Sarah Myerscough Gallery Presents Curated Exhibition 'Monolith' at TEFAF Maastricht
From Sarah Myerscough Gallery:
“A monolith is usually defined as a structure made from an undifferentiated and solid whole, often made from stone. Though for TEFAF Maastricht 2024, Sarah Myerscough Gallery is not so much concerned with the historical definition of what a monolith is, but rather, we have taken inspiration from what monoliths do. Once a monolithic structure has been placed within a landscape, the environment surrounding it is changed. Like Stonehenge or the Metal monoliths of Utah (emerging without explanation in 2016) such structures signal otherworldly and even mystic influences, while representing brilliant feats of human engineering. Our curated exhibition MONOLITH takes inspiration from this dichotomy; presenting works that support a magical view of the world, yet which are grounded by the innovation and expertise of the contemporary designers, makers and sculptors who conceived them. Through the excellence of crafted design and the varied histories of materials, the works in this collection signal an alluring obscurity evoking pre-industrial forms and natural motifs, while reigning from a truly contemporary landscape.
Works on the booth include Conical, a circular cabinet from a transformative figure of British furniture design, John Makepeace OBE. The most recent commission for the gallery, the piece is made from Oak, Ripple Sycamore, Mulberry, and Bog oak. As Makepeace notes the circular form is ‘rare in furniture design’, yet Conical is characteristically efficient and elegant, evocative of futurist motifs. We are also delighted to exhibit Vessel #1 (Soma) from London based sculptor Eleanor Lakelin, ahead of her 2024 solo exhibition at Sarah Myerscough Gallery. This momentous work is the latest in Lakelin’s ongoing investigation into burred vessels, inviting a speculative engagement with classical form as well as the deviant growth formations of Horse Chestnut Burr.
In another play with verticality, we will be exhibiting work from sculptor Frances Pinnock, a young artist recently graduated from the Royal college of Art, titled ‘Steady Metronome (Custom Melody)’. Made from leather, hemp, beeswax, rayon, cotton, brass & lead, Pinnock’s work conjures up images of body clocks and circadian rhythms while abstractly evoking the human form. Alongside this will be a work from one of the UK’s leading ceramicists, Julian Stair’s Monumental Figural Jar IV. Made from Carboniferous Shale and standing over six feet tall, Stair’s scalded up vessel marks a quiet seizure of space while re-contextualizing familiar domestic forms. Other gallery artists at Monolith include newly commissioned works from Nic Webb, Arko, Aneta Regel, Ernst Gamperl, Gareth Neal, Christopher Kurtz, Full Grown and Tadeas Podracky who has recently joined the gallery roster and will present his highly sculpted throne that brings a dynamic vitality to our TEFAF presentation.”