In collaboration with Anthony Chrisp - Modern Art Expert
We are proud to announce our collaboration with the art space L-13 in London. Together we are bringing you a very special Modern Art auction featuring works exclusively from their archive. The auction will start on the 23rd of June and close on the 3rd of July. Some of the artists you will find on this auction include Jamie Reid, James Cauty and Billy Childish. We spoke with Steve Lowe, the owner of L-13, and asked him to share with us what L-13 is and what we can expect in the upcoming auction.
What is L-13? Can you tell us about its history, how it’s changed over time and what its role is today?
Steve: Firstly, L-13 is not a gallery. We used to have an exhibition space and run a programme of exhibitions but stopped in 2013. But even when we did I refused to be known as a gallery. I always had in mind that we were as much space that generated ideas and made things as much as displayed and sold artworks. I wanted it to be a platform where a few chosen artists could develop their work with a sense of collaborative enterprise. I have also used it as a platform to develop my own creativity, and the former exhibition space is now the Harry Adams studio where I make collaborative paintings with Adam Wood under the name Harry Adams.
Into the Light L-13 Propaganda Poster by Harry Adams
We started off in a small space in Bloomsbury in 2003. We were first known as the aquarium, then became THE AQUARIUM L-13 when we moved to a bigger space that had been bombed by Zeppelin L-13 in 1915. And then in 2009 we moved to our current space hidden away in Clerkenwell and became The L-13 Light Industrial Workshop and Private Ladies and Gentlemen’s Club for Art Leisure and the Disruptive Betterment of Culture. The four artists that have been the mainstay of L-13 since the beginning are (in alphabetical order) Harry Adams (formerly known as STOT21stCplanB), Billy Childish, Jimmy Cauty and Jamie Reid. 
You're known for always pushing boundaries in the art world, can you tell us how you got into it?
Steve: Being involved in the art world is a real love hate relationship. In the early 1990s, I stopped making art one month before completing my MA in fine art, and went on to play in bands for about 15 years. Back then I really believed that part of the job of the artist was to challenge the dominant culture and that has carried through into what I do now. The first show we did as a “gallery” was about the radical French group The Situationists and my interest in counter culture lead me to the artists I now work with. Billy was well known as a defiant and vocal critic of modish mainstream culture, Jimmy has the fantastic legacy of being one half of The KLF and burning £1 million as the K Foundation with Bill Drummond. And Jamie, of course, is best known as the creator of the Sex Pistols visuals and is about as radical as you can get. With these artists on board we can’t help but present a constant stream of playfully provocative or iconoclastic work. It’s important to point out that despite our somewhat critical position, none of us are angry people. We actually have a lot of fun with what we do, we’re passionate about it and I hope that the love always shines through.
Stamps of Mass Destruction 3rd Class (CNPD 5th Anniversary Edition) by James Cauty
How did you come to Catawiki?
Steve: Catawiki's Urban and Street Art expert contacted us to ask about the authenticity of a Not Banksy piece he thought it might be fake. Back in about 2007 Adam and I started making the Not Banksy paintings under the name STOT21stCplanB. They were a mockery, not so much Banksy, but of the hordes of opportunistic speculators who bought his work. The first pieces were on pound shop canvasses using stencils intended for decorating children’s bedrooms (so cute bunnies and chicks etc.). We gave them politicised titles with a fake Banksy stencilled signature and sold them in small editions. They flew out of the shop (helped by the rumour that it was actually Banksy making them), so we kept on making more, each time stretching the credulity in terms of edition sizes and variations in an attempt to wear out the interest of the people who were buying them. The last canvas piece did the trick. It was a series of 11 paintings in editions of 100. The first one was a bunny with 10 carrots, then a bunny with 9 carrots, and so on until the last edition was a bunny with no carrots. After that we stopped for a bit, but then came back in 2008 with a series on cardboard which were much more a pastiche of Banksy’s stencil work. My favourites were Stencil Art is So Last Week, and one with a Banksy rat that was pasting up a poster that said “In our spectacular society, my commodity value vastly outstrips my true worth, thus diminishing any real meaning I might have once had. Please help!” We’ve found a few left-overs from those editions, plus some proofs and try-outs that we’ve put in this auction. Sadly we don’t have any of the first canvas pieces anymore.
Left: Stencil Art Is So Last Week by Not Banksy / STOT21stCplanB. Right: Please Help! by Not Banksy / STOT21stCplanB
Could you tell us a bit about the artists, their work, and why they’re worth collecting?
Steve: I’ve already said a little bit about the artists and they’re all worth collecting because they make great work that is as sophisticated as it is easy to understand and enjoy. They all enjoy high cultural status for their authentic engagement with what they do and are highly respected for this. It is also worth collecting the L-13 editions because we dedicate ourselves to making things with a genuine sense of excitement. We really love what we do, love some of the crazier ideas and get a real kick out of checking it all out into the world.
Untitled by Billy Childish
Do you have a favourite work that will be in the upcoming auction?
Steve: Not really…because I like all of it. I am very fond of the ART HATE posters, and the story behind the Billy Childish Penguin book is great. Oh, and I love the Thatcher’s Children box set. Everyone should read the letters that go with that. They’re hysterical.
Thatcher’s Children box set by Billy Childish / CTMF / Jamie Reid
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Steve: Yes, visit our website and come along for the ride. You won’t regret it!
These works and more will be available on Catawiki's upcoming special Modern Art auction dedicated solely to L-13's art archive. You can place your bids by simply registering for a free account here.