British artist Sarah Maple (b. 1985) to debut a new exhibition curated by Kate Bryan, arts Broadcaster and Head of Collections for Soho House globally. Maple is recognised for her provocative work that challenges ideas around identity, religion, the artworld, feminism and freedom of expression.
Often using herself as a conduit to challenge stereotypes and normative behaviour, Maple is adept at confronting complex issues that we are all thinking about with wit, irony and a startling honesty. Maple’s own mixed religious and cultural background informs much of her work. She works across a variety of media including painting, photography, video, performance, ready-mades and collage. Her past exhibitions have focussed on Brexit, taboo representations of Muslim women, ardent feminist themes, xenophobia, Trump and toxic masculinity.
This exhibition is a culmination of her work to date and is her sharpest and most biting presentation yet: a satire on the artworld that she both rejoices in and despairs at. The exhibition arbitrarily takes its name from the words with the highest ‘click through’ appeal and will include text-based marble works, collage, mixed media installation and video. A key work is a ground breaking series of short films that fuse art with sitcoms. An ‘art-com’ if you will. Exploring the experience of being an artist, and a very particular outspoken artist, each film is a semi-autobiographical piece, a heightened reality that draws influence from Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as seminal artists such as Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas. Featuring Maple’s real-life collectors and colleagues –such as David Tennant, Sonia Boyce, Will Gompertz, Nikki Bedi and the curator Kate Bryan playing a bad feminist – the fictional sitcom/video art will be a meta experience, blurring the line between fiction and reality. In October the films will also be available to view on Sky Arts – which is now free to view and available to all. By having what is essentially video art meets sitcom available to all to view from home, Maple and Bryan aim to push the boundaries of what art can be and who it is available to.
Sarah Maple’s N*zi Sexy Shark Show A solo exhibition curated by Kate Bryan at Jealous Gallery, London, 1st-18th October 2020 jealousgallery.com
About
Sarah Maple (b. 1985) graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University, London, in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions were held at: The Untitled Space, New York (2019); KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam (2017); The Cob Gallery, London (2015). She has been awarded a Sky Arts Scholarship in 2015 and 4 New Sensation Art Prize in 2007 and was recently commissioned new work by The Baltic, New Art Exchange and Sky Arts.
Kate Bryan (b. 1982) is an arts Broadcaster, writer, mentor and Head of Collections for Soho House globally where she is the curator and custodian of over 5000 artworks on permanent display across 8 countries. She has championed Maple since 2014 and acquired several of her works for the Soho House collection. Bryan is a presenter on Sky Arts, BBC4 and Sky Arts Italia. In 2019 she published ‘The Art and Love’ and her follow up book will be released in 2021.
JEALOUS is a contemporary gallery with a soulful non-elitist attitude, they are also a respected print publisher and highly skilled printing studio, based in East London’s creative hub of Shoreditch, with a second space, Jealous North in Crouch End.
