The Union Club proudly presents a solo exhibition by British artist Jessica Albarn, to include a new series of intricate fine line drawings, plus paintings, and screen-printed glass works, inspired by the mystical Garden of Eden.
“Albarn is a visual artist best known for her beautifully detailed pencil drawings.” The Guardian
Jessica Albarn’s ‘Garden of Eden’ is a gathering of creatures great and small. From the tiniest bee to the majestic stag, each are studied and drawn in forensic detail, often literally so. Jessica has an impressive insect collection and a microscope in her studio to view them. These creatures, however, very much feel alive. Their eyes clearly have soul.
Rather than depicting animals and insects in natural settings of field and shrub, Jessica positions them within patterns sourced from sacred geometry. These ancient mathematical motifs, executed with pinpoint accuracy, are now a mainstay of her practice.
In the work titled ‘Lovers’, we see a snake and an apple interlaced with concentric circles and spheres, representing the unity and diversity of nature. The effect here, as with the other works, is one that paradoxically transforms an animal or insect into something more magical, yet remains anchored at its most cellular level to the natural world.
In Jessica Albarn’s words:
I have returned to ideas that have been forming my work for some time. Namely, our human relationship with nature, the symbolism we have projected onto animals and how we have woven them into our psyche, and the mistruths that have ultimately played an intellectual part in our current environmental crisis.
As I put together drawings for the exhibition, I reflected on this biblical passage from Genesis 1:26 (KJV):
‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’
I wondered whether perhaps man has misinterpreted ‘dominion’ as ‘domination’! This body of work is ultimately about how all things are equal and connected.
In the present day unease about the damage we are inflicting on the natural world, these works have a prescient profundity.
The opening reception will be held on Monday 30th October, 6-8.30pm. Please RSVP.
Visiting
Monday to Friday | 10am to 5pm | 31st October to 15th December 2023
The Union Club | 49-50 Greek St, London W1D 4EQ | www.unionclub.co.uk
Enquiries
Roz Arratoon: roz@unionclub.co.uk / 07941 027 921
Social
@jess_albarn9
