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
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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
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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