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STARTING HERE  19th December - 10th February 2023 

Rodić Davidson Architects, 1 Pied Bull Yard, Bloomsbury, London WC1A 2AE

This series of works by artist Jo Elbourne asks: “If you paused here, now, for a moment, if you noticed your own way of seeing – and sensing -- what might that look like?”

Using the poem You Reading This, Be Ready by William Stafford as a jumping off point, Elbourne echoes Stafford’s direct and intimate address by transmuting the poet’s readable, soft-spoken tone into her own work. Also plainspoken, articulate, poetic, the works offer an invitation to gently interrogate our rational and sensual responses to time and experience, starting here.

Made using an apparently restrictive technique, Elbourne’s method allows for movement only in lateral or medial directions, forming a sequence of decisions fixed with readable clarity in coloured yarn. Within these constraints Elbourne manages to zig and zag across the picture plane, bringing out images of subtle depth and complexity.

They read as blocks of abstraction or architectural landscapes, or both –  ambiguous, minimal.

Unemphatic references to de Chirico’s dreamlike scenes and the ‘emotional architecture’ of Luis Barragán seem written in the images. Umbilically aligned with the precision of craft, the works sit apart from art trends and even, momentarily, outside politics, asking only to connect.

What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here?

– exhibition text by Paul Rousseau – writer/researcher

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2O22

Gathering Ground - Kobi & Teal, Somerset 

Materiality - Kindred House, Margate 

SOLO Starting Here - Rodić Davidson, London  View details

2O21

An Act of Making - Yorkton Workshops, London

M.A.H x London Design Festival - 5O Vyner, London

FRAMED - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

2O2O

In Company - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

2O19

Four - The Flower Factory, London

Modern Art Hire - M.A.H Gallery, London

Three Point Turn - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

bauhaus - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

Showcase - 67 York Street, London

Turnbull & friends - Turnbull & Asser, London

Salon - Resort, Margate

2O18

Ensemble - Assembly Point, London

Artisan Retreat - RHS Chelsea, London

British Craft Pavilion - London Design Festival

Collection Point - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

Making Space - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

RESORT 4 - Pie Factory, Margate

2O17

British Craft Pavilion - Truman Brewery, London

Mixing Signals - Kobi & Teal, Somerset

Resort Revue - Resort, Margate

2O16

Come Out To Play - Resort, Margate

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