Squares and Triangles | KAOS

About

Squares and Triangles is a joint exhibition in two parts initiated by Kingston based artist collective KAOS who invited artists from their twin town in Germany to respond to London's creative heritage, in particular the artists, writers and thinkers who defined Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury over centuries and across borders.

Initially conceived in 2020 and disrupted by the global pandemic, the exhibition opens with a first instalment by KAOS members from 20 to 30 September.

The delay provided artists with an opportunity to rediscover the squares and street corners without distraction, to physically retrace the steps of poets and musicians and to relive personal memories. The resulting works are as varied and colourful as the historical references that inspired them.

From capturing the area's bohemian past in painting, drawing and collage, to celebrating its avant-garde heritage with traditional and digital printmaking, the exhibition reflects the lasting influence Bloomsbury poets and the free spirits of Fitzrovia have on today's artists who are no longer able to afford to live and work at these postcodes.

"They lived in squares and loved in triangles."

Dorothy Parker

The second instalment from 2 to 9 October presents works by guest artists from Oldenburg. The German responses include abstract interpretations based on geometric and architectural shapes, meditations on literary characters and the respective eras that inspired them, our ongoing search for a new way of life. Tributes to the neighbourhood's free spirited charm range from paintings on rubber, images created from wood or with welding irons, to installations made from tea and chocolate.

Squares and Triangles was born out of the ongoing creative exchange between artist collectives in twin towns Kingston (UK) and Oldenburg (DE) who have collaborated on reciprocal exhibition opportunities and open studio events since 2014.