Collective Exhibition At the Arc Gallery

International Sat 06-11-2010

Collective Exhibition At the Arc Gallery
Press Release

Reach Out and Touch.....

'All art is at once surface and symbol.' - Oscar Wilde

From the gentle abrasiveness of the ground and vegetation beneath our feet, to the smooth suppleness of our bodies’ flesh and skin, to the multifaceted layers of the human psyche, the notion of ‘the surface has proved a rich fertile source of artistic inspiration for many generations.

Surface Sensuality and Desire Poster

Surface, Sensuality and Desire Exhibition Poster

‘Surface, Sensuality and Desire’, a collective exhibition at the arc gallery, showcases recent works by Titus Agbara, Glory Charles, Edward Ofosu, Shallman Quashie, Azubuike Ani, and Olu Shobowale: six contemporary artists whose works fuse together the tangible surface with the seemingly oppositional impulses of sensuality and desire – destruction and creation.

Originating from various locations across the African continent and Diaspora, these artists all engage with the issues of the surface in different yet interconnected ways. Some choose to focus on the surface of the earth. For example, Agbara’s highly textured landscape work that employs decay to create a raffish allure that questions the socio-economic difficulties underpinning what he sees as the moral decline of ‘deprived’ areas of rural Africa.

Shallman and Ofusu also place a fundamental importance on the body’s surface, positively celebrating the splendour of the unclothed human form through sensuous images of postured nudes and entangled lovers. In a similar vein, Shobowale’s use of animal bones as a medium for his sculptures draws attention to our own carnal instincts that are an innate extension of the human body.

Charles, meanwhile, is captivated by reflective and unseen surfaces – the human mind in all its contractions and strange imaginings. His work looks beyond the conventional surface in order to seek the dark desires and imaginative impulses manifested in the surrealist-inspired work: a quality shared with the dreamlike vistas of Azubuike Ani.

The exhibition at the arc gallery opens on the 26^th November until 6^th December 2010.

EDITORS NOTE:

Private viewing:

Thursday 25^th November 2010

Exhibition continues:

Friday 26^th November until Monday 6^th December 2010

Arc gallery: Barge Belle, 11 ale Wharf, Ferry Lane, Tottenham, London N17 9NF

Posted By: Hirum Ndungu

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