Sarah Maple, Solo Show, This Artist Blows 

Bakewell

'This Artist Blows' Sarah Maple, First Solo Show

“This Artist Blows”

SaLon Gallery presents Sarah Maple’s first solo show.
Preview on 16th October 2008,
Exhibition runs until 17th November 2008.

SaLon Gallery is unique in its approach to art and the gallery concept. It is solely devoted to debuting and promoting the work of extremely talented recent graduates, emerging from the exciting and dynamic UK graduate art scene. Allowing them the experience of exhibiting in a commercial gallery environment, offering them the support and mentoring they need to take their first steps to becoming successful professional contemporary artists. The exhibited art is derived from different and diverse media resulting in emblematic and distinctly poignant works, narratives about discovering and representing self – identity that intermittently make humoristic incursions into political and cultural topics.

In line with its concept SaLon Gallery presents a solo exhibition to showcase London’s most exciting young contemporary artist, Sarah Maple. The exhibition will show a selection of the best of Sarah’s work from the past three years. Her work primarily falls into three often overlapping categories: religion, politics and the societal role of women.

The highlight of “This Artist Blows” is a preview of the video “Who Would Wood Wank”, which was co – produced with Dazed & Confused’s Jefferson Hack. The video footage shows Sarah “wanking” a paintbrush, alternating from her wearing a burka, to wearing a Dolce & Gabbana couture dress. Both the dress and burka will be on view at the exhibition. Also on show, will be a collection of Maple’s new paintings and photographic work, with head-line worthy titles such as: ‘Don’t mention the war’, ‘Love is a losing game’, ‘The New Black’, ‘Paintbrush Wank’, ‘Haram’, ‘I love Orgasms’.

While blurring the lines between popular culture and religious devotion in an unfailingly mischievous manner, Sarah’s aesthetic narrative urges the viewer to challenge traditional notions of religion, identity and that of the societal role of women. Anthony Gormly comments that [Sarah Maple] is using the female notion of appropriateness to explain political and personal realism. Like Sophie Calle and other female predecessors, Sarah is an artist whose self – exploratory photographs have a coolness and distance from the viewer. She is confessional while remaining emotionally detached from her work. Maple believes that personal identity can never be fully captured on a photograph or painting, that art cannot expose all her complexities. Maple is attractive. Her dark hair, big eyes and youthful charisma grant her physical magnetism that plays an inescapable/ disassociated role in her work. Most of her images centre on her sometimes charming, sometimes seductive and sometimes introspective facial expressions. She seems to be manipulating her sexuality in order to make certain points with comic insight.

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