Michael Samuels, Parlour

About

For his first show at the new space Samuels has created an immersive and contemplative environment, which nods to the domestic, and the materials from which his work derives, whilst providing a meeting place and site of enquiry for the audience.

New work is hung alongside collected ephemera and furniture, which has been sourced by the artist with the exhibition in mind. Materials are available to handle alongside carefully selected books, which provide access to Samuels working process and modes of thought. In questioning the usual structures of display audiences will be encouraged to utilise the exhibition as an informal environment for sharing knowledge and immersing themselves within the work itself.

Michael Samuels' practice can historically be characterised as a form of contemporary bricolage. He utilizes industrially produced Modernist furniture, domestic objects, and most recently cast concrete, which through their displacement and reconfiguration into abstract forms disrupts any functional reading of the elements. However, in his new installation the artist maintains the notion that abstraction is only ever possible in relation to function but introduces functional objects from which the work is created to once more question the boundaries of form and function.

Michael Samuels has most recently been included in NGORONGORO at Lehderstrasse 34, Berlin and In Schönheit Auferstehen, Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin. Previous exhibitions include Spacex, Exeter and Villa du Parc, Centre d’art Contemporain, Annemasse, France, Kunsthal KAdE, The Netherlands, The Zabludowicz Collection, London, The EDF Foundation, France, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Spain. The artist lives and works in London.