The Shape of Shape
7/11/24 – 10/11/24
Split Gallery, London, E2 OPG
'Shapeless Clothes' is a catalogue essay to accompany the exhibition The Shape of Shape. It was available as a zine/ pamphet publication for the duration of the exhibition.
Taking as a starting point, Amy Sillman’s 2019 exhibition at MoMA, New York, I was commissioned to write a short essay to consider my relationship with shape in my painting practice.
Further information about the MoMA exhibition can be found here: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5175
The essay was an exploration of the, often disparaging, description of non-fitted, or ill-fitting clothing. Questioning the term ‘shapeless’, it examined the absurdity of the idea of being without shape.
The essay connected with thinking around research questions that underpin studio practice for me. How can the materialities of painting and iterative studio-making strategies employed to consider processes of slow looking and the pensive gaze?
Often we take shape for granted – I contend that Sillman is very astute in this aspect of her thinking. We, as viewers and as makers, often begin descriptions of work/ looking processes by considering colour, light and shade, composition and scale, all prior to any real consideration of 'shape'.
Through slow looking processes, I looked to re-examine some of my own work, focusing on the form and function of ‘shape’ within the compositions. I considered the manner in which I describe shape; its edges, planes and vertices and used this essay to further present my understanding regarding how important shape is within the activities of looking for an artist making paingtings which are often about depicting very little.
