Softer, Softest
26th April, 2024 – 21st May, 2024
Guts Gallery
Unit 2 Sidings House,
10 Andre Street
Hackney
London
E8 2AA
Guts Gallery is excited to present Softer, Softest; a group exhibition which explores the condition of softness and the ways in which it can be expressed in artistic composition.
Softer, Softest rejects the harsh, oppressive edges of modern machinery and instead celebrates the transitory, enigmatic nature of human touch and memory. Throughout the show, spectral bodies phase in and out of view; they shift, collide and eventually coa- lesce into shadowy, indistinct forms. Elsewhere, everyday objects are captured in hazy impressions; enchanting them with a cryptic, almost spiritual power. In each composition, you can almost hear the hushed breath, the strained whisper or the subdued rustling of fabric that has been captured from life and housed in the sanctum of the canvas.
Oil on canvas 120 x 150 cm 47 1/4 x 59 in
Courtesy of the artist and Guts Gallery.
Photography by Gillies Adamson Semple.
Each of the works in Softer, Softest is suffused with a quiet, lyrical beauty; each like a half-forgotten memory stirred in a sleeping mind or a flicker of light glimmering behind an opaque glass. Painted textures in each piece are gossamer-like; colour spreads across surfaces like an exquisite, dreamlike web and delicate drawing marks thread to- gether intricately. Throughout the show, shapes seem to bloom and curve gently; the turn of an elbow, the bend of a wrist or the edges of a stationary object are constantly rendered in soft, restrained detail.
Oil on wood 61 x 91.4 cm 24 x 36 in
Courtesy of the artist and Guts Gallery.
Photography by Gillies Adamson Semple.
In Softer, Softest, the ephemerality of the present moment is crystallised into a fragile, glass-like artifact. It is as if the artists have captured time itself in each composition; the fleeting present moment becomes a delicate object for the artist to examine and revolve around in their hands. In this way, the artists in Softer, Softest demonstrate a more medi- tative, contemplative and, crucially, softer way of exploring and expressing the world that they inhabit.
Ink, bleach, acrylic and charcoal on canvas
100 x 100 cm 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in
Courtesy of the artist and Guts Gallery.
Photography by Gillies Adamson Semple.
Exhibiting Artists:
Emma Beatrez, Laura Footes, Kyler Garrison, Preslav Kostov, Vanessa Liem, Angélique Nagovskaya, Albie Romero, Elsa Rouy, Alexandra Rubinstein, Daniel Santangelo.
Softer, Softest opens on the 26th of April, 2024 until the 21st of May, 2024 at Guts Gallery
©2024 Guts Gallery
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