Between The Acts | Catherine Repko & Anne Carney Raines

About

The connection between Anne Carney Raines and Catherine Repko’s work lies in the exploration of reenactment, the point of overlap between theatre and history. The title of the show is borrowed from Virginia Woolf’s final novel, of which Olivia Laing describes as a work “…about people talking and the gaps between worlds, about violent change and abiding continuity.”

Catherine Repko’s paintings are concerned with the enduring continuity of the relationship between her female figures and 'collective memory' of family dynamics. She uses paint to reenact moments from the past and place them into a new context. The colour palette and layers of scratchy underpaint reminds us that the line between fiction and memory is thin if not non existent.

Anne Carney Raines is interested in ideas of reenactment contained within the architecture of an empty fictive space. Excavating gaps between worlds, animated through the language of theatre and set design, Anne Carney’s paintings use trompe l'oeil to reveal a fabricated memory.

Catherine Repko (b.1990), based in London. Catherine recently received her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. Previously she studied BA Visual Communication at University of Brighton, a semester abroad ay Minneapolis College of Art and Design and attended the Foundation in Art and design at Chelsea College of Art (2009-2010). Repko is the recipient of The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 2020 Grantee and the Arts Council England, Triangle Network Fellowship, 2016. Catherine is the third of four sisters and her current practice explores this relationship.  She is interested in  the space between them, their relationship growing up together and what connects them now as adults; how the support and significance of this relationship resonates between them and with wider relationships. Her work takes an intimate look at sisterhood but also arises contemplations surrounding identity, of being daughters, about motherhood, our humanity – at a time that feels so increasingly polarised both socially and politically, Catherine's work is looking at what unites and ties us togther. 

Anne Carney Raines (b.1990) is a painter from Nashville, Tennessee currently living in London, UK. Anne Carney completed her BFA in painting at Indiana University, Bloomington. She recently received her MA in painting at the Royal College of Art in London and is a two-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. She has a background in scenic painting and fabrication which has had a major impact on her artwork as is very interested in exploring ideas of theatre, space, and memory. Most recently her works were selected and exhibited for New Contemporaries 2020, South London Gallery, 2021.