‘Archaeologists excavate sites and objects from the past and then write about them; while artists create, and invent objects or situations in the present.’
Sarah Scott, World Archaeology Vol. 38, (Taylor & Francis: 2018)
‘Without the Allure of Objects – we are trapped amidst the swirling black noise of any given sensual space.’
Graham Harman, Object-Orientated ontology: A New Theory of Everything (Pelican Books: 2018).
It is hard to resist the ‘allure’ of a mysterious object: a found object, an out of place artefact, an art object, an anthropological object, an archaeological find.
Archaeologists subject artefacts to hierarchical categories. Artists, by re-making and re-imagining objects, activate apocryphal histories, raise the objects’ status and bring new perceptions.
In Harman’s notion of ‘ Allure’ an object holds a seductive power beyond its qualities. Every ‘thing’ can contain an essence of this mystery through imagined intentionality.
Through both the mystery and the allure of the object we make a quantum leap – from one possible reality into the next. As we examine this reality closer, through ontological study, we question and place what things can exist or can be said to exist and how such entities can be grouped accordingly to their similarities and differences?
The exhibition, featuring the work of 38 international artists, explores the intent to generate new relations between objects and their associations with the world around them.
The works include ceramics, sculptures, installations, drawings, paintings, performance and more.
Artists: Associated Clay Workers Union ( Helen Carr, Sarah Christie, Duncan Hooson and Annette Welch, Diane Eagles, Alison Cooke, Danuta Solowiej, Stephanie Buttle, Jo Pearl, Raewyn Harrison, Jane Millar), Eleanor Bowen, Sean Dower, Fieldnotes, Bruce Gilchrist, Caroline Gregory, Bjørn Hatleskog, Luke Jordan, Miyuki Kasahara, Yev Kazannik, Marq Kearey, Calum F Kerr, Lisa McKendrick, Pol Mclernon, Sean Mclusky, Kevin Quigley, Victoria Rance, James Roseveare, Martin Sexton, Sarah Sparkes, Ian Thompson, Inga Tillere , Marianne Walker, Phill Wilson-Perkin, Mary Yacoob
Curated by Kevin Quigley & Sarah Sparkes
CAN WE EVER KNOW THE MEANING OF THESE OBJECTS? 8th – 22nd July 2021 GALLERY 46 gallery46.co.uk
Publication: OBJECTS JOURNAL, an artist book containing new works and texts by the exhibiting artists, will be available to purchase at the gallery for £7
