A Cabinet of Curiosities

About

Jane Fairhurst uses glass domes collected over many years to bring together numerous objects and artifacts to create collections of contained curios: a contemporary take on 17th century Wunderkammer. Maya Chowdhry’s Fungal Consciousness captures two moments in the life of fungi: its dying beyond its own life and its sporing to new life. As in  many Cabinets of Curiosities she presents viewers with essential questions about the transience of life. 

Cabinets of Curiosities were intended as talking points – each object, real or fabricated, was the source of an adventure story, real or fabricated: Claire Hignett’s Perpetual Disappointment questions, legacy, inheritance, memory and emotional attachment – asking the question: what’s the difference between old tat and a Cabinet of Curiosities? In Ian Vines’ work the ordinary becomes extraordinary: rocky outcrops resemble strange heads; mixed media assemblages, inspired by an old model of the Solar System, play with trompe l'oeil effects; photographs of makeshift devices create odd optical distortions; a process of seeing and deceiving.Sarah Feinmann explores the textures of derelict spaces with ornate and commonplace patterns from her table linens collection. Her work considers how ordinary items suggest nostalgic memories that these assemblages evoke.

Ostensibly scientific  Cabinets of Curiosities were places of imagination – constructions of a personal vision of the world – blurring distinctions between natural objects and artifacts – a sort of proto museum to inform, educate and entertain. This is precisely Christopher Rainham’s compulsion – from the Wunderkammer living in his own mind. Look everyone – he says - my paintings are about stuff (that is really important) and the method of making them is complicated and sophisticated and exceptionally creative. Tina Finch’s curiosity pieces are based on skill-based processes such as mouldings with aluminium wax, resin, plaster, zinc and solar plate etching and lino-cutting. For Sabrina Fuller The Garden, containing both natural and man-made wonders, provides a site for her continued exploration of failure to conform as a strategy of resistance. 

Ten Obstructions came together in late 2019 through bOlder, a Castlefield Gallery artist development programme for older artists. This is their seventh group exhibition and they continue to offer one another regular support, criticism, encouragement and friendship.