Jane Goodwin | Livia Marin | Stuart Redler | Charlotte Squire | Wycliffe Stutchbury
The Shape of Things celebrates a dialogue between art and design showcasing a selection of artists who transform structures, objects and furniture. In conjunction with the London Design Festival 2012, The Shape of Things includes a range of work, from collages and drawings in thread depicting iconic twentieth century furniture, to fractured, melting china which reference notions of originality and replication in a history of ceramic design. Black and white photographs of diligently designed objects no longer in use; bizarre and beautiful lights made of the constitute elements of old lamps, tables and chairs; and wall based abstract works made from wooden chips from de-constructed chairs, barns and other structures. These thoughtful and perceptive artworks explore the reciprocal relationship not only between art and design, functionality and aesthetics, but also creativity and transformation.
Jane Goodwin has created a series of works on paper that respond to iconic twentieth century chairs, exploring the sculptural qualities of the chair, but their perceived personalities. Jane’s attraction to chairs is based on their role as functional sculptures; it is impossible to lose sight of the fact that their common purpose is to support people whilst sitting. While viewed in their everyday environment some chairs can be taken for granted; the very clever and beautiful are significant and enduring objects. In her thread collages of the Iconic Chair Suite, Jane engages with classic forms, varied use of materials and bold colours, echoing the iconic designs of twentieth century furniture. Chairs by Arne Jacobson, Le Corbusier, George Nelson, Vernon Panton and Gunter Beltig amongst others, have instructed her work. Jane’s sculpture of a woman built into an old kitchen chair bridges two elements of her practice; thread based collages and sculpture. Jane’s large fibreglass sculptures of anonymous city traders, have previously been exhibited at jaggedart. Jane lives and works in London and Barcelona.
Livia Marin transforms readymade crockery, altering the scale and placement of their forms and decorative patterns, to create small-scale sculptural objects that explore questions about value and culture. Her works are often displayed in series evoking comparisons to the mass production of objects . Livia questions the notions of originality, while highlighting the beauty and individuality of her unique pieces. In the series Nomad Patterns, it is not the contents of the broken sections of gravy boats or sugar bowls which spill out onto the plinth, but the ceramic works themselves which pool and pour outwards like a Surrealist timepiece. Interpreted from traditional Chinese designs, Thomas Minton’s willow patterns decorate the crockery. Livia takes these designs and reapplies them by hand; dispersing them over the large fragments of crockery. Patterns undulate over the ceramic curves, sometimes sparsely applied, in other areas overlaid so heavily that the white porcelain is almost completely obscured. In the series of collages Nature Morte, Livia stitches gold thread over photographic still lifes. As an archaeologist is obliged to omit missing fragments of a retrieved object, in Livia’s works she uses the gold thread to absent sections of the ceramics and glassware. Livia is a Chilean artist who lives and works in London and exhibited with jaggedart at PINTA, The Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art Show, 2012.
A sense of the past is evoked in Stuart Redler’s black and white photographs of individual objects found at his late father’s farm. The equipment and tools have been thoughtfully designed with function prevailing over form. Worn away at a certain point, blunted then re-sharpened over decades, splitting and re-oiled these objects have garnered their own histories through use. Heavy use and wear over the sixty years that John Redler ran Hyde Farm as a dairy farm in Somerset, has rendered them unique. Stuart’s beautifully printed photographs show us objects with their own stories of their use and their owner whom they have survived. Having completed his photography degree at LCP, he worked as a commercial photographer. Now working as a fine artist, Stuart has received awards from the Association of Photographers, Graphics, PDN New York and Communication Arts, amongst others. His work is included in the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London and has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Stuart has received a number of awards, including six from The Association of Photographers who awarded him Gold for his portfolio of architectural images.
Charlotte Squire’s works lies between assemblage, sculpture and installation. She reconfigures and remakes lampshades and lights, creating intriguing new forms; some tall and elegant, some stout and warm, they exude certain human qualities. Her pieces are created from second-hand materials, which generate a sense of the familiar and allow the viewer to attach parallel narratives to the objects.
Charlotte is interested in exploring the duality between the homemade and the mass produced. By re-appropriating and deconstructing found, everyday materials, sending them on a journey of transformation, there is an unusual paradox where the lights retain an element of functionality despite their new forms. Charlotte has exhibited in a number of exhibitions, installations and public commissions in the UK and abroad. She lives and works in London.
Wycliffe Stutchbury creates two dimensional works composed from discarded and found pieces of timber. His works celebrate the varied qualities of wood as a medium, and are imbued with a sense of time and place. Layered wooden chips are arranged like undulating lines of roofing slates drawing comparison to the circular layered rings of the tree trunks. The history and origin of the materials that he uses are central to Wycliffe’s practice. Wycliffe has worked with wood for the last twenty five years and has made a new piece for the exhibition derived from a garden chair. Since studying at the London College of Furniture, he has worked as a furniture maker in Sussex, Ireland and London. Wycliffe lets the material speak for itself. By exploring the inherent qualities of the materials Wycliffe creates works with a quiet beauty, giving a new purpose to fallen and forgotten timber.