A Solar Umbrella

About

The original concept for curators Katherine Lubar and Asaki Kan’s third exhibition together was to explore the idea of repetition, this being a recurring theme in both artists’ work. After teaming up with co-curator Nick Dawes, the idea developed to explore the concept of transformation, finding a connection to JG Ballard’s A Crystal World, in which nature itself and the life forms within it start turning into crystals.

The replication of the crystals and the geometric patterns described in the novel feed into the original theme of repetition, creating a harmony between the pieces. The works in this exhibition present a parallel engagement with the crystallisation, not only echoing the physical processes described in the novel, but simultaneously connecting to the world we live in — a reality suspended between the binaries of order and chance, increasingly characterised by continual transition, instability and flux.

The unknown, the familiar and an awareness of the space in between generates the idea of an alternate, an area or territory in which reality materialised in one form reveals itself on closer examination as something undefined and mysterious.

The artists will each respond to the theme through different media; Asaki Kan will explore repetition as a way of amplifying and distorting meaning through installation; Katherine Lubar will use painting to challenge the viewer in a visual play of recognition between light refraction and shadow; Nick Dawes will adopt an expanded version of watercolour painting, poured text and colour appropriated from the Highway Code; Sarah Mizer will revisit 17th century genre paintings in the form of paper, plastic and glitter, simulating nature and using synthetic materials; Ivan Benitez will use simplified form and flat areas of colour in his painting to articulate a psychological passage between alternate places; Shane Bradford will repeatedly submerge objects in emulsion and gloss to transform them into an abstracted version of themselves; Jo Marshall will distort shape and volume in a multiplicity of repeated actions that expand and abstract the familiar in a kaleidoscopic image transfer, and Andy Harper will produce an installation applied directly on to the gallery wall.

The works of Asaki Kan, Katherine Lubar, Nick Dawes, Jo Marshall, Andy Harper, Shane Bradford, Ivan Benitez and Sarah Mizer locate themselves somewhere within a shifting duality. Using specific techniques and media to articulate content, the works re-orientate and question the standard models of representation, finding their own language through dislocation, abstraction, repetition and displacement.

A Solar Umbrella continues Gallery 46’s mission to support creativity and talent, in a partnership with Londonewcastle that has been offering opportunities to artists and creatives pushing boundaries for over a decade.

Upcoming Exhibitions at Gallery 46

March 7th - 30th: Lost Kingdom by James Gooding (Photography show)

April 4th - 20th: Mute records (Poster retrospective)

April 26th - 29th: London College of Communications - Sound Art Show (BA Sounds Art & Design course group show)

May 2nd - 30th: Liminality [Temporal Impressions], curated by Sean McLusky, Kevin Quigley and Bjorn Hatleskog. Participating artists include: Charles Hayward, Teleplasmiste, Graham Dunning, Sam Underwood, Bjorn Hatleskog, Kai Oi Joyce Yung, Johnny Reading, Selugi Kang, Mary Jacob, Rie Nakajima, Kevin Quigley, Aja Ireland, Michelle Hannah, Phil Wilson-Perkins, Calum Kerr, Dan Hayhurst, Guy Harries.