MATERIALITY
About
'To speak of 'materiality' in contemporary art is to emphasise the material qualities of the mediums employed to create an artwork.' [1]
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Materiality has been discussed within art discourse for many years, including Kant's idea of the 'Aesthetic Experience', in which he looked to philosophical theory of art and its materials. The Formalist approach of analysing artworks also touches upon this, the key principle of this approach is to emphasise the material aspects of art, the way that it has been created, and what was used to create it, as opposed to a narrative-led analysis.
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In this show, materiality is investigated through multiple mediums including video art, sculpture, ceramics,
digital collage, painting, and jewellery. This broad approach to materiality allows the audience to reflect upon the range of avenues that artists pursue in order to decipher our material world. All works on show have been created with sensitive and intelligent consideration of material qualities and interactions. The artists shown in this exhibition live and work all around the world, their works have been brought together in order to show an international survey of the investigation of materiality within contemporary art. Relationships between works can be seen in each curated 'room', these images seemingly provide a real space that allows the viewer to investigate the works in relation to one another with an accurate sense of scale. This sense of union is of utmost importance to the show as each culture and country in which the artists work provides a rich and varied perception of a universal concept. There are 59 works on show from studying, emerging, and established artists.
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Exhibition created and curated by Hannah Andrews.
[1] Quora.com