroux has invited the other artists to show with him.

I Like What You Do is predicated on personal relationships and discursive collaboration among the artists. Did the friendships begin because of mutual appreciation for each other’s work or did comradery and affection come first? If the latter is the case, does that make the pleasure and admiration of the work valid and legitimate? The works by the four painters in this show share in the specific characteristics of paintings. Their frozen gestures, produced through the action of making may also all have similar references to historicity. But in the end, it may not be necessary for Faroux as curator to like the final product of his friend’s labour. He might like what you do, but not what you did. Primary in this case, we can now see what doing has produced.

Anthony Faroux works and live in London. He is currently exhibiting in the Jerwood Painting Fellowship touring show; Jerwood Arts Space London, BayArt Cardiff, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, The Gallery at NUCA Norwich. Exhibitions include Artist in Residence, DLI Gallery Durham (2011), and Bakkar Island at Five Years Gallery in London (2010).

Michel Castaignet lives and works between Paris and Champagne. He graduated in Arts, Aesthetics and Art Theory at Middlesex University in 2001. Recent solo and group exhibitions include La Rime et la Raison at L’Escaut in Brussels, Belgium (2013), Jardins Clos at Red Bridge Gallery, Vologda, Russia (2012) and Transit at Maksla XO Galerija in Riga, Lithuania (2012).

Tommaso Nelli graduated in history from Oxford University in 1994, and continued his studies in literature and philosophy at University College London. He worked in writing, journalism and photography up until 2007 when he became a fulltime painter. Recent exhibitions include Grantee (2013) and NOMAA Summer Show (2013), the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, in New York, and The Pencil Factory Yearly Show, Sideshow Gallery, New York, (2013). He lives and works in New York.

Sherman Sam is an artist and writer based in London and Singapore. He has exhibited his paintings and drawings internationally, including solo shows at The Suburban in Chicago, the Rubicon Gallery in Dublin, Lugar do Desenho in Porto and the Centro de Arte in San Joao de Madeira, and most recently at Some Walls in Oakland, CA. His work has also been included in numerous group shows in Europe, including M6: Around London in Majorca, Sight Mapping (Sweden, Scotland, Spain), Plan D, an exhibition which he curated (Portugal, Ireland), Rhyme not Reason at the Janet Kurnatowski Gallery in Brooklyn, Paper: A-Z at the Sue Scott Gallery in Manhattan, Connected at Feature Inc, and most recently The Theory and Practise of Small Paintings at Equator Art Projects in Singapore.