UPCOMING: ARTHOUSE1 | SHAPE_SHIFTERS 2019
OBSERVATION ROOMS
A Shape_Shifters exhibition
Sasha Bowles | Rosalind Davis | Justin Hibbs | Gibson Martelli
Open: 3 - 31 May 2019. Open Thursday -Sunday 3-7pm
Artists Talk: Thursday 30 May 6-8.30pm
ARTHOUSE1, 45 Grange Rd, London SE1 3BH
'“ As Rosalind’s own collaborations with fellow artist Justin Hibbs reveal, she is particularly and heavily invested in how space can be both clearly and deceivingly bordered, walled, outlined and mirrored. Their resulting work which can be seen at Arthouse1 as part of Observation Rooms, 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
An exhibition of site-specific works by five artists. Drawing on archetypes from a myriad of sources to create immersive, illusionistic and experimental installations. Activated by the viewer, space materialises, dematerialises, unfolds, shifts and collapses as you journey through the various portals, crossing thresholds into other worlds.
Davis and Hibbs bring together different aspects of their artists’ practice into direct dialogue with one another, creating a collaborative work of mirrored and steel structures that come in and out of focus, disorientating and mesmerising the observer.
Sasha Bowles plays with scale and architectural tropes, miniaturising, enlarging and re-positioning Illusionary worlds that are then consumed and possessed within frameworks of spatial constructs.
Gibson/Martelli investigate the relationship between figure and landscape via modes of moving, and bodily responses. The viewer is pulled into a lexicon of realities where movement is explored and experienced through the gateways of emergent technologies.
The common thread in the collective is that they all transform shape, space, environment and experience through their multi- disciplinary approaches. Some of the connecting themes that the artists investigate are; modes of display, illusionary experience, architecture and reconstruction of space. All of the artists acknowledge in their practices the central importance of generative dialogue and exchange alongside experimentation, risk taking and research to their process of artmaking. In this respect they work collaboratively on the exhibitions whether through the creation and development of their work in conversation with others, curatorial projects, residencies and exhibition making.
Shape_Shifters are a collective of six artists; consisting of Sasha Bowles, Rosalind Davis, Justin Hibbs, Evy Jokhova and Gibson / Martelli who originally had an exhibition together at Arthouse1 in 2016.