GENERAL STORE
Opening Wednesday 20 June 2018, 6:30pm
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at 7:30pm with Special Surprise Performing Guest
Exhibition continues until Sunday 24 June 2018, open daily 12-6pm
Unit 16, Stephen House 1b Darnley Road London E9 6QH
HEWING WITTARE are delighted to announce our fourth exhibition since launching a year ago, which will show new works from Lancaster based artist Ellie Barrett & Walthamstow artist Flora Bradwell. The artists are set to take over the GENERAL STORE for several days before opening Wednesday 20 June from 6:30-8:30pm. The exhibition continues from Thursday 21 until Sunday 24 June, (12-6pm) with both artists continuing to develop their practices within the space in front of the audience.
Currently, Ph.D student in Contemporary Art Ellie Barrett is researching materialism in sculptural practice. Barrett is testing out the capacity of salt-dough to construct complex sculptures innovating techniques and discovering the qualities of the material. In doing so, she seeks to dissolve the boundaries between the art world and its audience and demonstrate that democratic materials - which can be put to work by anyone regardless of skill or training - have their place in artistic practice. By working with mediums that are accessible to everyone, her sculptures investigate the cultural tension between material and abstracted reality, and how a renewed perception of substances facilitated by the creative process points towards an existence that is more ecological, empathetic and sustainable.
Flora Bradwell, who is due to start an MFA in Painting at Slade in September, has many strings to her artistic bow. Driven by a desire to playfully rub the fantastical up against the everyday, Bradwell explores a fictional realm through painting, installation, video, animation and performance. Vivid and vibrant in colour, Bradwell’s works are a clear nod to both the gaudy circus and sideshow posters of Jack Sigler and traditional 16th and 17th century Dutch painters such as Isack Elyas, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. Bradwell uses a very distinct palate of heightened colours against black backdrops that pop out to the viewer, grasping attention. She librates the concept of painting by using many different surfaces in her practice, it's not just the flat canvas that she explores, but also items of clothing, moving image, the dinner table and even a mask that she wears as fictional, bulbous character Bella Lordwarf who is an extension of her painting. Lordwarf demands centre stage, craving the attention of everyone around her whilst being a self aware alter-ego that explores her own mythological beginnings with Bradwell.
As well as installing previously constructed sculptures for this project with HEWING WITTARE, Barrett and Bradwell will engage in a week-long period of making in the space opening to the public halfway through the week. Both artists will be populating the GENERAL STORE, a nod to Claes Oldenburg's project ‘The Store’, with newly made objects, activating the exhibition as a site for ongoing construction. Visitors are invited to sustain this activity by performing the role of the consumer, both observing and experiencing it first-hand, sometimes participating in the exercise and purchasing the available goods.
Each of Barrett’s salt-dough sculptures carry a reference, honouring on historic artistic process. Additionally the material itself makes for the ideal construction to encourage familiarity due to its lack of social restrictions by traditional art-world doctrines. Produced using paint, a sewing machine and video Bradwell’s work will take on a performative role within the stage of the GENERAL STORE. Both artists will respond to each other throughout their time in the space, creating works that are often crude and humorous, sometimes collaborating whilst other times challenging and clashing. This opening up of artistic practice seeks to demystify the making process in order to generate conversations between artist and audience, presenting art as an inclusive activity which is anti-elitist and accessible to all.
elliebarrett.com <instagram.com/elliecbarrett>
florabradwell.com <instagram.com/florabradwellart> & <instagram.com/bellalordwarf>
Some works are available, please feel free to discuss any interest with Georgie White-Aldworth or Alex Winter, HEWING WITTARE. (hewingwittare@gmail.com, 07843447905, <instagram.com/HEWING_WITTARE>)
We would like to thank Studio AGELI for their wonderful support to help make this show happen.
A special thank you to Hannah Ford from art collective Invisible Numbers for creating wonderful signs for the GENERAL STORE.
Created by Georgie White-Aldworth & Alex Winter, HEWING WITTARE is a platform for artists to develop their practice & exhibit in unusual places.