Image:Philippa Johnson, work in progress on window installation at Space Studios, Morning Lane, E9
27th May- 24th June 2011
Discover the double life of the home
The debut solo show from Philippa Johnson at Ring Here transforms a converted Victorian shop with a flickering, shifting facsimile of the everyday.
Her Windows and Whitewash installation forms the centrepiece of the show. It is created with a drawing technique that wipes away at a whitewashed window surface, revealing a pattern to conceal, or peer through, and casting intricate shadows on the surrounding surfaces. A glowing magic box from the outside,the installation invites passers-by into the space.
‘I like the idea that things are not permanent and can just emerge and equally disappear, and make us understand and see spaces in new ways‘, says Philippa.
Playing with surface and texture, Philippa makes use of everyday products as her tools, giving domestic materials a new delicacy. Often working in situ on site-specific projects, she incorporates wallpaper, paint stripper, masking tape and household furniture, using pattern and decoration to highlight the spaces themselves, and offering a new way to experience and take notice of them.
Familiar patterns- a motif that might normally appear in a concrete wall marking the boundary of a post-war semi’s front garden, for example- recur throughout her work, and become out-of-the-ordinary as they appear in unexpected contexts.
About Ring Here
Ring Here is a speakeasy art space. It is a new gallery supporting and showcasing the most exciting new artists, and is housed in the front room of a converted Victorian shop that is now also a home in London SE11.
It is open by appointment only, 7 days a week. Interested parties can make
their appointments by calling the Ring Here hotline (0207 735 1007), via
twitter, or by emailing ringhere@gmail.com.
Once you’ve made your appointment, you will receive full details of the otherwise covert location, and all the information you’ll need to make your visit complete.
Drawing on Surface is the launch show for the gallery, and is a fitting expression of the Ring Here manifesto: a gallery in which you can feel at home.
www.ringheregallery.com www.pipjohnson.co.uk
ART’S NEW SCENE Twenty 6 Magazine
