Precarious Structures
17 - 19 May 2019
“The physical act of drawing is not simply about transferring mental images to paper - ideas develop in the space between the brain and the hand.” - Pippa Young
Arusha Gallery is delighted to be presenting a brand new collection of drawings by award-winning artist Pippa Young for Draw Art Fair London. Hosted by Saatchi Gallery, Draw will be the first art fair in the UK dedicated to the display of contemporary drawing. Young's new body of work, Precarious Structures, series of detailed pencil, charcoal and mixed media drawings which reflect Young's interest in the complexity of life in today’s society.
Young’s work range from intimate postcard-sized explorations of thought through varied graphic patterns and techniques like threadwork, which become fully developed in larger pieces. Young employs pencil, charcoal and other media to showcase her mastery of detail: the exquisite detail of skin and crumpled fabrics, are so precise her characters look almost life-like. This is in contrast to other parts of the body and background which are left minimal with the simplicity of single coloured line or graphic-style print.
After previous sell-out exhibitions, this much anticipated collection provides a raw and in-depth understanding of the way Young works. Her oil paintings begin with an initial pencil drawing as a foundation before adding vibrant layers of colour. Young like to start with a drawing, to clarify her own thoughts. This base is built up, layer after layer until the original pencil forms eventually become hidden. Her intimate drawings create a bank of ideas as initial concepts or starting points, , while her larger works further develop them into fully evolved thoughts.
Young's work is focused on the disrupted nature of contemporary experience. Her figures occupy an empty pictorial space - no clues are provided to locate them in time or place. Sometimes even gender is uncertain. Their gaze is often focused beyond the boundary of the frame, on something out of reach, such as in Information Paradox, Information and No Place to Hide.
Through TV, social media, politics, and news (fake or otherwise), Young interprets contemporary life as a constant onslaught of information. How are we to make sense of these multiple, sometimes contradictory, fragments of experience? Her work explores the relationship between the external world with its confusing demands for our attention and our subjective perceptions, constructed from filtering received information.
Young was awarded a first-class degree from Falmouth College of Art in 2012. She now lives and works in Penzance, Cornwall.
