John Gathercole & Ria Firth, Transitive Beings

About

About the exhibit

"Transitive Beings" exhibition brings together the works of Ria Firth and John Gathercole, who are both “Transitive Beings” as travellers in a foreign land, France. The exhibit examines the relationship between humans and their environments. Their works reveal an intimate portrait of the visual tensions of existing and the idea that humans survive because everything else exists around them. They collectively challenge the viewer to question what they believe to be their reality through the lens of figurative imagery and abstract narrative.

Vernissage: Satudary 30 June, from 6pm onwards

About the artists

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Gathercole’s work explores the void between beauty and reality with a blend of humour and horror that addresses contemporary human and social neuroses. He questions the perpetual human preoccupation with mortality, truth and happiness through the juxtaposition of found images producing an identifiable abstract narrative. Asking the viewer to re-evaluate what they consider aesthetically and socially acceptable in this modern age of superficial ideals.

johngathercole.webs.com

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Firth’s work seeks to dissolve contradictions. With allusions to expressionism, she executes the paradox of hyper-control with an urgent freedom in her brushwork. Firth produces an array of unsettling, distorted realities that unfurl beneath our gaze. Her work is at once relatable and “unreal,” teetering between figurative and abstract. For Firth, the act of painting is a physical manifestation of the uncontrollable flow of conversation, meanings, and senses through hue and shape. In this way, Firth reinvents the traditional treatment of the figure and challenges the viewer's unconscious biases.

riafirth.com