Alice Ruth Wong, Affordable Art Fair
The recent Affordable Art Fair held in London’s Battersea Park was a great success, and an outstanding feature of the exhibition was the Graduate Showcase curated by artist Jessica Hall. Here we highlight some of our favourite emerging new artists.
Graduating earlier this year from Wimbledon School of Art, Alice Ruth Wong’s ‘House of Uncertain Purpose’ caught the attention of many entering the fair. A greenhouse had been colourfully transformed – it’s glazed panes obscured with coloured tissue paper. Inside snails were gradually chomping away at the tissue, leaving behind rainbow coloured droppings, which were then displayed alongside in Petri dishes. This intriguing work appeared fun and playful, but there is a dark aspect to Alice’s work, dealing with ‘a friction born of the conflict between the desire to nurture and the intent to exploit.’
Araba Ocran, Affordable Art Fair
Camberwell School of Art graduate, Araba Ocran’s ‘Showing Out’ sculpture also stood out. Challenging perceptions of monumental sculpture, Araba works with cheap and accessible materials such as polystyrene and clay to create her pieces. Her monument to ‘cool’ is a seated ‘dude’ on a plinth, which questions this fickle and often fleeting concept. The statue looks huge and solid, but is in fact lightweight and fragile – the polystyrene being easily chipped, dented and discarded in parallel with society’s so-called ‘icons of cool’.
Ivy Hon Mei Chan, Affordable Art Fair
Ivy Hon Mei Chan’s work is concerned with ‘reconfiguration, transformation and metamorphosis. She uses everyday objects, such as pencils, rice, clocks, and carpets in her pieces, transforming them into fascinating, colourful sculptures. The towering structures she displayed at the fair were covered in multi-coloured pencil shavings, creating unique, organic yet kaleidoscopic surfaces.
Debbie Locke, Affordable Art Fair
Debbie Locke’s dialogue piece was also intriguing. Her installation was made up of 3 wall mounted ‘drawing machines’ signalling to each other via Bluetooth technology. It fascinated viewers, with the drawings gradually developing over a number of days. The machines were each programmed to mimic the motion of the previous machine – so in theory, the result should be drawings that are identical. However, Debbie has intervened in the assembly of the machines to add in a random element of playful fun – aiming to achieve the unexpected.
More highlights from the AAF Graduate Showcase coming soon.
