ArchiveExhibition
Kira Freije: river by night
18 Jun-3 Sep 2023
Kestle Barton
Cornwall TR12 6HU
Overview
Kira Freije’s river by night includes new and recent sculptural work that coalesces figurative, assemblage and functional forms, and combines industrial metalworking and glass-blowing techniques.
river by night brings together elements that recur in Freije’s work – the human presence, narrative fragments, evocation of time and place, and references to interior states and to the built and natural worlds.
river by night is Freije’s first solo exhibition in Scotland, where it is on show at Cample Line from 25 March – 11 June before travelling down to Kestle Barton for an public opening on Sunday 18 June 2023 (2-5pm – all welcome), and running through Sunday 3 September. The exhibition is accompanied by newly commissioned writing by Francesca Wade and has been supported by Creative Scotland, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation.
Kira Freije (b 1985, London) lives and works in London. She employs metal, fabric, and found materials to produce materially rich sculptures that explore surreal or exaggerated narrative situations driven by empathy. She studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford (2008-2011) and the Royal Academy Schools, graduating in 2016. After graduating from the Ruskin, Freije worked with local blacksmiths in Sussex, acquiring the metalwork skills such as cold forming and sand casting that have informed her subsequent work.
Freije has a forthcoming solo exhibition, The Throat is a Threaded Melody, at E-WERK Luckenwalde, Germany, April-July 2023. Her work will also be included in Trickster Figures: Sculpture and the Body, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, Feb-May 2023, curated by Jes Fernie.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Meteorites, the approach, London (2022); Soft Opening, London (2019); Turf Projects, London (2018); 12 Mackintosh Lane, London (2018). Recent group exhibitions include: To the River, Gianni Manhattan, Vienna (2020); Via dell’Inferno, Herald St at Galleria Spazia, Bologna, Italy (2020); Far Back Must Go Who Wants to Do A Big Jump, ChertLüdde, Berlin (2019); Birmingham (2017); Occidental Temporary, Paris (2016) and the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016).