ABOUT THE ARTISTS
The Importance of Instinct is a group show by 7 recent graduates of Kingston School of Art, London, run by Party Ring Poetry Club, a London based collective organisation that creates safe spaces to share vulnerable words and sounds.
MAYA DEW
Maya Dew (b. 1998, Manchester, United Kingdom) investigates the extraction and displacement of waste and organic material through urbanisation, and processes of post-industrialisation. Using discarded ready-made material found in skips, on roadsides, building sites and neglected areas of shrubland, she constructs sculptural arrangements that become indexes of memory, experience and identity.
Work investigates objects relationships within space- each element is rendered as social and geographical markers of the location in which they were found. This exploration of systems and personal habits of archivalism allows structures to be influenced by each of the object’s form, allowing the materials to reveal themselves so that with tactile exploration, new unique beings are created. The collective analysis of material and the exploration of possibilities becomes an act of storytelling.
Many pieces incorporate raw clay found at sites local to the artist, which are then hand processed, and clumps of earth displaced and encased wax. The process of these sculptures is transformative, collecting fragments of the environment to create physical beings that incite a meeting of presence and ephemerality.
Through a setting of science fiction, localised history and folklore, structures investigate the relationships between the ecological, socio-political and historical. This accumulation of property represents both past and present- the entanglement of multiple narratives.
OLIVIA ENGLAND
Olivia England’s multidisciplinary practice primarily focuses on themes of dream-memory and temporality, and our human connection to nature. For the past year Olivia’s practice has centred around poetry and photography, experimenting with finding the confluence of both. Since graduating she has continued developing poetry with a focus on documenting dreams. Through the categorising of reoccurring dream-spaces and iconography, Olivia uses oil painting and poetry to bring these spaces here.
https://www.livfrancesart.com/
ANDY HURST
Andy Hurst is a British multidisciplinary Artist living and working in London, England. Born in 1994, in Southeast London, he has studied in Fine art institutions such as The London Art Academy and Kingston School of Art.
He uses a wide range of mediums, objects and materials, with applied themes and narratives that are incorporated into his painting, sculpture and installation.
The themes of research and explorations into ancient history, cultures, traditions, mythology, spirituality and religion. He applies and adapts his interest in ancient symbolism, knowledge and metaphysical wisdom into the meanings and concepts behind his work.
https://andrewhursty247.wixsite.com/andy-hurst
TESS JAMES
Tess lives and works in Brighton. During their time at university, Rosie and Tess became frustrated with the lack of opportunities to share vulnerable performance-based work, and founded the Party Ring Poetry Club. They continue to run events and workshops.
Tess’ artwork stems from a childish desire for playfulness and intimacy. She researches how video games generate a protected space for vulnerability to occur, utilising traditional research methods and also using art making. Her resulting games/writings/conversations invite the audience to participate fully, challenging inhibitions while setting boundaries in the form of thresholds and rules of play.
OMALOLA MAU
Omalola Mau (b. 1998) is a Canadian artist living and working in the UK. She has a multidisciplinary practice with an emphasis on painting. In her work she explores themes of gathering, heritage, and preserving moments. Through painting Mau records her own history and experiences, focusing on still lifes of food and household objects, and drawing on family archives to explore the idea of gathering and togetherness.
FLO MCCARTHY
Flo McCarthy lives and works in London. She sculpts and draws intuitively to put her embodied emotions and experiences into her artwork. Flo likes to trust her gut when it comes to creating and lets her body take control, creating a tangible exoskeleton of her thoughts and feelings. Flo likens this to rising out of her body and watching herself be created.
ROSIE ROBSON
Rosie Robson (b. 1998) lives on a narrowboat, continuously cruising the London canal systems. Runner up of the Folian Publication prize in her graduate year for her book of poems, she incorporates written and found poetry into video installations. Her recent work is a study of the connection between occult methods of exploring the collective unconscious, and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning technology fed by large public data sets. She uses examples of the mundane to exhibit how these obscure mechanisms affect everyday society.
Alongside Tess James, she runs Party Ring Poetry Club: a London based collective that hosts safe spaces to share vulnerable words and sounds.