AMBITION and the TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS
Martin Elphick
Gallery Exhibition and Book Launch
Viewing by appointment: Saturday 17th - Wednesday 21st April 2021
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Open viewing: Thursday 22nd - Wednesday 28th April 2021 12 - 6pm (Sun 1 - 4pm)
The gallery will be open to the public, no appointment is necessary.
As the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020, Martin Elphick was finishing a sculpture called Ambition. Then like everyone else he had to change tack, and a series of small, clay, wood-fired Transitional Objects was the result.
44AD artspace is delighted to reopen with the gallery exhibition AMBITION and the TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS presenting both of these two contrasting projects.
The sculptures in the first room are the result of an ambition to produce artwork that will impress the viewer. They include bold figurative and abstract forms in a variety of media and finishes, the most recent being the title piece for the exhibition, which personifies the ambition itself.
The second room displays twenty sets of small ‘Transitional Objects’ and some associated sculptures made in the same way during lockdown. Each of these groups or families of six simple forms was made in clay, coloured if at all with natural pigments, and fired once only using wood chips in a garden incinerator. They are the products of a different intention to the pre-covid works. The interaction between these repeated forms and the element of chance that is accepted in the making and firing methods produces a quieter, more reflective result.
The accompanying exhibition book, AMBITION and the TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS presents a wonderful catalogue of images which document the works through their various stages to finished piece; alongside an exploration of the creative process via journal notes and written reflections by Martin Elphick, which includes an essay on the brain mechanisms that enable an artist to perceive their chosen subject in a unique way.
AMBITION and the TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS book is available to purchase from the gallery throughout the exhibition.
The book can also be ordered direct from the author for £10 plus postage.
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