The Sherbet House

15 May-26 May 2019

Overview

The Sherbet House originated in the kitchens of Ottoman palaces and is depicted in a Topkapi manuscript as a kiosk of concoctions being wheeled against a background of bands of intense colour. As an institution it travelled and eventually morphed into the London coffee-house, becoming less refined and more alcoholic as it went, but it remained synonymous with a refuge from the mundane with its richly-patterned textiles, multicoloured glass and nowadays, flashes of neon. Assimilating influences ancient and modern, from Havana to the Euphrates, Jennifer Harding and Stephen Jaques make paintings, constructions and prints which sublimate pattern and transcend the exotic, creating emblematic images of visual vibrancy.