Moving, Reshaping, Escaping is the first part of the Can I Steal Your Body? trilogy, which delves into the intricate connection between artists and objects and explore profound motivations that drive creators to bring their visions to life.
The exhibition brings together the work of 5 artists who explores unique approaches to art-making while sharing common themes of experimentation, improvisation, and alternative materials. By blending delicate elements of glass, flowers, and wax with raw found objects like fabrics, cardboard boxes, and ropes, artists transform the familiar into the unknown. The process of integrating these dissimilar elements, creating a harmonious union between fragility and strength, serves as a central motif throughout this series of shows.
Moving, Reshaping, Escaping focuses on the act of transforming a fleeting feeling, a need or a desire into a tangible object – an artwork. The show poses questions about the origin of our creativity and the need to communicate with the world through doing rather than thinking. Each artwork emerges organically from its surroundings, capturing the essence and spirit of its creator.
Joseph Grahame embodies process-oriented abstraction by experimenting with unconventional materials and uncovering new artistic possibilities. Grahame's paintings embrace imperfections and human fallibility, evident in his approach to applying paint, where improvisation takes precedence in constructing the composition. Presented artworks invite viewers to ponder the transformative potential that arises from chance encounters and the artist's intuitive responses.
Through borrowed materials, Lana Locke prompts contemplation on the strength and fragility of human existence, delving into universal themes such as birth, life, death, and the perils of individuality. The presented works are organic elements preserved in aluminium and bronze, scraps of the past forever frozen in time. It is an attempt to capture a moment or a memory and protect it from its inevitable end. Locke reflects social, material, and feminist concerns, tapping into the root impulses of humanity and seeking to unleash creative power from the constraints of contemporary life.
Anya Mokhova's sculptural objects invite visitors to immerse themselves in constructed realities. Drawing inspiration from the history of arts and media experimentation, Mokhova employs materials such as tallow, bee's wax, soap, gold, and brass. Her works incorporate techniques like incrustation, engraving, and casting, blurring the boundaries between rigid and soft, natural and artificial. Visitors are encouraged to engage with the tactile aspect of her works, exploring possibilities of visual, sensual and imaginative perception within artist-created objects.
Maria Koshenkova’s creative process has no predetermined language or recognisable technique. Instead, the artist selects the technique based on the idea at hand, resulting in visually diverse works that are intricately interconnected conceptually. Using delicate glass and raw materials like steel or rope, Maria's intention is to visually transcend dramatic and tumultuous life conditions, transmuting them into uplifting poetic experiences that ignite hope within the viewer.
Nothing is deemed without worth in Aileen Kelly’s eyes. Each object carries a haunting reminder of the transient nature of existence, serving as a metaphor for the fragility of the structures we rely upon. In the greater process known as life, everything has its turn, and Kelly's art captures these moments of transformation with sensitivity and depth. These sculptures serve as frames or portals, bridging the gap between past and future, circumventing the present. Her art is a testament to the process of becoming and unbecoming.