AMANDA ANSELL, CLAUDIA BOESE, KAREN DENSHAM, HAYLEY FIELD, JOANNA WHITTLE, HANNAH WRIGHT 2021

October 16th - 24th

'WORKOUT': Having a decent period of time to make artwork is a gift for creative people. After abandoning her previous life as a portrait and landscape artist, Hilma af Klint gave herself one year to make a series of large abstract configurations. Intended to be a message to mankind, she devoted herself to this new series of paintings the whole time knowing that the art world wasn’t ready for the kind of art she was making, during her lifetime. For an artist, one year is a good amount of time to prepare, gather new material, distil ideas and produce a new body of work. ​ The last year and a half has been a ‘Workout’ for many: working out the significance of the pandemic, dealing with instability or loss, finding fresh ways of discovering and advancing forward, when the world seems to have stopped moving intermittently. The pandemic has seen us lose the sense of our usual coordinates for a period of time, only to place ourselves on to a new trajectory. A majority have drifted off into their unique psychological spaces and explored new places (real or imaginary). ​ The artists in this exhibition present their creative ‘Workout’ for you in the Asylum Studios Gallery space. During unprecedented times, their artworks demonstrate how each artist has been working out their own practice and maybe some individual and/or world mysteries too.