“Making Space” with Horsehair, Shoes and Production of Clothing
Nicola Turner, “The Meddling Fiend”. Photo: Birgitta Huse.
“(Pre-used) shoes can be seen as reflections of frequent movement between places by walking but also as supporting the creation of space by their wearers.”
“Space is made and occupied when travelling – between countries, landscapes, people, cultures and ones’ own thoughts.”
“The show offers various possibilities to explore “making space” depending on individual taste.”
“Making Space” with Horsehair, Shoes and Production of Clothing
The Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts
★★★
WRITTEN BY DR BIRGITTA HUSE, 11.06.2024
Entering the Annenberg Courtyard from the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly we are surprised by a walk-in sculpture made mainly from horsehair and wool. The material Nicola Turner worked with for the sculpture was previously used for bedding and furniture. The artist’s creation “The Meddling Fiend” sparks thoughts about a London which was characterised by horse-drawn carriages and in certain parts by flocks of sheep being driven to food markets. The artwork provokes movement not only between its fibre tentacles. It also inspires movement between past and present, humans and animals, life and death, and painting and textile sculpture as art expressions. Turner’s starting points for this work were the Sir Joshua Reynolds statue, Reynold’s works as well as the painting “The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents (1786-88)”. On Turner’s homepage we read that “She explores how these materials [horsehair and wool] give off energy forces, including how “dead” matter can provoke a visceral aversion and attraction, that can provoke new ways of looking.”
The walk-in sculpture is part of the 2024 Summer Exhibition’s Co-ordinator’s, Ann Christopher RA, explained aim “to explore the idea of making space, whether giving space or taking space”. Sculptures, video installations, objects, and paintings of all sizes inhabit nine galleries, the Lecture Room and the Wohl Central Hall of the Royal Academy of Arts. Each room has a different colour and character and is well balanced in terms of space between the artworks. Beautiful sights open up when looking through the doorways, and with every step, as the views upon the artworks change.
Felicity Irons, “Rush Shoes with Holly Wood and Oak Heel”. Photo: Birgitta Huse
(Pre-used) shoes can be seen as reflections of frequent movement between places by walking but also as supporting the creation of space by their wearers. Shoes play a continuous role in the show be it the pair in Gavin Turk’s “Vincent’s Van Boots” display case, the shoes Nicola Turner put on top of a box in “Anxiety of Influence”, the unfinished pair made by Felicity Irons in “Rush Shoes with Holly Wood and Oak Heel”, or the plastic shoes which are generally used for gardening or when going to swim and which are part of Blackhorse Workshop CIC’s “Sum of its Parts” sculpture. Surprisingly, the shoes in the last example are embroidered. The exhibited shoes all appear in pairs, also those in some paintings, and thus offer spaces of variable forms and sizes between them, too.
Space is made and occupied when travelling – between countries, landscapes, people, cultures and ones’ own thoughts. West African Kente cloth features in Elsie Owusu’s “DancingQueen: Empire to Freedom 1961” and in her “Ghanagold: A Case for Responsible Artisan Gold Mining”. Agata Read uses Sashiko embroidery in “Self-Portrait with Stefan”. In Baldvin Ringsted’s “The Wayfarer” found cross stitched motifs build a landscape which is partially probably Swiss, with a house typical for the mountain area, and British due to a church and a cottage that is surrounded by rose bushes. Another landscape presents itself when looking at the work upside down. Mick Rooney features “The Mexican Wrestler”.
Baldvin Ringsted, “The Wayfarer”. Photo: Birgitta Huse
Blair Cahill, “DIN”. Photo: Birgitta Huse.
Threads have the potential to tie up. The embroidered creation “DIN” by Blair Cahill envisions this idea. The portrait shows a man who looks quite relaxed on one hand but is tied to the chair he is sitting on with many thin threads on the other. Following my textile and clothing objects-oriented approach towards the Summer Exhibition 2024 I observe that clothes’ production is a theme which is picked up by several artists. London Makes presents “London Spaces of Making. (Polyptych)”. One of the four photographs which are printed on coated aluminium panels shows the manufacture of red high quality uniforms for ceremonies and parades at Kashkett & Partners in Tottenham 2022. In the painting “Savile Row XL” by Oscar Whicheloe the cut components ready for being sewn together for a jacket are shown hanging on nearly invisible threads. The various layers of pieces are arranged in a theatre stage design like way. Ceal Warnant’s work “Revolutionary” causes thoughts about the possibilities of change inherent in clothing production and use.
Exhibition View. Photo: Birgitta Huse
To follow a textile and clothes approach while visiting the Summer Exhibition 2024 is certainly only one way to explore the otherwise overwhelming amount of exhibited artworks. The show offers various possibilities to explore “making space” depending on individual taste - though these possibilities are somewhat limited due to the fact that the works hanging high up, especially smaller ones, are hardly if not at all to be deciphered. But this circumstance is a longstanding and known Summer Exhibition tradition which finds proof in etchings made during Victorian times which show exhibition rooms, paintings and visitors. Altogether the exhibition which has works of contrasting quality on offer broadens individual horizons in the sense that new perspectives onto seemingly well known spaces and things are inspired, though not always in an eye catching or exciting manner. If you want to connect in a meaningful way with Ann Christopher’s aim of exploring the theme “making space” with the objects on show at this exhibition, you need time to make the most of it.
The Summer Exhibition 2024 at the Royal Academy of Arts is on show from 18.06.2024 to 18.08.2024.