TSOTA x CuratorSpace: Meet the Artists (part II)

Ruocong Ma, ‘Lass Rhapsody’

Welcome back to TSOTA x Curator Space ‘Meet the Artists’ – part II, where you can learn more about the amazing works featured in the exhibition. Explorations of the 21st century feature heavily in the collection from the use of creativity during lockdown to navigating the evolutions of technology and our society.

Inescapable to our present day is the pandemic and its ensuing effects on the world.

Ana Maria Lima Dimitrijevic embarked on an Isolation Portrait Project in which she created hand drawn collage portraits based on selfies of friends and family; her only way of seeing them. This practice developed a sense of harmony and togetherness, bridging a gap whilst in isolation from each other.

Ana Maria Lima Dimitrijevic, ‘Chelsea Blue (in Winter)’

Similarly Monika Lorincova used art to escape the restrictions of lockdown, creating an imaginary travel series in which she visited countries around the world through her art, escaping the confines of her house through memories and paint.

In the face of a lack of materials at her disposal during lockdown, Charlotte Cullen made the most of her natural surroundings, producing a series of intuitive, gestural mark making using available drawing tools in outdoor areas of Leeds. Also applying creativity during lockdown was Tyler Watson who made several drawings of house plants. Tyler ingeniously depicts the plants using different colour schemes and orientations to convey his own emotions of being trapped inside; these plants were, at some points, the closest he could get to nature. These demonstrate the sense of hope and harmony that creativity can inspire.

Tyler Watson, ‘My Morning’

Further exploring the 21st century, several artists have submitted works that consider the evolutions of technology and society that we are currently experiencing.

Judith Alder’s captivating pencil drawings that seem as if they are convulsing and evolving before your eyes, consider growth, evolution and change as technology, science and nature have collided. Similarly Julia McKinlay’s eye-catching emobossings consider the overlaps between processes in nature and industry, with a specific focus on foundries and iron casting where new rock formations and metals are generated.

Mary Rouncefield’s intriguing prints reflect her lifelong interest in mathematics as she combines geometry with thought-provoking imagery to create a final print that encapsulates a logistical aesthetic with social commentary. The artworks Mary has produced for the Members Open Exhibition explore the issues that women face in modern society, featuring women in corsets, as if trapped in a mathematical loop.

Mary Rouncefield, ‘The Hyperbola’Also featured within the exhibition is Emily Tracey who has worked on over 40 participatory projects that engage with history, place and communities, and over the last 10 years, has collaborated with The British Museum, The Bloomsbury Festival and Up Projects to name a few. Exploring stored and archived information, Emily uses vinyl record sleeves and collage to consider our relationship with the landscape; the landscape of our memory, what we take for granted and what is now dwindling away. The vinyl sleeves act as a window into the vibrant abstracted landscape, creating a striking work that makes you think about our world and our effect on it.

Emily Tracy, ‘Mountain view no. 4’

Similarly, Susan Wright is concerned with archive and discarded artefacts; her series of collograph prints is based on used metals and textiles which reflect the delicate and fragile nature of objects and the impact our environment has upon them. Also working in collage is Laura Obon whose abstract collages are driven by the feeling that colour creates in her. Laura works intuitively, changing direction quickly and adding new elements as the cut-out shapes create a unique kind of harmony.

With Japo Okworobu evocative watercolour portraits that explore emotion and Alice Banfield’s portraits that consider the experience of a woman with autism, to Amy Sterly’s woodcut prints that investigate Finland’s culture and Ruocong Ma’s utopian landscapes, the variety of creativity feature in the Members Open Exhibition is truly remarkable.

Head over to the Gift Shop to immerse yourself in this incredible art, discover the host of artists involved and find some inspiration for that truly unique gift that will be treasured for a lifetime.