that’s not what I meant
Jenny Klein and Erika Trotzig
27 April – 15 May 2022
Artists talk: Sat. 7 May 2.30pm
that’s not what I meant presents sculpture, photography and mixed media works exploring the experiences, memories and sensations accumulated by bodies and objects.
Works in the show express instability and vulnerability alongside absurdity and play. The shapes and silhouettes of the body reveal joy and strength as well as anxiety and a striving for balance. In Jenny Klein’s work the surfaces of paintings and photographs are developed by stitching and collage to create ambiguous, elemental forms. These additions change the emphasis of an image by stressing a particular area or outline, focusing on movement and the effort of balance or altering a silhouette. Erika Trotzig’s sculptural forms teeter on the brink of collapse or slumber, gathering their strength. Materials are transient; lost and found, without memory but full of metaphorical resonances.
About the artists
Jenny Klein is a multidisciplinary artist based in southeast London. She is interested in exploring the range of emotions that can be can be communicated through textures, shapes and silhouettes. Her work expresses the physicality and potential of both simple geometric shapes and bodies in motion. She has been exhibited widely including shows at Tension Fine Art, Saatchi Gallery, Crypt Gallery, Tate Modern and Harrow Arts Centre and is in private collections in Britain and Italy. Jenny has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. She spent several years working in theatre and performance for companies such as Ra Ra Zoo Circus Theatre and the International Workshop Festival and has performed at and written for events at venues including the Plunge Club, Oval House Theatre and Theatre 501 in London and the Elysium Gallery in Cardiff.
Erika Trotzig is a Swedish artist, living and working in London. Her practice is mostly centered around the exploration of sculptural forms. She has participated in group and solo shows including ICA, Tate, Cookhouse Gallery, Crypt Gallery and Gallery at Number 32. In 2021 she was selected for the Pada Studios residency in Lisbon. For several years Erika had her own clothing label, making one off, handcrafted pieces which were shown internationally. Her current practice is underpinned by an interest in what it means to be a body in the world: how bodies are oppressed through structures of power, investigating body politics and the permission to take up space. Erika is a graduate of the BA Fashion and MA Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, where she is also associate lecturer.
