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Viewing Karla Black: sculptures (2001-2021) – details for a retrospective

The Wick Culture - Installation view of ‘Karla Black: sculptures 2001–2021’, in the new warehouse space at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, 2021. Photo: Tom Nolan

Above Installation view of ‘Karla Black: sculptures 2001–2021’, in the new warehouse space at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, 2021. Photo: Tom Nolan

Karla Black: sculptures (2001-2021) – details for a retrospective
Fruitmarket
7 July – 24 October 2021

Following a year of virtual walkthroughs and screen-scrolling through art, Karla Black’s latest exhibition at the Fruitmarket is a revelation. A reminder of the power of immersive exhibitions and of physical engagement of art, sculptures (2001-2021): details for a retrospective brings together two decades’ worth of work – many of them specially designed for Fruitmarket, the exhibition space in Edinburgh that takes the artist back to her native Scotland.

Black is a radical experimenter. From her use of colours to the state of her sculptures – whether hanging, spreading, hovering or sitting – her work is innovative and shifting. Her use of materials is just as diverse, spanning cardboard, sugar paper, polystyrene, gels, and even cleaning products. The one constant is the viewer: her art needs to be seen and walked amongst, and Black acknowledges and embraces the audience as the key protagonist of her work.

One of the key pieces of the show is Waiver for Shade (2021), which responds fabulously to the dark and industrial nature of Fruitmarket. The work is a product of the intuitive and physical capabilities of Black’s body. Determined by the extent of her reach, the strength of her throw, her impulsive use of materials in the present moment, it is a product of raw creativity – a welcome and overdue celebration of art experienced IRL.

Viewing Rachel Kneebone, ‘399 Days’, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Wick Culture - Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13. Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

Above Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13. Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

The Wick Culture - Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13, (detail). Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

Above Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13, (detail). Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

Above Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13. Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

Above Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days, 2012-13, (detail). Courtesy European Collection. Photo © Stephen White, courtesy White Cube.

Rachel Kneebone, 399 Days
Chapel, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
10 July 2021 – 24 April 2022

Known for her intensely rich and complex porcelain sculptures, to describe Rachel Kneebone’s ‘399 Days’ as her most ambitious work to date is quite an accolade. Named after the length of time it took to make, this contemporary masterpiece is over five-metres in height and comprises 63 exterior panels, balancing exquisite detail with monumental scale – a characteristic feature of the artist’s work.

Now on display in Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s 18th-century chapel, this unique setting brings the serene grandeur of Kneebone’s sculpture to life. Her work alludes the human body in intricate and often fragmented detail, often depicting limbs alongside floral and orb shapes that unravel the human experience. The towering size of 399 Days – handmade by the artist, itself a reminder of our physical strengths and capabilities – invites us to consider what it means to inhabit a body.

What makes Kneebone’s work so compelling, particularly in this space, are the imperfections and unpredictabilities that result from the firing process. ‘I am quite reassured when a work explodes because I think that means I am pushing the boundaries of the material,’ says Kneebone. ‘My work moves around metamorphosis, change and simultaneous states, so nothing about it is fixed.’ 399 Days has been widely exhibited, but its latest appearance at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a reminder of its shifting, expansive nature.

Viewing Femme-Ate, Soho Revue

Above Polly Edsell

Above Amy Beager

Above Nettie Wakefield

Above Zoe Hoare

Above Alma Berrow

Above Kristy Chan

Above Polly Edsell

Above Amy Beager

Above Nettie Wakefield

Above Zoe Hoare

Above Alma Berrow

Above Kristy Chan

Femme-Ate
Soho Revue
8 July – 7 August 2021

To mark its re-opening, the Soho Revue’s latest exhibition offers a colourful celebration of female creativity. Entitled Femme-Ate – a compound of ‘femme’ (the French word for woman) and ‘create’ – the exhibition brings together a strong cast of female artists working today, whose art range from ceramics and sculpture to paintings and textile works. The result is a bold and exciting illustration of contemporary female creativity, even if – as is this exhibition’s raison d’être – their work continues to be overshadowed.

‘There isn’t nearly enough female art around, so I knew I wanted to re-open with a women-only show,’ says India Rose James, who founded the contemporary art space back in 2015. Among the artists featured in the show are ceramicist Alma Berrow, pencil artist Nettie Wakefield and multimedia artist Zoë Hoare, each of whom explore themes and subjects such as female bodies and realities.

Highlight pieces include a serene figurative painting by Amy Beager, as well as Polly Edsell’s collage featuring a female figure from old porn magazines by publisher Paul Raymond – the King of Soho who is also James’s grandfather. Such pieces are a lively example of how the space engages with its history in a fresh, contemporary way.

‘Walker’s Court has a history of showcasing women and I wanted to reclaim that in a more modern way,’ says James. ‘It’s a peep show kind of street. While it’s not about naked ladies anymore, we have naked women and tapestry orgies. It’s all playing on the same theme.’