Touch not Touch

18 Jan-1 Mar 2025

PV 17 Jan 2025, 6-8pm

Overview

In classical painting hands form one of the most significant roles in the design of the painting. One only has to think of the extraordinary Raphael painting, The Transfiguration 1516-20, in what has become more than just a play of the hands as more like the dance of the hands. Yet in Noli me Tangere Christ reaches out to prevent further touches. Do not touch me I am touching you to keep you at a distance. It is often said that all artists possess some form of distance in their work, and it is there manifestly in the work by the strictures to never touch the work of art. Despite the invocation of touch by the artist especially the ones chosen for this exhibition. A touch that is unattainable that therefore seizes us and provokes a gut reaction. The nervous system of the gut being more sensitive to kinaesthetic sensation than the cerebral cortex. What the work of art draws us near to is their distance instilled in the artwork by the artist. The works make us sense this distance. It is the sense of a touch that commands you may not touch. You will never touch the art work you will hold nothing in your hands and that is what you sense and love about the art work.

Featuring artists: Mark Wright, Laura White, Myra Stimson, Peter Suchin, Rebecca Scott, Susan Trangmar, Sally Lewis, Zavier Ellis & Tony Benn. 

Curated by Tony Benn.

Open Thursday to Saturday, 12-5pm.