sceaduwe*
Russell Chater, Helen Scalway, Richard Stone
Russell Chater, Helen Scalway, Richard Stone
Open 6-14 March 2010, Fri-Sun, 12-6pm
*sceaduwe - translatable as either shade or shadow; the artists explore this spectral spectrum through viewer participation and a range of media:
Continuing the artist's interest in transitional spaces, drawing and the void, Russell Chater whitewashes the gallery windows. A playful yet poetic intervention, the work sets the tone for the show and raises questions about the permanence of the space itself. Visitors are asked to leave their mark on the glass: a scribble, a name, a face - a touch and an affirmation that they were there - that we are here. These ideas are heightened in a series of intimate drawing-like photographs: monochrome images that play with sign and symbol, surface, mark making and the need to leave our trace. Meanwhile, the heightened tapping of a blind persons cane draws viewers to the artist's projection piece 'Probe' - a work resonant with feeling around in the dark.
Helen Scalway is also concerned with means of remembering and maintaining a presence. With delicate drawings framed in dark frames, the artist explores nineteenth century mourning jewellery in jet and silver: a brooch, a chain - a keepsake. The black in the images and the glass combine to both reflect and absorb the viewer like an obsidian mirror. Arranged as if themselves composing a jewel, the work continues the artist's interest in drawing and fluid spatial systems.
Engulfed in amorphous wax or with surfaces partly removed, Richard Stone's antique figurines and landscape paintings hover, distanced from their historical domestic settings or purpose. Strange and ambiguous, they both reveal and conceal evocations of self and place, as well as raise questions over appropriation and ownership. Meanwhile, ghostly furniture fittings are placed against the walls, hinting at their original function, but unable to be opened: the walls themselves now full of tension and content.
sceaduwe is the third exhibition together by the artists over the last year in London gallery spaces. All the spaces have had previous histories (a former East End pub, a former toothpaste factory and, in the case of Madame Lillie's, a former corset makers and sculpture workshop), whilst one of the previous spaces has since closed - a poignant sign of the times. This layering of history and transience is embraced in the artists work:
Russell Chater graduated from the MA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins in 2000. A former Co-Director of Dalston Underground Studios (which celebrates its 10 year anniversary with an exhibition later this year), the artist has exhibited extensively in the UK and abroad with exhibitions including: Visions of Desire, Galeria Espacio, Valencia, Spain; Science Fiction: Double Feature Ikon Gallery, The Custard Factory, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, The Springhill Institute, Birmingham; Intersculpt UK Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester; Quotidien aide (Les Locataires) Ecole superieure des beaux- arts de Tours, France (Curated by Frank Lamy); Is there anyone home? Gallery Westland Place, London & Galerie Zurcher, Paris (Curated by Roy Exley); Trace: International Drawing Exhibition - Touring: Greece, France, UK.
Helen Scalway graduated from the MA Fine Art course at Chelsea College of Art in 1996. She has just completed an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project as a visual artist in collaboration with the V&A (on whose site she has been blogging) and Royal Holloway, London University. In 2007 and 2008 she held residencies at The Drawing Centre, Wimbledon College of Art, London, University of the Arts. Recent London shows include Moving Patterns at the Royal Geographical Society, and loadbearing at Ada Street Gallery. Her work is held in numerous collections, including the Artists Book Collection at the V&A. Scalway is currently working on a contribution to a book to be published by V&A Publishing.
Richard Stone graduated from the MA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins in 2000. Upcoming projects include Schwartz Gallery presents: Richard Stone and Rosanna Greaves, Schwartz Gallery, London. Recent solo projects include reenactment of a memorial, Madame Lillie's Gallery, London and the parlour, Amwell Street, London. Further work has been shown at St Pancras Crypt, University of the Arts and Beaconsfield, London as well as further galleries and sites in the UK and abroad.
Image:
Richard Stone
i want to disappear, i do not want to disappear, 2010
Courtesy of the artist
Richard Stone
i want to disappear, i do not want to disappear, 2010
Courtesy of the artist
Madame Lillie's
10 Cazenove Road
Stoke Newington
London N16 6BD
+44 7990695363
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