Archiving, assembling, balancing, binding, buffing, caressing, carrying, casting, cleaning, cruising, crying, desiring, despairing, disassembling, dragging, drawing, dreaming, dressing, drilling, drinking…(1.)
Curing, a process in chemistry and engineering, produces a tougher, harder and more stable material. Single entities react and form a network where density increases and drives toward the end of the reaction, a solid state. Similarly, art practices that develop over time and through experimentation, production, interpretation, reiteration and rejection steer toward a solid state of meaning. However, achieving such a state in the gooey mess that is the field of art is a fallacy, and the practices of artists should rather be seen as stuck in the process of curing.
Whether it is engagement with contemporary consumerism, with ancient relics and motorway souvenirs, with notions of touch and indexical trace, with longing for the 'real', or with remixing and sampling as a driving force in search for the 'new', the practices of artists in this exhibition explore the boundaries of a variety of mediums, modes of production, presentation and meaning-making – always developing, continuously morphing, never fixed.
Material Curing is an exhibition curated by artist Reinis Lismanis featuring works in film, installation, painting, photography and sculpture by Katrin Hanusch, Celeste McEvoy, James William Murray, Ieva Raudsepa and Tilo & Toni.
(1. Extract from James Williams Murray's Studio Actions)
About the artists:
Katrin Hanusch (b. 1978, Kulmbach) is a London based multidisciplinary artist. Her work engages with the impermanence and interconnectedness of our world and addresses the long term effects of our actions through site-responsive works. Recent solo shows include After the Curtain (Illusionarium 2021, London), Future’s Landing (Picnic Gallery, London), The Romance (All About Laptops, London). Recent group shows include Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer, Brooke Benington Gallery (Fulmer), Danielle Arnaud, Tintype, APT Gallery, SPACE and Assembly Point (all London), Ram Chhatpar Shilp Nyas (Varanasi) and Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt (Halle/Saale). Hanusch studied at the Royal College of Art, London and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle.
Celeste McEvoy (b. 1994, London) is an artist exploring her personal relationship with social mobility and the desire for total assimilation. Often presenting roadside debris and found objects alongside her ceramics as means of ethnographic collection, her work investigates themes of aspiration, hierarchy and the need for cultural capital. Recent solo shows include (IF YOU DON’T PLAY), YOU CAN’T BE A WINNER (Kupfer Projects, London), Thirst Prize (with Corbin Shaw, Changing Room Gallery, London), SAVELOY SPEEDWAY (MocaThanet, Kent) and Oh Buoy (BLOAT Collective, APT Gallery, London). Recent group shows include Smok Gang (Penthouse Gallery, Margate), A Land of Incomparable Beauty (BLOAT Collective, Collective Ending, London) and Time Cannibal (Brockley Gardens, London). McEvoy studied painting at Camberwell College of Arts.
James William Murray (b. 1988, Brighton) explores concepts of mediated touch, indexical trace, materially, and desire through works spanning painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. Recent solo exhibitions include Realia (Brighton CCA: Dorset Place), Object Q / Pursuit of Happiness (with Garth Gratrix, Dodo Gallery, Brighton) and Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (Stephane Simoens, Knokke). Recent group exhibitions include Too Young to Fruit (Wevet Projects, Brighton), New Ideal (Rule Gallery, Denver), Between the Lines (Stephane Simoens, Knokke). In 2017 he co-founded Niagara Falls Projects in Brighton. Murray holds an MA in Photography from the University of Brighton where he also teaches.
Ieva Raudsepa (b. 1992, Riga) is a Latvian artist working with film, text and photography exploring convergence of documentary material, critical theory and fiction. Solo shows include Closed for Crisis / Take Care of Each Other (Low Gallery, Riga) and It Could Just Swallow You Up (ISSP Gallery, Riga). Her work has been shown internationally including in Future Ghosts (Human Resources, Los Angeles), Post-Soviet Visions (Calvert 22 Foundation, London) and in Riga Photomonth. She is currently the artist-in-residence at ARCUS Project in Japan. Raudsepa studied philosophy at the University of Latvia and fine art at California Institute of the Arts and Mountain School of Arts, Los Angeles.
Tilo & Toni (founded 2015, Siegen) is an artist duo based in Cologne. In their practice, the artists straddle photography and painting aiming to create a synthesis between the two. Recent solo shows include Im Walde rauscht der Wasserfall (Metronom Gallery, Modena) and Tilo & Toni geraten in Schwierigkeiten (Gasthof Worringer Platz, Dusseldorf). Their works have been shown at Villa Stuck (Munich), Zabriskie Point (Geneva), düsseldorf photo+, Fondazione Francesco Fabbri (Treviso), Kunsthalle Zürich, Photo London, Unseen (Amsterdam) and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (Aachen). Tilo & Toni have studied at University of Siegen and Gerritt Rietveld Academy. Their first artist book was published by Skinnerboox and presented at Printed Matter, MoMA PS1, New York. They are visiting lecturers at University of Giessen, University of Paderborn and University of Siegen in Germany.
About the curator:
Reinis Lismanis (b. 1992, Jūrmala) is a Latvian artist based in London. He has held solo exhibitions at Exhibition Hall Arsenals, Latvian National Museum of Art (Riga), Brockley Gardens (London), Brighton CCA: Dorset Place (Brighton) and no format (London). His works have been shown at KAI Art Center (Tallinn), Benaki Museum (Athens), National Library of Latvia (Riga), Fotopub Festival (Novo Mesto) and FUGA (Budapest). Lismanis holds a degree in photography from the University of Brighton and is currently studying art history at Birkbeck, University of London.
