Deep Looking Exhibition
A catalogue to accompany an exhibition at The Lightbox, Woking, 5th - 24th March 2024.
A catalogue to accompany an exhibition at The Lightbox, Woking, 5th - 24th March 2024.
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Consuelo Simpson<br />
Dawn Langley<br />
Janet McWilliam<br />
<strong>Deep</strong><br />
<strong>Looking</strong>
<strong>Deep</strong><br />
<strong>Looking</strong><br />
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The title of the exhibition draws on an intended<br />
interaction between artist and materials, and between<br />
viewer and artwork. The show aims to highlight our<br />
shared lived experience encouraging the viewer to pause<br />
and consider what might be a curious juxtaposition or an<br />
unusual viewpoint.<br />
We know from research that the brain goes through<br />
changes when viewing art, human beings are adept at<br />
discerning pattern and shape and deriving some kind<br />
of sense from them. We are interested in the notion of<br />
embodied creativity where the artworks draw you in and<br />
elicit a physical response.<br />
We see this as appropriate for the Lightbox because it<br />
is embedded in collaborative interaction. We want our<br />
audience to spend time, to dwell and enjoy a process<br />
of slow and deep looking. The works draw on shared<br />
contemporary themes but also evoke a sense of play and<br />
exploration, something we hope our viewers will share.<br />
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Consuelo Simpson<br />
I enjoy the ongoing dialogue with the materials<br />
as the work develops, always aware of the weight<br />
and texture of the matter in my hands. I work<br />
intuitively, responding to what is happening in<br />
front of me. I focus on the process of making as<br />
a way of understanding, as thinking takes place<br />
alongside making, hands and body responding<br />
to materials.<br />
‘Things become, as does our knowledge of<br />
them.’ (Ingold:2017:13)<br />
I am as interested in the creativity of the making<br />
process as in the outcome. The opportunity<br />
for transformation is always present. When a<br />
piece of work is on show in an exhibition or<br />
resting in the studio, this is merely a pause in the<br />
making. I often revisit, revise, dismantle work and<br />
incorporate some of the elements and materials<br />
into new works. Alongside made objects, I<br />
incorporate carefully chosen found objects in my<br />
practice. These may be old tools or repurposed<br />
materials which I love for the history they hold.<br />
They are witnesses to the past, showing signs of<br />
wear and care, carrying the imprint of previous<br />
owners, a direct link to people whose stories may<br />
never otherwise be told.<br />
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I construct assemblages to celebrate lost stories and<br />
to give objects an imagined future. Working in series<br />
and with repetition allows for small variations and<br />
adjustments, each new iteration developing from<br />
previous ones. The gradual, incremental transformation<br />
becomes part of the narrative, part of the story of the<br />
network that binds us together through time and space.<br />
The connection with both past and future, through<br />
objects, materials and skills, feels potent and vibrant. It<br />
is here that I look for moments of contentment, noticing<br />
flashes of enchantment and reaching an accommodation<br />
with the world around us.<br />
‘Enchantment includes ... a condition of<br />
exhilaration... To be simultaneously transfixed in<br />
wonder and transported by sense, to be both caught<br />
up and carried away’. (Bennett, 2001:13)<br />
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Dawn Langley<br />
This series of ‘Curious Combinations’ draws on<br />
the painterly tradition of still life. I have been<br />
working on it since 2018 and it has developed out<br />
my concern for our shifting relationships with our<br />
food. In some cultures food seems to have become<br />
just another commodity. We have stopped seeing<br />
its beauty, no longer marvelling at the splendour<br />
of a single egg or a slice of melon. Each of these<br />
photographs represents a personal moment of<br />
quiet attention and wonder.<br />
In combining the photographs with the concertina<br />
books, the historical meets present and possibly<br />
future. The book images are all synthetic, created<br />
using ‘text to image’ and ‘image to image’ prompts<br />
in Midjourney, Runway and Playform. Using my<br />
own images as the prompts I was curious to see<br />
what the machine learning would produce. There<br />
are many issues to consider as a result of the<br />
exponential growth of synthetic images, from the<br />
opportunities it opens up to appropriation but it is<br />
possibly too early to know all the implications.<br />
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Janet McWilliam<br />
My recent collection being shown here at the<br />
Lightbox is called the ‘Mop and Roll’ series. The<br />
work intentionally dives into the tangled depths<br />
of history within the domestic setting of home<br />
and of roles and activities undertaken.<br />
I have considered ‘mop’ both as an essential<br />
household tool but also as a focus of still life, the<br />
decorative and the abundance of the mop as a<br />
flower head.<br />
The physicality involved in keeping a home is<br />
further represented by the ‘roll’ aspects within<br />
a number of pieces and portray those activities<br />
which are repeated over and over.<br />
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Unconventional tools have been used to make the<br />
collection. Strips of canvas are dabbed, pressed and<br />
drawn through thick acrylic paint or stretched over rollers<br />
as layers are built up.<br />
The making can be a messy business but I like to<br />
embrace the accidental and the random. For me there<br />
is a need to involve the materials within the making of<br />
the work since of course we are not in isolation and this<br />
perhaps represents the fluidity and layering of life itself.<br />
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Biographies & References<br />
Consuelo Simpson<br />
I am a multi-disciplinary artist working in 2D and<br />
3D, often bringing craft techniques into play. I am<br />
drawn to materials with a long history: paper, string,<br />
textiles and printmaking.<br />
Dawn Langley<br />
I am a mixed media artist, which allows me to<br />
explore my interest in the impact our digital lives<br />
are having on our social and cultural practices.<br />
My influences include 17th century still life<br />
painting, 20th century Abstract Expressionism and<br />
contemporary post-digital art.<br />
Janet McWilliam<br />
I am a contemporary abstract painter. My work<br />
investigates materiality and focuses on content<br />
and storytelling. Chance and control are important<br />
to my practice and I am constantly drawn to<br />
experiment with colour theory as materials and<br />
support come together.<br />
Bennett, J (2001) The Enchantment of Modern Life<br />
Princeton and Woodstock : Princeton University<br />
Press<br />
Ingold, T (2017) Correspondences Available<br />
online at https://knowingfromtheinside.org/files/<br />
correspondences.pdf<br />
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Consuelo Simpson<br />
Cover<br />
pg.3<br />
pg.4<br />
Telling Tales, 2022, found object, yarns, gilding<br />
Gifts, 2023, size variable, paper, yarn, found<br />
objects, gilding<br />
Cubes (I) 2022, overall size variable, individual<br />
cubes 4.5 x 4.5cm, etchings on Somerset<br />
paper, wire, found objects<br />
p.11 Strands of Life, 2024, graphite, carbon tooling<br />
and gold leaf.<br />
Dawn Langley<br />
pg. 5<br />
pg. 6<br />
Left to right: Egg (& front cover), Pumpkin<br />
(& p.11), Melon, 2018 - 2024, Inkjet on Fine Art<br />
paper, 51x76cm<br />
Rhubarb, 2018, Inkjet on Fine Art paper, 51 x<br />
76cm. Inserts: Egg, Pumpkin, Melon, Rhubarb,<br />
2024, Inkjet on Fine Art paper, 10 x 15cm<br />
Images<br />
Janet McWilliam<br />
pg. 7<br />
pg.8<br />
pg.11<br />
Mops in a Pot I, 2024, Acrylic, 40x40cm<br />
Top left (& cover): Three Mops, 2023, Acrylic,<br />
70x70cm<br />
Top right: Mops in a Pot III, 2024, Acrylic, 40 x<br />
40cm<br />
Bottom left: Marking the Lines, 2024, acrylic, 70<br />
x 70cm<br />
Bottom right: Housecoats I, 2024, acrylic, 70 x<br />
70cm<br />
Mops in a pot II, 2024, Acrylic, 40 x 40cm<br />
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Contact us<br />
www.consuelosimpson.com<br />
Instagram @ConsueloSimpson<br />
hello@consuelosimpson.com<br />
www.infinitecuriosity.studio<br />
Instagram @dawnl_sketchbook<br />
dawn@alchemy-photography.com<br />
www.janetmcwilliam.co.uk<br />
Instagram @mcwilliam.janet<br />
janetmcwilliamart@gmail.com<br />
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