Liliya Art Gallery’s October exhibition, THE SEAHORSE VERSUS THE AXE, will feature seven UK-based emerging artists: Darcy Brenna, Ellie Davies, Emmanuelle Norré, Harry Hugo Little, Jake Freeman, Meryl Yana and Ziqi Chen.
THE SEAHORSE VERSUS THE AXE leverages its titular metaphor to examine the role of the destructive impulse within the psyche and artistic creation. Presenting a compelling battle between sensitivity and aggression, instinct and intellect, beauty and decay, seven artists tap into our base passions, deploying animal iconography, nocturnal narratives, or alchemical approaches to materials. Collectively, work in the exhibition recalls the psychoanalytic concept of the ‘death-drive’, with artists revealing a sense of violence against the self, nature, or the very medium of painting. From this thematic sparring emerges the triumph of art that strikes at the nervous system – virtue to be found within the visceral.
Text by Anna Moss, curator Liliya Art Gallery.
THE SEAHORSE VERSUS THE AXE, 3rd October – 5th November 2024, Liliya Art Gallery
Art Opening Thursday 3rd October 6PM – 8:30PM
Liliya Art Gallery, based in South-West London’s Putney neighbourhood, opened in 2021, and has a reputation for championing young artists and graduates early on in their careers, including Georg Wilson, Sunyoung Hwang, Michele Fletcher and Henry Glover among others.
