Scarlett Bowman, Valérie Kolakis, Neal Rock

Private View: Thursday 23rd June, 6-8pm

The term "polymer" derives from the ancient Greek word πολύς (polus, meaning "many, much") and μέρος (meros, meaning "parts"), and refers to a molecule whose structure is composed of multiple repeating units…

In this show the many parts referred to are sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden. The artists present us with works that contain a diverse range of materials, and works that undergo a vast scope of processes. The show will at once present corporeal forms, spectral objects and constructions that slide between recognition and the obscure.

Scarlett Bowman uses an abundance of manufactured materials, from plastics, latex, textiles and composites. Almost every substance used throughout its production has undergone several alterations, taking the material from its raw form to its final arrangement.  The process of removing the selected material from its original context removes its primary function and thus its material value, enabling the audience to view it purely as a material. By combining aesthetic traditions from craft and the history of abstraction, she explores how mundane everyday materials can be elevated to a higher status.

Valérie Kolakis uses industrially mass-produced and often ubiquitous materials that are present in daily life. She utilises them to explore the imagery of urban space and the transitory conditions they comprise.  In a sense rebuilding an “object” and, at the same time, contradicting its function. Her work defines and deconstructs architecture, generates and suspends action, engages memory and short-circuits it, interconnecting with personal, cultural and social tropes.

Neal Rock makes work that is led by process and reflects an interest in transparency and fixity. He incorporates screen-printed images, which are transferred onto skins of pigmented silicone; they are draped over carcass-like supports and often integrate found objects. Underlying this is an engagement with painting that, through the means of its production, generates sense and meaning. There is an indirect look to the body, veiled and transformed through cosmetic implants, filmic special effects, medical prosthetics and industries in which silicone is a material agent. These concerns have fed into and informed a role that is both performed and embodied.