PRESS RELEASE STILLNESS IN MOVEMENT
‘Not known, because not looked for But heard, half heard in the stillness Between two waves of the sea’
from Four Quartets by T S Eliot
These three lines from Eliot’s epic poem were the starting point of The London Group’s
latest, and perhaps most evocative exhibition, Stillness in Movement.
Its themes and offshoots are explored by 74 London Group members - the stillness before dawn; chance encounters that are frozen time; the anticipation and pause before a performance; the stillness between breaths...
An overriding narrative is that of nature changing and resting. In her gravure print, ‘Botanical Beach’, J. Yuen Ling Chiu depicts the stillness and movement of water: ‘Every day the water recedes... underneath granite outcroppings and along stretches of sandstone, tide pools form... every day the water returns.‘
There is a palpable energy running through this two-part show - Alexandra Harley’s sculpture, ‘Mariner Red’, with its cascading ceramic shapes and dancing colours; Barbara Beyer’s powerful, dark sculpture ‘Wave’ which conveys weight and balance within a stopped motion; James Faure Walker’s archival digital print, ‘Jupiter’, an abstract work which exudes both stillness and movement.
The exhibition also speaks of the moments in which art is created. Charlotte C Mortensson’s photograph, ‘May Pen cemetery’, is a cross section in working time - transfixed by the beauty of Trench Town’s concrete graves, the artist is unable to look away.
Diverse media are embraced in Parts 1 and Part 2 of Stillness in Movement - painting, print, drawing, photography, sculpture, olfactory art, film and video, embroidery and fabric work. Interestingly, Victoria Arney’s ‘Birdland’, employs still images in the form of cyanotypes and photographs to create a moving image film. It is a magical depiction of earth’s surfaces and bird migration.
Finally, the very notion of stillness is challenged by David Redfern with his submission, ‘An Atom’. The artist points out, ‘like the universe, an atom is in constant dynamic movement. The only time it is still is when it is imagined.’
The London Group was formed in 1913 and is one of the oldest artists’ collectives in the world. Founder members include Walter Sickert, Sylvia Goss, Ethel Sands, Jacob Epstein. Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Lucien Pissaro.
Venue Bermondsey Project Space, 183-185 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UW Dates PART 1: 17-21 September
PART 2: 24-28 September
Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm www.thelondongroup.com
