MATERIAL
10th August – 14th September 2024
Anna Schwartz Gallery
Anna Schwartz Gallery is excited to present MATERIAL, an exhibition featuring new and recent works by five emerging artists: Nicola Blumenthal, Britt d’Argaville, Beth Maslen, Aden Miller and Stephanie Pile. Curated by gallery artists Rose Nolan and Stephen Bram, MATERIAL recalls acclaimed artist John Nixon’s tradition of mentoring the practice of peers and associates. Through various mediums, these artists have created dynamic, spatial compositions as an exploration of objects – both found and constructed – to examine how materiality is often categorized within a set of predetermined conditions. “These physical materials are essential in transforming abstract ideas into concrete forms, providing the foundational elements with which each artist constructs their visual language,” says Nolan and Bram.
Employing materials such as ply, fabric and found objects; and techniques including, sewing, printing and painting, collectively, these artists attempt to interrupt the viewers’ associations or recognition in the aim of returning to a space of ‘not-knowing’. As the curators explain: “This notion of ‘not-knowing’ represents a state of curiosity, openness and free association where the artist embraces uncertainty and the potential for discovery.”
Nicola Blumenthal’s whimsical Silver Objects, 2024, resituates a tableau of readymade objects in relation to a large re-purposed grey plinth. In her essay On Measuring Distance: The Field, art historian and critic Helen Hughes says: “It’s also amusing that so much of the stuff in Silver Objects is not reflective, rare silver, but absorptive, institutional grey, often reading as ‘neutral’ if not invisible.”
Britt d’Argaville’s architectural site-specific installation Earthquake, 2024, includes photography, chipboard and resin. Often engaging the spectator’s body, this work features a collision of indexicalities and sculptural entanglements, disorientating the viewer into a liminal space or a psychic happening.
Beth Maslen’s works Maternal Figures 12, 2023/2024 and Maternal Figures 11, 2024 reorder pre-conceived visual and associative connections. As the artist says: “Like a constellation or diagram, disparate elements of imagery – swans, chandeliers, an array of shoes, a car undergoing repair, coalesce toward figuring the symbolic mother in form and feeling; in particular holding associations that relate to myself as an artist and my relationship with other female artists, both familiar and not. In this way it presents a vision of lateral and literal supports; those who make us while we are making.”
A sense of repose is experienced in Stephanie Pile’s spatial compositions made from textiles. Her approach, which is process driven, examines the inference of meaning and emotional qualities found within the material. Pile’s constructions resemble a partial landscape or mind map, alluding to a space of bodily consciousness. “I seek to give primary value to secondary materials. I am attracted to materials and processes that demand a direct tactile engagement, resulting in work that maintains an evident connection to the body.”
Aden Miller’s work Syzygy, 2024 evokes a sense of motion and optical dissonance through his seemingly spontaneous combination of found, purchased and waste materials. Miller’s restructuring of these objects cultivates a new vantage point, yielding a tension between what we think we recognise and what we actually perceive.
In this exhibition, these artists render a sense of unpredictability; a type of decentralization mediated by space, material and reformation. A new exchange is formed between subjectivity and objectivity, and between the known and unknown. “The interplay between the concrete properties of materials and the open-ended possibilities of not-knowing is inherently positive and dynamic within this dialogue,” according to the curators. “It highlights the progression from inquiry to insight, where the manipulation and exploration of materials nurtures experimentation.”
MATERIAL at Anna Schwartz Gallery from 10 August – 14 September, 2024
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CURATORIAL STATEMENT
‘…not-knowing is crucial to art, is what permits art to be made. Without the scanning process engendered by not-knowing, without the possibility of having the mind move in unanticipated directions, there would be no invention.’ Donald Barthelme, Not-Knowing, 1997
Over the past year or so, we’ve put together this group of works through an informal, social process of looking, talking, and reflecting, with a particular focus on connecting with a younger generation of artists. Without realizing it, we found ourselves organically compiling a potential exhibition list as we visited different shows, discussed the works that resonated with us, and shared our enthusiasm for particular pieces. This intuitive approach to exhibition-making was guided by our instinctive responses to the artworks we encountered and a growing sense that these works shared a connection. Our intention has been to bring these artworks from their original, disparate settings into the pristine space of Anna Schwartz Gallery to encourage dialogue between these new works and the gallery’s history, as well as among the artist’s works themselves.
MATERIAL in part, is inspired by the legacy of our dear friend, John Nixon, who included our works in exhibitions in spaces previously occupied by the gallery. He would consistently curate young artists into exhibitions with established figures or with ambitious themes. We are interested in continuing this practice of exhibiting emerging artists in a context that invites critical engagement and conversation and carrying on John’s tradition of promoting the work of a younger generation.
In the context of art, the term ‘material’ encompasses a broad spectrum of meanings that reflect its multifaceted role in the creative process. Primarily, ‘material’ in this exhibition refers to the tangible elements and processes utilized by the artists such as ply, fabric, found objects, and sewing, printing, and painting. These physical materials are essential in transforming abstract ideas into concrete forms, providing the foundational elements with which each artist constructs their visual language. Beyond its physicality, ‘material’ also signifies the thematic and conceptual content that informs and shapes each artwork — the subject matter, the narrative, and the symbolic or metaphorical layers embedded within. ‘Material’ can also extend to the historical, cultural, and social contexts that influence and enrich the making of art, reflecting the broader environment in which each artist operates. This multifaceted understanding of “material” underscores its role in bridging the tangible and the conceptual, situating each artwork within a complex interplay of form, content, and context.
On the other hand, in art you also have to say what you don’t know, what we don’t know. This notion of ‘not-knowing’ represents a state of curiosity, openness, and free association, where the artist embraces uncertainty and the potential for discovery. It is within this realm of the unknown that creative exploration succeeds, inviting artists to question, experiment, divert, and invent. The interplay between the concrete properties of materials and the open-ended possibilities of not-knowing is inherently positive and dynamic within this dialogue. It highlights the progression from inquiry to insight, where the manipulation and exploration of materials nurtures experimentation. This engagement not only enhances technique but also deepens the conceptual and thematic layers of each artist’s work. It exemplifies how material and not-knowing intersect to encourage a creative process that is both intellectually and emotionally enriching. So it is through this lens, that the exploration of ‘material’ in all its facets, and the embrace of not-knowing are seen as complementary forces that drive Nicola Blumenthal, Britt d’Argaville, Beth Maslen, Aden Miller, and Stephanie Pile to invent.
Rose Nolan and Stephen Bram
August 2024