VESTIGES: Sculpture by Ali Darke and CJ Simpson

About

VESTIGES are the signs that something has passed - a tangible reminder in a fragment or remnant of what has been and gone. Both artists capture these traces, suggesting the memories of past events that have left scars in the landscape of the psyche, creating sculptures haunted by loss. These are visual echoes, recorded in the meticulous refinement of the objects they make and intense labour of their craft, honed through shaping, sanding and stitching. 

CJ Simpson’s sculptures appear to envelop and solidify around something that has long departed - the airy centre suspended like an inhaled breath. The sanded, marble-smooth surfaces reminiscent of renaissance iconography bring the spiritual to mind. There is movement and grace in the work.

Ali Darke’s sculptures, stitched and stuffed from domestic detritus create hybrid forms, testing the tipping point of beauty, absurdity and abjection. Her pieces evoke the desire to flee and the weight of collapse, drapery forming the bound, shrouded or absent body.