SOLO EXHIBITION: MEAD GALLERY, WARWICK UNIVERSITY • ANGEL ROW, NOTTINGHAM • ASPEX, PORTSMOUTH
2002/3
Ream reflected Siân Bowen’s interest in the potential of damage in relation to the creative impulse – the paper support of her drawings acted as a skin subjected to burning, folding, stiffening, staining. Materials were retrieved and surfaces reconstructed as part of the making process; wallpapers and plaster were removed from disused spaces their hidden layers revealed to be used as surfaces on which to draw. The inherent history of the material became part of the content of the work. Individual works ‘spoke’ of these kinds of small acts of concealment and display.
The sixteen large-scale drawn works formed a solo exhibition which was shown at the Mead Gallery, University of Warwick; Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham; and Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth. The exhibition’s curators (Jo Bushnell, Sarah Shalgosky and Deborah Dean) worked closely with Bowen to develop different selection and installation solutions for the works in relation to the space and real light of each venue. An exhibition publication included essays by Francis McKee and Sacha Craddock. An associated residency was hosted jointly by Angel Row Gallery and the Museum of Costume and Textiles, Nottingham.
Burn & ink on paper, 203 x 147cm, 2002
