New Worthing gallery to focus on urban, contemporary and pop art

It will display work by local and international artists, working directly with them.

Sabotage gallery was conceived by artists Jillie Piper, Julie Edwards and Matt Fisher while they were working in adjacent studios at East Beach on Worthing's seafront.

Julie said: “We opened in mid-October. The initial impression has been really, really favourable. We've had lots of visitors and we've done a bit of business. Business is never as good as you would want it to be particularly in the art world at the moment. It is a tricky space to operate but we're hoping that in the run-up to Christmas things will get better. But at the moment we're very happy with the way the businesses has started.

“The art world is always going to be difficult at the moment. If you're honest, art is not going to be one of life's essentials for most people. It's an essential to all of us and the quality of our life. When you think about it, when you go on a holiday the first thing you do is you look at something artistic when you are looking at views. It's absolutely an intrinsic part of our lives but maybe buying art and putting something on the wall in your home is not top of people's priorities at the moment.

“But if we can survive this then we can get through anything. As artists and business owners we just felt that we had to grow what we were doing and this was a logical step even if it is a tricky step to take. Sometimes you have to walk up the stairs even if it is difficult but you have to do it just because you want to get to the top. And I've always loved working with artists. As a photographer one of the best parts about the job is going out and meeting people and exploring other people's lives, and for me art does the same thing particularly when you're dealing with local and international artists and finding out their vision and their thoughts on the world.”

As for calling the gallery Sabotage: “We were thinking about names for quite a few days, maybe even a couple of weeks when we were sitting outside our studios and I can't remember whether it was because the track came on but at some point the Beastie Boys song came up, and we just thought that had to be the name.”

Jillie Piper initially studied photography and technical drawing at Lewes College, following up later studying under Dave Smith to learn how to guild onto glass.

Julie Edwards is best known as a photographer, having worked all around the world from Europe covering the BAFTAs, Glastonbury, Cannes and Berlin film festivals to the USA covering The Oscars. She also creates semi-abstract works commenting on herself and love of the environment.

Matt Fisher studied graphic design and illustration at Northbrook College. He now specialises in custom airbrushing art for walls and automotive. Many of his collaborations with Chip Artist may be seen throughout the gallery.