Angela Palmer: Life Lines

About

Waterhouse & Dodd is delighted to present a solo exhibition of Angela Palmer, Life Lines, from 24 May to 15 June 2012. Palmer's work uses a unique form of mapping to create sculptures of multiple sheets of glass, built up plane by plane, delineating through line the complexity and elegance of the human body. From digital information provided by MRI and CT scanners she delivers visually arresting works of art. This new exhibition records this artistic journey through space and time, from Ancient Egypt to the eighteenth century to the present day. The skull of the legendary eighteenth century racehorse Eclipse is immortalised in a glass sculptural portrait. Eclipse was unbeaten in 18 races he ran between 1769 and 1771 with his descendants including Desert Orchid and Kauto Star. The skeleton of this infamous horse remains preserved at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and, here in this beautiful portrait, Palmer closes the gap between art and science. Another human portrait depicted by Palmer is that of the author Robert Harris. In this case artist and sitter inspired each other. For his 2011novel, The Fear Index (out in paperback on 24 May 2012), Harris appropriated Palmer's artistic techniques and applied them to Gabrielle, the artist wife of his anti-hero. Palmer produced an intimate portrait of the author which is reproduced on the inside cover of the book. A work of a different order is Searching for Goldilocks, a collaboration with astrophysicist Dr Chris Lintott and physicist Dr Alexy Karenowska, which plots on 18 glass sheets the findings of the telescope aboard the Kepler space laboratory in the Milky Way. Each planetary system is engraved onto the glass, each sheet representing a further 250 light years from earth. These rocks depicted, which may sustain life, are known as the ‘Goldilocks'. Life Lines continues Palmer's ambitious preoccupation with and exploration of scientific techniques and art which she uses to create alternative representations of the human and animal figure. www.angelaspalmer.com