(Un)Staged
(Un)Staged
Sumiko Eadon, Emma Gardner, Ilona Kiss, Rui Matsunaga George Shaw, Ruby Tingle, Simon Woolham, Hannah Wooll
Taking the print process and studio as inspiration, the gallery acts as a kind of stage, a place through which narratives unfold and characters appear on the scene, interacting and leaving traces.
The exhibition moves from places connected with personal histories, through the work of George Shaw and Sumiko Eadon, to imaginary spaces inspired by mythology and dreams, in the work of Ilona Kiss and Rui Matsunaga. Ruby Tingle and Hannah Wooll subtly use textures in colour and collage to allude to other worlds. Emma Gardner’s images of a ruin suggest echoes of the past and Simon Woolham’s lithographs are abstracted places created through a physical interaction with the space itself.
George Shaw draws places that were familiar to him in his youth, places in which he “found [him]self alone and thoughtful… along with “the times and all the thoughts I lack the language to describe”. Sumiko Eadon has created etchings from memories of her childhood home in Kamakura, Japan. The skylines are drawn from memory, without looking at the paper, alluding to a place long lost in time.
Ilona Kiss’ work is strongly influenced by dreams and nightmares, collective memory, and the question of place and belonging. The poetic qualities of uncertain situations influence her work and she is interested in the tension between the familiar and the weird, and the real and the imaginary. Rui Matsunaga draws inspiration from mythology, folklore, Japanese anime and popular culture to reflect on an increasingly technologised world, questioning our relationships with nature and other, unseen worlds.
Ruby Tingle creates forms that are rooted in natural history and she presents an alternative folklore where boundaries between human and animal are obscured, often linked to her fascination with herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles). Hannah Wooll explores the domestic space and interior life, to create dreamlike and static qualities within moments of still and uneasy tension. Her monoprints echo the melodramatic atmosphere within her paintings.
Emma Gardner questions ideas of space, concealment and transition through printmaking and evokes a sense of stillness and silence within the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Simon Woolham‘s work is concerned with occupied spaces and the narratives that unfold in them. His drawings of a tree stump or a broken fence are filled with the meanings of the events that go on around and about them. His new work dwells on the nature and characteristics of the spaces themselves.
(Un)Staged is a collaboration between Leicester Print Workshop and PAPER Gallery in Manchester, through a conversation between Simon Woolham and Yasmin Canvin. The exhibition features work by six PAPER artists alongside two Leicester Print Workshop members.
PAPER is an artist-led, commercial gallery based in Manchester which represents a range of emerging and mid-career artists whose practice is based around the medium of paper, ranging from drawing, painting, printmaking, artist’s books, video, and performance.
Launch Event
Join us for the launch event on Saturday 11th May, from 3pm, where you will have the chance to meet participating artists.
Image © George Shaw
