CONFIGURATIONS

A group exhibition curated by

Linda Khatri and Jo Lewis

Artists:

Paul Ashurst, Vincent Hawkins, Lee Johnson, Linda Khatri, Jo Lewis, Emily Motto,

Darren O’Brien, Ruth Philo, John Robertson, and Dillwyn Smith

Saturday 26th September - Saturday 24th October
Thursday / Friday 11 - 5, Saturday 11 - 4
and by appointment

The impetus for Configurations is the joy of looking. At its core, the exhibition is a celebration of those fleeting yet delightful moments of visual discovery that remind us that beauty is an experience rather than a quality. With elements of surprise, subversion, and revelation, playfulness is placed directly before us, as a guiding principle in the selection of works and a defining ethos of the exhibition.

Throughout the works in the show, the most compelling details often reside where we least expect them: at the margins of a work, beneath a pocket or shelf, or within a recess. The hierarchy between our central and peripheral vision dissolves and the process of visual discovery is mirrored in the movement often required to experience the work in its entirety. Looking becomes an active and embodied encounter as we are encouraged to reconsider where significance resides and how it is perceived. Uta Barth once explained her preoccupation with shifting the “viewer's attention away from the object they are looking at and toward their own perceptual process in relation to that object”, and it is precisely this shift these works encourage.

Within this framework, the space, light, and field around the individual work becomes a visual element that this exhibition revels in. Shadow accentuates three-dimensional form, changing what we see over a day. And our peripheral vision is what it is all about. John Berger wrote, “We never look at just one thing. We are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.” And surely this is the joy of such a bringing together of works in a small, intimate gallery: the interplay and discovery of these works being part of the peripheral vision of each other.

Each becomes an act of configuring thought—of giving form to enquiry and making visible the processes through which we encounter and understand the world around us.

Through subtle shifts in perspective, attention, and perception - that is, engaging the mind’s eye-the works in Configurations return us to the simple pleasure of looking.

About the curators

Linda Khatri (BA Fine Art, Syracuse University, USA) is a London-based artist whose practice explores the relationship between painting and sculpture. She has been commissioned to create large-scale, site-specific installations, most notably for The July (Amsterdam) and Convene (London). Her most recent exhibitions include ING Discerning Eye (London) and Irving Gallery (Oxford).

Artist website

Jo Lewis is a London-based artist who makes ink and watercolour paintings on paper. She trained at Leith School of Art, Edinburgh and the École des Beaux-Arts, Valence, France. Jo has shown extensively in Britain and France, with recent solo shows in Paris, London and Lyon. In 2020, she was invited to present her work at the Drawing Research Network Conference.

Artist website

Ken artspace is a small new art space in the heart of Kennington.

Run by artists and founders Rob Kesseler and Agalis Manessi is

dedicated to a mix of occasional exhibitions, window installations

and pop-up events.

ken artspace

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