Over Ground Uneven
Charlie Franklin
14 November – 14 December 2019
‘Over Ground Uneven’, consists of new work by Charlie Franklin. The exhibition addresses the artist’s research and experiences of the landscape and how structures within it can become anchors to determine our sense of place. Franklin’s use of subtle colour within her work seeps through the surfaces of her jewel-like sculptural forms.
Rooted in the language of materials, Franklin’s work blurs the boundaries between sculpture and painting, questioning how they can be approached. Often minimal, it focuses on the physicality of presence and absence through methods of mark making and erasure. Franklin is attracted to materials that hold little structural integrity, such as cardboard boxes, rolls of tape or sheets of tarpaulin. Using materials and forms often associated to sculpture, she builds up two-dimensional surfaces, which become loosely shaped or crushed to function as three-dimensional objects. The resulting work appears fragile and damaged, often teetering on the brink of collapse. Her work deals with the processes of ritual and change, and the ways in which objects can hold power.
Charlie Franklin, ‘Over Ground Uneven’, 2019, installation view. Photo: Colin Davison
Shiny, reflective and territorial, Open Circle (2019) marks its place within the gallery space, encouraging a physical encounter. The artwork’s seemingly weighty forms are manipulated to resemble a stone circle, inviting the viewer to peer into its crevices and hollows.
Complementing this, Franklin’s lightness of touch and process-led methodologies are highlighted through a series of smaller works. Layering materials and experimenting with patination techniques allows the artist to question control within the making process, to reveal unforeseen impressions and jewel-like tones.
Charlie Franklin, Copperhead (II), Copperhead (III), 2019, patinated copper tape, canvas, wooden support, 10x10x4cm each. Photo: Colin Davison
Charlie Franklin, ‘Over Ground Uneven’, 2019, installation view. Photo: Colin Davison
Charlie Franklin, Wayfind (detail), 2019, copper tape, aluminium tape, cardboard, ink, nylon, 400x35x35cm. Photo: Colin Davison
Acting as landmarks or signposts for the viewer, the work included in ‘Over Ground Uneven’ highlights Franklin’s playful and theatrical approach to composition within the territory of the gallery space.
Charlie Franklin was born in London in 1983 and lives and works in London. She studied BA Hons Fine Art at Middlesex University (2002-05) and MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2007-08). Recent exhibitions include John Moores Painting Prize 2018, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2018), ‘Creekside Open’, selected by Alison Wilding, A.P.T Gallery, London, ‘In Nothing Flat’, Old Granada Studios, Manchester (2017), and the Kunst Altonale Festival 18, Hamburg, Germany (2016). Franklin has undertaken artist residencies in the UK, Ireland and Iceland, and in 2017 was selected for Mark Devereux Projects StudioBook programme. Charlie Franklin is represented by Mark Devereux Projects.
Take a video tour of the exhibition
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