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Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor

Past exhibition
14 December 2023 - 27 January 2024
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  • Works
  • Installation Views
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Overview
Image of a painting by Mark Metcalfe
Group Exhibition featuring; Georgia Dymock, Emily Gillbanks, Andrew Litten, Ayanfe Olarinde, Yann Leto, Celine Ali, Cathy Tabbakh, Richard Wathen, Han Ji Min, Sophie-Yen Bretez, Natalia Ocerin, Tega Tafadzwa, Mark Metcalfe, Erin Holly and Ur Kasin.
The body is a physical and material being. However, it can also reflect a person's spirit, sense of 'self' or embrace metaphors of our contemporary age. This exhibition seeks to bring together the work of contemporary painters who explore the body as material, and as the embodiment of the immaterial, engaging in themes ranging from the notion of 'self', identity, queer theory and the technological body. It also seeks to shed light on the varying ways in which different artistic styles of figuration can engage with the question of how to picture the human subject today?
 
In an age where questions of embodied experience are continually accentuated by our relationship with cross-cultural exchange, media, new technologies, and socio-political change, the body has come to signify the transcendental. Different painterly styles that range from realism to abstraction, and technologically informed practices, will demonstrate the expansive breadth of contemporary figurative painting and its capacity to tell the stories of diverse bodies and their connotations - the polarised, the 'ideal', the natural, the technological, the liminal, and more - and help situate them within the nuanced frameworks of posthumanism, feminism, Otherness and diasporic memory.
 
To encourage an open-minded and all-embracing experience of the exhibition, the curatorial premise will be guided by each artist's personal response to 'Body & Metaphor'. Both represented artists from the gallery's roster, and guest artists, are invited to share their thoughts in the catalogue that will accompany the exhibition to champion an artist-centric model of the gallery space and highlight the gallery as platform, rather than mediator.
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Download Press Release
Download List of Works
Works
  • Emily Gillbanks, To Have-In, Or To Take-Away?, 2023
    Emily Gillbanks, To Have-In, Or To Take-Away?, 2023
  • Emily Gillbanks, Portrait of Charlie II, 2022
    Emily Gillbanks, Portrait of Charlie II, 2022
  • Emily Gillbanks, Searching for Things, 2022
    Emily Gillbanks, Searching for Things, 2022
  • Emily Gillbanks, Small Portrait of Charlie, 2022
    Emily Gillbanks, Small Portrait of Charlie, 2022
  • Ur Kasin, Beach Scene, 2023
    Ur Kasin, Beach Scene, 2023
  • Mark Metcalfe, Melancholia: After Durer, 2023
    Mark Metcalfe, Melancholia: After Durer, 2023 Sold
  • Han Ji Min, Shoulder, 2023
    Han Ji Min, Shoulder, 2023
  • Richard Wathen, Untitled, 2023
    Richard Wathen, Untitled, 2023
  • Natalia Ocerin, Bodies #1, 2023
    Natalia Ocerin, Bodies #1, 2023 Sold
  • Natalia Ocerin, Bodies #2, 2023
    Natalia Ocerin, Bodies #2, 2023
  • Celine Ali, The Painter, 2023
    Celine Ali, The Painter, 2023
  • Andrew Litten, True Nature, 2022
    Andrew Litten, True Nature, 2022
  • Cathy Tabbakh, Les Couleurs de la Nuit, 2023
    Cathy Tabbakh, Les Couleurs de la Nuit, 2023 Sold
  • Cathy Tabbakh, The Shadow of Life, 2023
    Cathy Tabbakh, The Shadow of Life, 2023
  • Tega Tafadzwa, Varume, 2022
    Tega Tafadzwa, Varume, 2022
  • Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Over there, the shadow of night Is descending over the sea. But within me, There is still the light. - Moon », 2023
    Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Over there, the shadow of night Is descending over the sea. But within me, There is still the light. - Moon », 2023
  • Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Time, I’ll you mine. », 2023
    Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Time, I’ll you mine. », 2023
  • Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Under the stars of a coming spring, Among the leaves blown by the wind, From the blue night, I will rise, Like the sun does in the skies. In my kingdom by the sea. », 2023
    Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Under the stars of a coming spring, Among the leaves blown by the wind, From the blue night, I will rise, Like the sun does in the skies. In my kingdom by the sea. », 2023
  • Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Rays of sun, dew of the sea Come! Come over my land! My surf-tormented shores Made of grains of golden sand, and thousands of silent roars. », 2023
    Sophie-Yen Bretez, « Rays of sun, dew of the sea Come! Come over my land! My surf-tormented shores Made of grains of golden sand, and thousands of silent roars. », 2023
  • Ayanfe Olarinde, Aeroplani o’dabo I (the contentment song), 2023
    Ayanfe Olarinde, Aeroplani o’dabo I (the contentment song), 2023 Sold
  • Ayanfe Olarinde, Aeroplani o’dabo III (the contentment song), 2023
    Ayanfe Olarinde, Aeroplani o’dabo III (the contentment song), 2023 Sold
  • Erin Holly, The Healer, 2023
    Erin Holly, The Healer, 2023
  • Georgia Dymock, Submerged, Chewing Emerald, 2023
    Georgia Dymock, Submerged, Chewing Emerald, 2023
Installation Views
  • 231213 Jdmalat5476 Retouched Low Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5469 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5464 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5463 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5520 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5462 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5471 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5517 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5513 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5516 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5473 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5467 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5468 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5523 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5470 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5461 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5522 Retouched Full Res
  • 231213 Jdmalat5521 Retouched Full Res
Press
  • Contemporary Figuration: Between body & Metaphor

    Meer, January 16, 2024
  • Victoria Aboucaya standing in front of an exhibition at the gallery

    BBC RADIO LONDON: Gallery director discusses 'Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor'

    Jumoké Fashola, BBC Radio London, January 7, 2024
  • A Refreshing Take on Figurative Painting at JD Malat Gallery

    Lee Sharrock, CULTURALEE, December 18, 2023
  • ART PLUGGED: Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor

    Art Plugged, December 15, 2023
Related content
  • Contemporary Figuration: Between body & Metaphor Press

    Contemporary Figuration: Between body & Metaphor

    Meer Jan 16, 2024
    The body is a physical and material being. However, it can also reflect a person’s spirit, and sense of ‘self’ or embrace metaphors of our...
    Read more
  • BBC RADIO LONDON: Gallery director discusses 'Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor' Press

    BBC RADIO LONDON: Gallery director discusses 'Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor'

    BBC Radio London Jan 7, 2024
    Did you catch our gallery director Victoria Aboucaya on the radio on Sunday morning? Victoria was interviewed by Jumoké Fashola on BBC Radio London where...
    Read more
  • A Refreshing Take on Figurative Painting at JD Malat Gallery Press

    A Refreshing Take on Figurative Painting at JD Malat Gallery

    CULTURALEE Dec 18, 2023
    An intriguing new group exhibition at JD Malat Gallery in Mayfair offers a fresh perspective on figurative painting. Contemporary painters whose work explores the body,...
    Read more
  • ART PLUGGED: Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor Press

    ART PLUGGED: Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor

    Art Plugged Dec 15, 2023
    In today’s world, our relationship with cross-cultural exchange, media, new technologies, and socio-political change has brought a greater emphasis on the significance of embodied experience....
    Read more

Related artists

  • Celine Ali

    Celine Ali

  • Georgia Dymock

    Georgia Dymock

  • Emily Gillbanks

    Emily Gillbanks

  • Image of a painting by Han Ji Min

    Han Ji Min

  • Ur Kasin

    Ur Kasin

  • Yann Leto

    Yann Leto

  • Andrew Litten

    Andrew Litten

  • Mark Metcalfe

    Mark Metcalfe

  • Natalia Ocerin

    Natalia Ocerin

  • Ayanfe Olarinde

    Ayanfe Olarinde

  • Cathy Tabbakh

    Cathy Tabbakh

  • Tega Tafadzwa

    Tega Tafadzwa

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