'Visual Variations: Figurative to Abstract'

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Exhibition: Visual Variations: Figurative to Abstract

Of all the theoretical posturing and art world debates of the last hundred years, none was more vigorously contested than the face-off between figurative and abstract art. Figurative art, then, as now, was often discussed in opposition to abstraction - art which does not seek to re-present a recognisable image of reality but rather uses shape, colour, form and texture to invent new ways of expressing ideas and emotions. Where does this debate lie now? This exhibition explores various approaches to art making from figuration to abstraction through the work of British, European and American contemporary artists working in both two and three dimensions. It asks how these apparently separate approaches might be interrelated, how the dividing line between the two might be more porous and fluid than first thought and considers each artist’s unique way of approaching the depiction of individual lived experiences.