Group Exhibition: Modern ArchiveApr 5 – Jul 7, 2019
Rounded, raw clay vessels on high plinths occupy the imposing ground floor windows of a Georgian townhouse. On another aspect, a solitary moon vase rests on a low pedestal, beside a shard of lichen-mottled bark: Francis Gallery is currently hosting its inaugural show, Modern Archive, at its new, permanent location at 3 Fountain Buildings, Bath. With a respectful attitude towards the Georgian site, gallery director Rosa Park and designer Fred Rigby has collaborated on an extensive renovation of the space. Ornamental cornicing and dados have been restored, and the floor has been stripped back to its original boards. Inspired by Korean aesthetics, with a nod to Bath’s quintessentially English heritage, the gallery’s collection is interspersed with both Korean and English antiques. Natural objects from the surrounding Somerset countryside – magnolia cones, piles of jade green moss, and sculptural bark – also accompany the artworks, providing further context.
A family of vases, urns and pots on a floating bench are the work of New York and Seoul based studio potter Yoona Hur. Part of a series titled Archive, they are based on traditional forms from the full scope of Korea’s ceramic history – from ancient earthenware, to Joseon dynasty porcelain. In the window, a branch of fluffy wild clematis bends in a wide arc from the elongated neck of a vase, as if reaching to touch the adjacent piece, which swells smoothly from its base into rounded shoulders. Through the windows, the radiant, blond stone of the city, which inspired the colour palette of the stoneware, provides a harmonious backdrop.
In a series of fine art photographic prints, subtle shades of colour blur in hazy, dreamlike compositions. Landscapes stretch and transform, resembling the distorted images of memory, or the half-perceived passing of daily life beyond the gallery’s windows. Created by photographer Matthew Johnson, the series, titled Above Ground, was captured in elapsed exposure from train windows, on journeys across the United States and the United Kingdom. The photos vary in degrees of abstraction. Amorphous shapes give way to more tangible images such as a bridge or a train, glimpsed as if seen through mist, while lines of blurred colour resemble brush strokes on a canvas.
The layered scent of a candle by Perfumer H drifts from an antique English torchère in the gallery’s restful back room. Curved furnishings – part of the Francis Gallery x Fred Rigby furniture collection – including a sofa upholstered in bouclé wool, and a desk made from naturally ebonised oak, depart from the unflinching, clean lines of a modern art gallery. External to the Modern Archive show, works from Francis’s roster of artists nestle comfortably in this relaxed setting. A low, curvilinear sculpture in white marble jesmonite by Mari-Ruth Oda rests on a vintage travertine coffee table; black and white compositions by Matthew Johnson inhabit a dimmer stretch of wall, between two, tall sash windows, while a painting by Spencer Fung leans against the wall, atop a mantelpiece of an undulating fireplace. The ashen, gestural brush strokes by Fung reflect the tones of a neighbouring smoky quartz crystal.
Shadows gather in the quiet corners of the gallery, pooling among the floral and dentil cornicing. On the gallery’s final wall, a triptych from Horizons, displayed vertically, guides the eye downward to another group of Hur’s ceramics. A moon vase with a glazed, glaucous surface gleams softly; another – the top rounded, the bottom tapering and concave – seems to be cast of one part light, one part shadow. Northover’s line drawings share this essential contrast: a dichotomy of ink and space. Johnson’s photography presents one of image and abstraction. All are timeless, ancient forms adapted to our time: a modern archive.
Featured Artists
- Mari-Ruth Oda
Oda’s serene, emotive sculptures reflect her fascination with fluid lines and natural forms, in materials such as jesmonite, resin and ceramics. “My work says more than I can with words.”
- Matthew Johnson
Johnson’s work brings an alternative perspective to every day moments. Above Ground is a series of 35mm film images, taken at elapsed exposure from train windows in New York City, Upstate New York, and across the United Kingdom with multiple international series on the horizon.
- Romy Northover
Working in a range of materials from ceramics, stone and wood to installation and drawing, Northover examines ideas of performance, movement, the interaction between the body and its environment, and an intrinsic connection with nature.
- Yoona Hur
Yoona Hur is a ceramic artist based in Seoul and New York. Inspired by the full breadth of Korean ceramic history, from ancient earthenware to the white porcelain of the Joseon dynasty, her pieces both preserve and reinterpret this cultural heritage.
Related exhibitions
Undulating ceramic cups, waxed blocks of ebony, staffs of polished walnut, dramatic scrawls in charcoal, ethereal washes of black ink on paper. Romy Northover’s solo show, Sanguine, investigates a multitude of disciplines and materials, and meditates on questions of value, movement, performance, and the body in relation to its environment. “I spend a lot of time conceptualising and feeling into the work,” says Northover. “It’s almost like an athlete psyching themselves up for a race – a physiological preparation I need to go through before I can begin. We often talk about flow, but there is a lot of rigour that goes into my art making.”
Bath GalleryYoona Hur: LineageJul 1 – Aug 28, 2021
Lineage is Yoona Hur’s first solo show with Francis Gallery, featuring vessels inspired by traditional Korean forms, as well as organic ceramic sculpture, and canvas works in hanji, gesso, acrylic and glue. “There is multiplicity in the term lineage,” says Hur. “For me, it points to both traditional Korean art and craft, and the modern art movement Dansaekhwa – a distinct heritage that I deeply respect. The term also refers to nature and the environment, which is where the materiality and textural focus of my work stems from.”
Form and Formless is Mari-Ruth Oda’s first solo show for Francis, featuring freestanding and wall-mounted sculptures in jesmonite and ceramic stoneware. Rounded natural forms are abundant in her work, appearing in the shapes of flowers, fruit, seeds, planets and moons. Many of her recent pieces have a quality of turning in on themselves, and exhibit a move towards symmetry. “At the start of 2020, I moved from Manchester to the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales,” says Oda. “The quiet has provided more headspace for me to work. I have been practising meditation too, which helps me to focus on the feeling in my body as I create. I’ve found that when I aim to convey this feeling, symmetrical forms arise, as if the sculptures are reflecting the natural symmetry of the human body.”