5 minute read
ART IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Ruth Millington unveils the next generation of artists brought to the forefront by Saatchi Gallery
Art, particularly that made by emerging artists, needs an audience. But students were hit hard by lockdown: the doors to their art school studios were shut and their all-important degree shows were cancelled. Nevertheless, these creatives persisted through the pandemic – sculpting at the kitchen table, painting in their bedrooms and photographing subjects from a safe distance. Now, their efforts have been rewarded with a monumental show at Saatchi Gallery, a space renowned for launching the careers of many young artists. In London Grads Now. 21, the spotlight finally falls on over 200 artworks created and curated by MA graduates from seven of London’s leading art schools.
First and foremost, this collaborative show exposes an exciting new trend: figurative painting is back in fashion. Given the past few years of isolation, many of the artists feature solitary figures in their frames. Graduate Tom White has painted a poignant oil on canvas of his friend, sitting deep in thought on the edge of a sofa bed. Commenting on the portrait, he explains: “The title Lucky Red comes from a bracelet she wears – it stood out to me very early on in the painting process. Even in the most tumultuous of times, you’ve got to keep a little bit of hope.”
Meanwhile, Emil Lombardo spent lockdown cycling across London with his camera to photograph his muses – trans and non-binary people, posed outside their homes. Luca – they/he/she belongs to the series An Unending Sunday Morning, which is a documentation of his community’s “unique experiences and feelings of isolation, separation and struggle”, particularly through periods of seclusion. Intent on “slowing down”, which the pandemic aided, Lombardo developed a relationship with his sitters, whose dissident gender identities intersect with his own experiences: “I regard my practice as a method of exploring my own gender identity and sexuality.”
Also investigating sexuality is Flora Bradwell, whose soft sculpture, Greedy Mouth, is a glutinous explosion of breasts and foot, embellished with repurposed dummies in what the artist proclaims as a “vibrantly trashy” aesthetic, characterised by a “compulsion towards the camp and carnivalesque”. An emphasis on the tactile recurs throughout the exhibition, marking the importance of experiencing art in real life, rather than just online. As Bradwell says: “The
Above Lucky Red by Tom White
work invites touch, even in the ‘do not touch’ energy of the white-walled gallery space, so it’s gorgeous to see people battling with the urge to squeeze a nipple.”
Bradwell is not the only artist to transform familiar items into fantastical forms. In her mixed-media work, Victoria Rotaru has taken the virus itself as her inspiration: Perpetual Decomposer, installed in the corner of one room, seems to be spreading. Alongside large pieces of foam, she printed photographs of a lemon being destroyed by mould on to fabric. “I was inspired by biology and the reason was the virus and the fact that such a small thing has such a big power,” Rotaru explains, reflecting that this “led to the key idea of continuity of life and the transformation of it.” Throughout the show, there is an emphasis on rebirth, renewal and new possibilities.
Confined to domestic spaces, many of the young artists turned everyday items into the extraordinary, as if gazing into alternate dimensions to devise their own Stranger Things-styled worlds. The everyday becomes uncanny in Weishan Yang’s The Thing, modelled from cement, carpet, foam and metal. Her four-armed monster embraces the aesthetics of horror fiction while seeming to poke fun at it, as if laughing in the face of fear.
Likewise, LaTosha Monique’s The Birthing of the Oracle, fashioned from PVC fabric, steel, papier mâché and 3D-printed plastic, would cut a creepy,
Above left Perpetual Decomposer by Victoria Rotaru. Above right Luca – they/he/she by Emil Lombardo
fateful figure were it not for its dainty outstretched hands. Monique had, in fact, designed the sweeping black gown for herself to wear and perform in, but the pandemic put pause to that plan. Although such liberties were curtailed, the artist was provided with an opportunity to reflect and realised that “this time was about my own transformational healing.”
While locked down physically, these young artists found freedom through art, adopting it as a powerful coping mechanism and means to tell their stories to a wide gallery audience. Monique, who also assumed a curatorial role for the show, says, “We as students shared a common goal of surviving and discovering how best to express our work in response to our educational experience. We’ve had to persevere and persistently produce despite a global crisis”.
London Grads Now. 21 brings the stories of the artists to the forefront as a collective endeavour; not only do the works deserve to be seen in real life, but they demand to be exhibited alongside one another, constructing overlapping narratives that address meaningful dialogues about gender identity, the human psyche and connection through creativity. The expansive range of artworks from artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines captures a reflection of our reconstructed and recalibrated world through the lens of an exciting generation of artists proving they have risen above it, opening their own and our eyes to the wonders of our existence.
Saatchi Gallery exists as a registered charity to provide an innovative platform for contemporary art and culture. We are committed to supporting artists and rendering contemporary art accessible to all, and we strive to present projects in physical and digital spaces that are engaging, enlightening and educational for diverse audiences.
Above left Devices by Mel Woo (@melwoo2020)
Above right
Greedy Mouth by Flora Bradwell
To discover what’s on at the Saatchi Gallery throughout 2022 visit saatchigallery.com
