This exhibition brings together the work of leading contemporary artists and early 20th century work drawn from Ben Uri Gallery's collection. Radical and Modest sets up a dialogue across the generations that establish the centrality of the themes of working life and popular pastimes then and now.

The Ben Uri's recent acquisition of David Bomberg's Racehorses and his drawing Ghetto Theatre for example, will be set alongside work by Sonia Boyce which explores the historiography of popular music and Jeremy Deller's print The History of the World which represents a kind of mapping of the 1990s through music. Donald Rodney's John Barnes piece from 1991 comments on the continuing presence of racism within sports in Britain. There is an intimacy that links Richard Billingham and Stephen Dwoskin's portrayals of their fathers, with Clara Klinghoffer's Sleeping Girl and Emmanuel Levy's Girl at the Window.

This exhibition goes beyond thematic grouping to explore the work of artists who have appropriated and critiqued the rhetorics associated with the title. Drawings of miners and farmers by Josef Herman for example will be shown alongside work from the seminal 1977 series of Art & Language, Ils Donnent Leur Sang, Donnez Votre Travaille a doctored Vichy government poster whose slogans can now read as a critique of contemporary idealizations of the relationship between labour, artist and the viewer, while Chad McCail's Food, Shelter, Clothing, Fuel series from 1997 suggests a better world where we all dispense with money, share work and enjoy leisure and life. This exhibition offers subtle exchanges as well as dynamic links. Many of the artists have not shown in this context before and thus provide new relevance and insight to the works on show.

Exhibition open Monday - Friday 10am - 5.30pm, Sun 12pm - 4pm. ADMISSION: FREE. Tubes St. John's Wood or Maida Vale, buses 139 & 189.

Image credits: David Bomberg, Racehorses, signed and dated 1913, black chalk and wash, 42 x 67cm and Donald Rodney, John Barnes, Lightbox 1991

PLEASE NOTE WE ARE ONLY OPEN DURING OUR EXHIBITIONS UNLESS CLEARLY STATED. UNFORTUNATELY THE PERMANENT COLLECTION IS NOT ON CONTINUOUS DISPLAY