Artists Statement
Rosalind Davis is an artist whose central concern is the transformation and reconfiguration of space through multiple disciplines. Beginning with the highly rationalised and objective language of architecture, Davis dis-assembles its geometries to re-create new and multifaceted spaces. The resulting environments probe the relationships between both the physical and psychological aspects of space.
Irreversible Entanglements, Rosalind Davis and Justin Hibbs in Collaboration,. Photo by Rocio Chacon
Constructed from modular elements her site-specificinstallationsare re-assembled afresh for each exhibition and respond according to the particular architectural conditions of the site, such as scale and light. They are constructed usingflexible individual elements such as steel frames, transparent and luminous perspex sheets, thread and monochrome paintings. The steel structures allude in their scale and proportions to windows or doors - portal like openings that allude to the boundaries between spaces.
Incorporating both 2 and 3D models of space engages the viewer in a process of looking, interpreting and constructing space for themselves through their own individual experience. The subjective and dis-orienting nature of the work establishes relationships between the personal and the systematic, highlighting a disparity between the imagined and the real. This seeks to re-claim the failed ideals of modernist space and intimate a more personalised space of one’s own creation.
“A transformative piece which looks to fold, shift, disassemble, lean and reconfigure itself with endless possibilities. Rosalind relates this to her earlier paintings of brutalist and modernist buildings as if she's 'taken the structure and pulled it out and turned it into a sculpture'. Jillian Knipe, Wall Street International
Her paintings and drawings are part of this same process but in 2d form representing another 3d space where complex interior and exterior spaces are collaged together and abstracted and,like the installations, these 2d works have a disorienting and subjective character, establishing a relationship between the personal and the systematic.
Threads often intervene in her works; their tautness dissecting boundaries and creating shattered geometric planes, the imagery being literally pinned down, sewn up and threaded together. The use of thread often traditionally refers to the feminine and domestic activity of making, repair and creation but here consciously punctures the predominant male domain and hard-edged aesthetics of modernist architecture, geometric abstraction and design.
Since 2018 Davis has alongside her own practice is also working on collaborations with artist Justin Hibbs making site specific works for no format gallery, Seven Oaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, (London and Sevenoaks, 2018) Arthouse1 and My Cup of Coffee is your Cup of Tea and the Foundry Gallery (London, 2019). In 2020 they have works in ‘The Collectors Room’at JGM Gallery curated by Karen David and ‘Substance Bundle’at Koppel Projects curated by Alexander Stavrou.
Davis and Hibbs’ collaborations bring together different aspects of their respective artists’practices to create transformative and experiential installations. The works are constructed site specifically and site-responsively, using modular elements such as steel frames and mirrors. Perspex and mirrored sculptures both reflect and reconfigure the space, acting as an endlessly changing compositional device as the viewer navigates the work. Creating both a disorientating and mesmerising effect, the work investigates “how space can be both clearly and deceivingly bordered, walled, outlined and mirrored. Their resulting work highlights possibilities, pathways and dead ends as short-lived arrangements which, despite their calculated appearance, are actually subjective compositions, susceptible to constant re-assembly.” Jillian Knipe, Wall Street International.
Vanishing Points at The Foundry Gallery 2019