Paul Becker, Jorn Ebner, Mark Joshua Epstein, Nadia Hebson, Matthew Smith, Alison Unsworth, Flora Whiteley

4 February – 14 March 2009

‘Uncommon ground’ comprises the work of seven artists exploring the ways in which our environmental conditions, both natural and man-made, affect and reflect our lives and are in turn affected by our selves and our actions.

Landscape and architecture are amongst the great recurring themes in art history – they surround us and define us just as we also struggle to make sense of them. The artists in ‘Uncommon ground’ draw from art history, myth, the politics of space and ownership, and the power of nature in their examination of the, often uneasy, relationship we have with our surroundings.

Paul Becker creates charged and brooding landscapes and interiors that draw on art history, mythology, and storytelling.

Jorn Ebner uses the politics of space, the occupation of real or virtual territory, to create dystopic environments.

Mark Joshua Epstein blurs the boundaries between real and internalised spaces in his exploration of how self is constructed through an engagement with one’s setting.

Nadia Hebson paints land and seascapes that are melancholic and ambiguous, invoking various desires, fears, and anxieties in the process.

Matthew Smith reconfigures utopian pastoral scenes from food packaging, where the artificial pictorial world of the supermarket becomes the motif for his watercolours.

Alison Unsworth focuses on built environments and considers how they are constructed and highlights the alienation and disaffection present within the contemporary urban landscape.

Flora Whiteley manipulates images of interiors and exteriors, accentuating the uncanny or unhomely contained within.