PRESS RELEASE
50 GOLBORNE exhibiting at the International Art Fair For Contemporary Objects COLLECT:
22ND - 25TH February 2018, Saatchi Gallery, London; Booth: 6.5
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Debuting at COLLECT, 50 Golborne gallery will be presenting textile art by South Africa-based collective Ubuhle and ceramic artworks by respectively Astrid Dahl, also from South Africa, and by British-Nigerian Ranti Bam.
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The Ubuhle Collective’s aim is to revive the finest traditions of beading with women of the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Four artists of the Collective will be exhibiting eight sumptuous beaded textiles that were created around the theme of ‘Water’, a natural resource that worryingly is fast disappearing from this region and that is traditionally a symbol of female’s spiritual powers. Having meticulously hand-sewn coloured Czech glass beads into the black fabric used for traditional Xhosa head scarves, they have created fluid but intricate patterns and complex textures on which the light subtly reflects off the glass surfaces. The textiles have been stretched like a canvas, an innovative approach that invites the viewer to delight in the beauty of the compositions and the mastery of the beading. The biggest pieces have taken as long as four months to complete.
The Ubuhle Collective, have exhibited in prestigious US Institutions, including: Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum in Washington D.C, Museum of Art and Design in New York and are touring right now in the Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan before the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia.
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South-African ceramicist Astrid Dahl finds inspiration in the photographic work of dissected plants by botanist Karl Blossfeldt. Using white clay, she spends many hours honing the silky feel of the surface, contrasting ultra-fine edges and sharp points with curvy and sensual shapes. As a result, her beautiful and uncanny large vessels convey striking contrasts between light and shadow, like three-dimensional renditions of black and white photographs. Her work was exhibited extensively in South Africa and at Design Basel/Miami.
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Ranti Bam lives and works in London. Her work is inspired by a love of words and metaphor, and clay as an extraordinary material. Her process involves working with clay in its natural unreinforced state, using slips to embellish the surface with colours, patterns, texts and textures. With inspiration drawn from wood, metal and fabric, she combines hand building and throwing, continually deconstructing and abstracting her pieces, creating form through collage. Often an African sensibility of ease, simplicity and light-heartedness pervades her work. Bam has had several shows in London and Nigeria.
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