25th-28th January 2019

Echoing Walter Benjamin’s vision of existential possibilities within urban utopias, ‘A Thousand Configurations’ presents the beginnings of a barely envisaged creative formation and the final conclusion of fully realised works. At Lewisham Arthouse, four current students from the MA Drawing course at Wimbledon College of Arts will display new work that considers “what will have been wanted”, monumentalizing the notions of memory and emotional experience, archaeological traces and fleeting biological imprints. Diverse in the content and processes of their respective practices, Silvia de Giorgi, Lucy George, Hannah Gormley and Denise Poote each grapple with notions of process, possibility and memory whether archaeological, biological or experiential.

ARTIST INFO:

SILVIA DE GIORGI
Silvia De Giorgi’s drawing practice explores the relationship between landscapes and memory. Her photographic works often reflect on her personal connection to the natural surroundings of her home region in the Italian Alps, and the memories associated with it. Her strong interest in landscape, archaeology and prehistoric art recently led her to a research trip to rock art sites in Norway and Sweden. Returning to the UK, Silvia created a series of monumental drawings that reflect her onsite collaborations with archaeologists as they worked to conserve ancient artefacts.

LUCY GEORGE
Increasingly concerned by the environmental impact of humans on wildlife, Lucy George uses 2D and 3D line drawings to map how insect behaviour can convey visual information about the decrease in the population of pollinators. Using Ethiopian book binding techniques, she has been working to create a sacred book of the pollinators and, drawing on knotting skills acquired as a climber, she creates welded 3D installations that map the flight paths of bees and other pollinators.

HANNAH GORMLEY
Hannah Gormley’s drawings combine self-portraiture and portraits which challenge and consider the concept of ‘confessional art’. Using coloured pencils, these works focus on the intentional revelation of the private self, revealing specific and often unseen moments of fraught emotional experience embodied within the nude form. By positioning these bodies within hidden domestic interiors, Gormley permits a voyeuristic view into environments’ that questions the extent to which artworks created in this way claim an emotional veracity for the content as a defining feature—regardless of whether or not these ‘confessions’ are constructed or performative.

DENISE POOTE
Denise Poote examines how the embodied experience of drawing relates to the artefact or residue produced in the action/performance of drawing. Her aim is to better understand how the experience of drawing creates a form of shared knowledge with between the maker and her audience. Combining an eclectic mix of printmaking, DIY robotics and video, Denise’s practice attempts to understand the complexities of experience involved in both the making and viewing of art.

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
 London SE14 6PD
Private View: Thursday 24th January 2019, 6-9pm
Opening Times: Thursday 24th January to Saturday 27th January 2019, 12pm-6pm
Sunday 28th January 12pm-4pm.