Animalistic Tendencies
OBJECTIVE GALLERY
CHARLOTTE KINGSNORTH
CURATION, WRITING, +
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
CHARLOTTE KINGSNORTH
CURATION, WRITING, +
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
Show Text:
”A scalpel in one hand, foam in the other, Charlotte Kingsnorth admits her mind does wander to images of Frankenstein and Doctor Waldman. A transformation is in progress, while sculpting foam, something comes alive. Was it the kink in the leg? The suggestion of an ear? The artist does not overthink it, each work is an exploration of a moment.
Lawerence Weiner said art is “where you try to do that funny thing where you don’t want to fuck up somebody’s day on their way to work, you want to fuck up their whole life.” Animalistic Tendencies is Charlotte Kingsnorth cordially inviting you to take a seat, get comfortable and question reality as you know it.
In address of a present rife with simulations, the artist offers 12 functional objects in visible states of metamorphosis. These are not simply perversions of identity but open questions. The artist’s modus operandi may be deconstructive in theory but remains remarkably constructive in practice.
Led by instinct, Kingsnorth deepens the techniques she has come to be known for, salvaging and restoring pre-existing furniture frames; an act of intervention, sans the divinity. Sculpted biomorphic forms adorn previously discarded frames in her inimitable process of ‘character building’. Aside from toying with the haptic senses, modern consumption is called into necessary examination.
In forming new lives for past objects, the artist explores the terrain of a hyperreality. Does it look familiar? Not simply a lamp having an identity crisis, Don’t Pet the Lamp is a contemplation of identity’s malleable nature.
This reuse of old things is sustainable but it is also a recognition of an ethereal quality reserved for objects with a previous life, embodying a value unique to humans. Another layer.
Like eyes in a painting following you around the room, discomfort is not the goal but a byproduct of the uncanny. For the sake of comparison, Animalistic Tendencies offers a marriage of human, animal, other, use it as mirror, map, desk but whatever you do not forget to feed it.”
Wall Text
“In address of a moment rife with simulations, Charlotte Kingsnorth invites you to question reality as you know it. Animalistic Tendencies presents functional objects in visible states of metamorphosis; chairs in transition, sofas engulfed, species shifting tables. These are not simply perversions of identity, but open questions. Kingsnorth probes the thresholds between natural and synthetic worlds, the fluidity of materiality. Exploring contemporary concepts of identity and hyperrealism through works such as ‘Don’t Pet the Lamp’. Discomfort is not the artist’s goal, but a byproduct of the uncanny. For the sake of comparison Animalistic Tendencies offers a marriage of human, animal, other, use it as mirror, map, desk but whatever you do — don’t forget to feed it.”
INSTALL IMAGES BY SIMON LEUNG