Rhodes Contemporary Art begins 2021 with a monumental group show ‘Paper Work’, which will feature an eclectic mix of well known contemporary artists including Tracey Emin, Banksy and David Hockney alongside fresh and emerging artists like Jess Cochrane, Ces McCully and Stephen Ormandy.
Paper | Work brings together some of the best artistic talents from all over the world. From drawings on paper, prints and books, with originals and limited edition works, this show will have something for everyone’s taste and budget.
One of the main standout artists in the group is Jess Cochrane, who’s powerful drawings of female subjects tap into the relationship between society, consumerism and pop culture, through her dripping pastel portraits. Drawing directly onto photographic paper is instrumental to Cochrane’s practice, as well as experimenting with scale; it's not unusual for Cochrane to create a large-scale work which echoes the double-page spread of a stereotypical magazine model, which Jess says allows her to “(free) the models from the constraints of perfectionist commercial beauty and allowing them to take up more space”.
Works on paper have also been vital to the practice of major artists like Tracey Emin, who uses the medium of drawing to explore complex personal states and ideas of self-representation through manifestly expressionistic styles. In an interview with the Guardian, Emin explains why drawing remains a personal passion for the artist; “My emotions force the drawing out of my hand - this explains why so many of my drawings are repeated images. It's not because I draw the same thing, but the same moment wants to be redrawn. I am the custodian, the curator of the images that live in my mind. Every image has first entered my mind, travelled through my heart, my blood - arriving at the end of my hand. Everything has come through me.” With a landmark exhibition ‘The Loneliness of the Soul’ currently on at the Royal Academy, works by Emin will also be on view at Rhodes Gallery.
Paper | Work runs until February 2021. This show is a real collision of contemporary international artists with both established and emerging careers. The immediacy of works on paper offers viewers an intimate view of these artist's creative minds.
Email info@rhodescontemporaryart.com to register your interest.
