Gaia's Kidney

About

The exhibition takes its title from a theory by Keneth J. Hsü. It asks that if the world is a self-organising system, a body that regulates itself and perpetuates the conditions for life, then where is its kidney, that integral organ that helps regulate lifeblood, a keystone of a complex and potentially unknowable ecosystem? Parrott’s works tap into an understanding of ecosystems and bodies, of our own corporeal nexus, of different forms of consciousness, and how the multifarious exchanges and interchanges across life can be understood with the sensitivity they necessitate.

Parrott’s innate and intimate understanding of the organic is clearly present in her most recent works. The soft lines and porous boundaries between forms on her canvases fade in and out of focus, flirting with the line between subtle abstraction and blurring figuration. Determined brushstrokes spiral the outlines of forms we recognise – oyster shells or mountainous contours – before being absorbed into the surface, bleeding into one another, extending for miles. Delayed from its original spring launch, Gaia’s Kidney now opens toward the end of a strange year, and so straddles something of a lost summer. The works here take on an added pertinence by embracing all the seasons, showcasing the cycles of life and evoking both the unfolding of life and the soft creeping edges of decay. The colours and concerns of the works in Gaia’s Kidney build on themes Parrott has explored in her artistic and curatorial outputs: the interconnectedness of life, non-human intelligence, and ultimately empathy.

Through her works, Parrott has developed an awareness of material and its place in the world. Gaia’s Kidney continues her exploration of monoprinting, a singular action akin to drawing, which she layers with watercolour washes and wandering sewn lines, which meander across the paintings’ surfaces. Monoprinting is an idiosyncratic technique that refuses reproducibility, but does leave a faint spectre – a ghost print, a remnant of the previous image – which Parrott captures, tames, and trains, imprinting textures as unique as a fingerprint on each image.

Circles,spirals, and netted forms reoccur through the works on display, panning out to evoke universals like the unchanging moon or focussing in to explore life in micro – squirming petri dishes and splitting, reproducing cells. Ovoid eggs and gaping mouths open up, inviting quiet and intense reflection, imploring us to find something we recognise – a relatable part of ourselves or a reference to the diversity of Parrott’s lexicon: the bodily surrealism of Ithell Colquhoun, the geology and archaeology of Jacquetta Hawkes, or the seminal pan-scientific theories of James Lovelock. Compressed within the smaller pieces, these forms and influences overlap and bundle atop of one another to give an intense overview of Parrott’s practice, at scale they unfurl and swell. Looser draped works and stretched translucent frames seem to glow and breathe, completed by the space they demand between them and the viewer.

Aimée Parrott (b.1987, Brighton, England) is a visual artist who lives and works in London, Her practice spans painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Upcoming Exhibitions include a solo presentation at Mackintosh Lane, London in 2021.

Parrott made her curatorial debut in 2019 with All That the Rain Promises and More…
for Edinburgh Arts Festival, hosted by Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh .Recent exhibitions include: Studio at 4am, group show at Hastings Contemporary, 2020, Kate McMillan and Aimée Parrott, a two person booth at Zona Maco with Arusha Gallery, Mexico City, 2020. Blood, Sea, a solo show at Pippy Houldsworth in 2018, solo presentations at Trade Gallery, Nottingham and Recent Activity, Birmingham, 2018, Without moving a muscle, a group show curated by Daniel Lipp and David Noonan, Mackintosh Lane, 2017, 31 Women, a group show at Breese Little, 2017, Implicit Touch, group show at Stadgalerie Villa Dessauer, Bamburg, Germany 2017 and a solo presentation at Breese Little Gallery, London, 2016.

Parrott graduated from The Royal Academy Schools in 2014, she completed her degree at
University College Falmouth with a BA Fine Art in 2009. Recent awards include
the inaugural Dentons Prize in 2016, The Archie Sherman Scholarship 2011-14.