exhibition

Potato in bloom

Lia Anna Hennig

20.Oct.07 - 17.Nov.07
Tue-Sat 11-6

Whitecross Gallery
122 Whitecross St
London EC1Y 8PU
020 7253 4252
info@whitecrossgallery.com
www.whitecrossgallery.com
Tube Old Street, Barbican, Clerkenwell

food, life and the idiosyncratic line
artists: gemma anderson, lia anna hennig, wendy murphy
curators: helen murphy and francesco petillo

The Whitecross Gallery welcomes you to a feast of understated magnificence: three female artists using line with a unique personal style, while addressing universal concerns about humanity and our changing relationship to the natural world.

The title ‘Potato in Bloom’ was extracted from a book ‘Contemporary Irish Poetry,’ where it was used as an example of beauty, albeit a peculiar one, the potato being more familiar as a mundane food staple than for the discreet aesthetic intrigue of its blossom.
As a poetic metaphor for transformation, it also serves as a reminder that much of what we seek is situated in front of us, but often only visible to those who shed their preconceptions, fine tune their field of vision.

While each of these artists has developed a distinctive approach to line drawing, whether in pen and ink, paint or print processes, their work has a sophisticated simplicity, drawing the viewer into a world where hidden images and meanings gradually emerge... the devil is in the detail.

Food and mortality is a theme well visited throughout our history of art. The Dutch seventeenth century still life paintings showed voluptuous groupings of fruit, cascading textiles. They were masterpieces of abundance, which on closer inspection revealed decay and insect life; a none too discreet warning that we are all perishable, that without exception our fate is certain.

In the present day our reference to food is just as thought provoking. Food and the rituals associated with it are all consuming, as western society obsesses with health and youthfulness, imperfections mean instant rejection. Yet the cost for such indulgence is a price we are reluctant to pay, and we are now beginning to see just how disconnected we are from our food and its production, indeed from our natural environment. As the world becomes urbanised this distance grows ever greater, so does our fascination with the image of our innate relation and interdependence.