Lucy Quinn, Drift, 2017. Cast glass, mirror 110cm diameter.
OPENING EVENT: Wednesday 14 September from 6:00pm at ANCA Gallery. Free to attend, no bookings required.
Venation explores ‘vessels’ conceptually through contemporary craft practices of two artists, Sophie and Lucy Quinn. Vessels are one of the most elementary cultural objects in the world, however the metaphors far exceed functionality. Vessels are closely linked to the body through their traditional use, being handled and passed around. They can contain vital food and water or medicine, they enable mobility, transportation, communication, commerce and trade. More abstractly, the body can be a described as a vessel for life, carrying thought, emotion, life or culture, embodied experiences and illness.
Both artists will interrogate the vessel and how it relates to the body by using line as both a formal and conceptual device. The line is one of the fundamental tools of artistic expression, the study of line is a principle in art theory and history. The line in art – whether it be painting, sculpture or any other media– is typically a formal device: a method of enclosing, of differentiating, of suggesting space. The artists objective will be to demonstrate how formal innovations and deviations in the use of line can express new ways of thinking about the relationship between the body and vessels.
For Lucy, the body is a metaphor for vessel, a site that carried both sensation and experience. The duality of physical and psychological experience is imperative to her work, she explores the degradation of memory and the way sentimental objects shed meaning over time, as they are passed from generation to generation. The importance of the line as a visual device connects to veins and systems in our bodies which is literally a vessels for fluid, perception and thought. Materially this is represented by flowing glass, pigmented marks or connecting textile threads. For Sophie the line represents interconnectedness between viewer and object. The object in this case is the vessel, which raises questions about who gives and who receives, what can be taken or taken from? Due to the relationship between body and vessel, the status of a vessel is both fixed and potentially changeable; the vessel symbolises abundance and loss, life and decay.
Venation is a show by sisters, Lucy and Sophie Quinn. Both are multidisciplinary artists with independent practices, who will draw on their fine arts and contemporary craft skills to create an exhibition that interrogates idea of ‘vessel’.