October Gallery at 1-54 London | Booth W1
10 – 13th October, 2024
VIP Day 10th October, 2024
VIP Day 10th October, 2024
Wagan and Vessie green pigment, nails, green gold leaf, coffee and earth on lumber core wood, 150 x 110 cm.
Silicone, foam clay, acrylic paste, varnish, beads, acrylic nails, mosaic stones on wood board, 200 x 160 cm.
South African artist, Zana Masombuka explores the intersections of culture and identity in her ever-evolving photographic works, with a striking new series titled, Ubonani: What Do You See?. Set in the rocky hills of Kwandebele, the artist explores the meaning of ‘red’ which sets the aesthetic tone of the series. She draws from the natural pigments found in the earth, which are then elevated with different lighting techniques. The photographic works will be accompanied by a new series of traditional Ndebele, round, beaded sculptures which are inspired by the indigenous game “Is’qoqiso”. The works explore perception through the lens of childhood sensitivity and curiosity. Masombuka investigates how mineral sources for indigenous communities’ act as important triggers of memory, from which she draws on myth, storytelling, remembrance and spirituality as inspiration. Zana Masombuka has been selected to collaborate with INFINIMENT COTY Paris the sponsor for 1-54 London. INFINIMENT COTY PARIS is a high-end collection of 14 fragrances which was launched globally earlier this year by Coty Inc., one of the world’s largest beauty companies. Masombuka’s artistic contribution is inspired by their 'Noir Encens' fragrance in dialogue with traditions of Ndebele culture.
Also showing are new large-scale ‘portraits’ from the African diaspora by Alexis Peskine. The original portraits are rendered, in precise detail, by hammering nails of different gauges, with pinpoint accuracy into wood. Traces of the natural world can be sensed in the leafy shapes stained with spiritually significant herbs, including rosemary, basil, mint and macassar. This is the first time that this new series of works framed by natural forms, will be presented. Peskine’s frequent travels to different countries affected by the African diaspora, inspire him to address various aspects of the Black Experience. By applying gold, silver and palladium leaf to the nails’ heads, he creates remarkable relief sculptures that recall the spiritually charged Minkisi ‘power figures’ of the Congo Basin. At the same time, he discovers in each contemporary subject he portrays the interior reserves of strength and perseverance. Alexis Peskine’s solo exhibition, Forest Figures, opens at October Gallery from 3rd October to 9th November, to coincide with 1-54 London, 2024. Notable pieces by the artist have recently been included in institutional exhibitions at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK and The Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga presents striking new paintings where his enigmatic figures are set against flat, coloured backgrounds that contrast strongly with the intricately detailed drapes of African cloth. The picture plane is further complicated by floating washes of ideographic symbols that seem to refer to indigenous scripts from pre-colonial times. Depicted with painterly prowess, the microchipped skin of Kamuanga’s figures suggest his ongoing concern about the continuing exploitation of both ‘men and minerals’ in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. The large-scale figurative compositions possess a depth of historical understanding and the subtle combination of overt and hidden symbols continue to underline his insight into the seismic shifts occurring in the economic, political, religious and social realities of his native land. Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga’s forthcoming solo exhibition examines the consequences of toxic waste, produced by mining cobalt, copper and other heavy metals, on the environment and the community in Katanga. The exhibition, at October Gallery, London, will run from November, 2024 until January, 2025.
Also on view are works from LR Vandy’s new series of dancing sculptures which adopt carpet shuttles as their central form. The pieces are animated with Manilla rope, coloured staining and found objects such as cogs, pipes and washers. Vandy continues to explore the un-representation of the abstract female form and through her materials addresses the industriousness of women. Crucially, Vandy provides a dialogue between the histories of objects, the transatlantic slave trade and a powerful liberation through dance. This October, the COLAB exhibits LR Vandy’s large-scale sculpture Superhero Cog-Woman (2019-2024) in their exhibition Mary Mary at the Artist’s Garden, Temple Place, London, while works from her Hulls series are also presented at Honey & Smoke’s restaurant in Great Portland Street, London until 2nd November, 2024.
Following the successful reception of Theresa Weber’s sculptural works in Emergent Energies at October Gallery in June, the artist will present Fruits of Hope, a new installation sculpted from vibrant blue fabric and mixed media. Displayed in the West Wing Corridor of Somerset House, the suspended organic forms hanging overhead burst into a braided network of interconnecting rhizomatic root forms, which link the nodes of individual lives dispersed in the diaspora. Weber’s use of the colour blue draws upon the power associations of Indigo pigments, referring to its wealth status in Europe, colonial legacy and production by enslaved Caribbean labourers. Simultaneously, the fruit-like orbs evoke femininity, abundance and the healing powers of nature. Situated along the walls, a series of ten ‘relief paintings’ entitled Haiti Revolution, embody the revolutions of Freedom and Democracy in Haiti and subsequently France, during the 1790s. Each work reveals a fictive cartography, as Weber embeds historical drawings into resin combined with foam clay and acrylic paste. Across both installations, additional adornments of beads, clips and rings suggest the underlying presence of Caribbean carnivalesque elements that have nurtured enduring powers of resistance within the creolisation of cultures.
