4/5 Stars
In the sunlit, spacious exhibition rooms of The Hepworth Wakefield gallery, a new series of fascinating works of art take centre stage. Three artists, Alice Channer, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Linder Sterling all display their new collections, ranging in form from sculpture to collage, and more.
Channer’s work consists of a series of sculptures made from various materials, such as resin and chromed aluminium, placed carefully around the space. They are bold, intriguing, and hold the viewer’s attention.
Jackson Hutchins’s playful work consists of sculpture, painting, and collage combined. Taking old, everyday objects, such as sofas and armchairs, she adds a mix of paint, papers and old photos to the pieces. She particularly likes to experiment with the shapes of objects, such as the way in which ladders are positioned in some sculptures, with painted canvas hanging over them.
Linder Sterling’s pieces combine fashion, dance and design to create photomontages of models with both everyday and designer objects, and ballet dancers with images from nature. She was inspired by ballet and dance, which she views as glamourous and admirable for the amazing ways dancers can move their bodies. These pieces are vibrant and bright, with the clever addition of the objects appearing to merge with the clothing on the models. In their entirety, these three artist’s works form a collection of imaginative and engaging new pieces which intrigue the viewer and hold their gaze.
Alice also spoke to Alice Channer about the series of new sculptures she included in the exhibition.
Channer states that she wants to be ‘seduced’ by a piece of art; to be made to want to reach out and touch it, which is why her works combine a mix of textures, curving and folding her materials to give them volume. Her interest lies in the human form, with a lot of these pieces are inspired by the human body; in others, her inspiration came from the curves in the bones of reptiles. She is fascinated by the idea of looking with an object as well as looking at it; which is why she often creates pieces that are translucent, or contain gaps between materials.
Channer never works with one single idea; instead, her works are created by separate pieces and materials coming together and working well. What fascinates her is how separate things in a piece seem, while at the same time working together well. The ‘strangeness’ between objects intrigues Channer, and in all her works, she has found that they “describe a gap”, while still being a piece together. This strangeness creates a conflicting sense in the mind telling the viewer two different things at once; the urge to physically put a hand through a piece is present, yet they know that there is no actual gap to put their hand through. Channer states that this creates something theatrical about an experience with her objects, and she seems to enjoy seeing this experience occur to viewers of her work.
Alice Rafter