Herrick Gallery Brings Together A Sublime Group Show

The Herrick Gallery Mayfair has opened with a stellar group exhibition of four contemporary artists, Paul Hazelton, Reece Jones, Matthew Killick and Minnie Weisz, which runs until Saturday 26^th September. 

 

No More Dust to Dust – Paul Hazelton

An impressive range of media is presented across the two-floor gallery for the exhibition – sculpture, oil paintings, camera obscura photographs and charcoal drawings – all brought together by director and curator, Alice Herrick. What links this exhibition is the artists’ very particular approach to their work. They have all developed slow and considered processes, manipulating spaces and materials through a delicate balance of chance, risk and obsessive patience. 

 

Minnie Weisz’ photographic works are based upon her studies of abandoned and forgotten interiors across Europe. Her practice sees her simultaneously documenting both the interior and exterior of these rooms by turning them in to a camera obscura. Her photographs consequently display both the past and the present all at once, showing the changing landscape of these interiors and the people who occupy them. As Weisz describes, through employing this method, ‘two worlds collide, new spaces are opened up, each reflected in the other. The rooms become the eyes to the city.’ 

 

Paul Hazelton, renowned for his sculptures that are intricately constructed using household dust, shows his latest pieces at Herrick Gallery Mayfair. Cobwebs, hair, cut paper and toys also feature. As Hazelton explains ‘dust is the stuff that connects everything together… Art is like dust in that it is a by-product of living – it is the product of the breakdown and fusion of ideas and materials.’ The subject matter of Hazelton’s delicate pieces refers to his own philosophical studies of human existence and the concepts of decay and creation.  

Half Moon Light – Minnie Wiesz

 

Matthew Killick hopes to capture something of the infinite through his works. Killick has spent previous years producing paintings that were inspired by his underwater explorations. His influences include urchin shells, whale skin, sand ripples, as well as galaxy formations, city lights and aboriginal paintings. Killick’s monochrome palette enhances a swirling landscape of stars and natural formations in his works, enhanced by the use of LED lights within certain pieces. 

 

Reece Jones similarly monochromatic works are in the form of large-scale charcoal drawings, within which the original subject matter has seemingly disappeared. This is because Jones works in a process-led manner, with his drawings undergoing a rigorous process of repeated application and removal. The result of this is a series of highly atmospheric black and white drawings, which invite the viewer to assess the legacy of surface, actuality and illusion. 

 

Alice Herrick is the founding director of the Herrick Gallery, launched in Shoreditch in 2012 and expanded in Summer 2015 to a new space in Mayfair. 

 

Paul Hazelton, Reece Jones, Matthew Killick and Minnie Weisz – open now until to Saturday 26^th September 2015,

Herrick Gallery Mayfair, 93 Piccadilly, London W1J 7NQ. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm.