Alice Channer: Megaflora
22 Apr—26 Jun 2021Megaflora is an exhibition of new and recent sculptural works by British artist Alice Channer. This is Channer’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Channer’s forms and materials are found in the social and sensual worlds of industrial and organic processes. She immerses herself in natural and industrial materials and production processes to find forms that she develops as sculpture. Her method is both experimental and precise, collaborating with people, machines, and materials to make sculpture that is emotionally charged andindustrially perfected.
Megaflora takes a bramble stem as its starting point, which also makes an appearance in Rosanna Mclaughlin’s short story, specially commissioned to partner the work. Below is a short excerpt:
Ripple and Void
Two hours had passed since Simone had lowered herself onto the pavement on the dead-end street. It was early evening now, and the sky had turned candy-floss shades of pink and blue. Her feelings of agitation had begun to ebb away along with the heat of the day, and for the first time in a while she realised she was capable of opening her eyes and standing. Looking down at the patch of concrete on which she had been sat, Simone observed a thin skin, made from the intermingling of cotton fibres, exhaust fumes, and traces of formaldehyde from the synthetic indigo used to dye denim. The ground around her was still undulating – as was the air – but like a sailor who had found her sea legs the motion had ceased to be a cause of distress. She turned around, and noticed a giant bramble that was pushing through a gap in the pavement and making its way up the yellow-brick wall. It was hollow, she thought, just like me. Simone looked down at her hands, and noticed that her skin had started to ripple too. Her fingerprints were no longer a unique marker of identity, the signature of a oneness, but an endlessly revolving set of doors. She raised the index finger of her left hand and extended it towards a thorn. Rather than pricking her skin, it passed right through.
Megaflora takes a bramble stem as its starting point, which also makes an appearance in Rosanna Mclaughlin’s short story, specially commissioned to partner the work. Below is a short excerpt:
Ripple and Void
Two hours had passed since Simone had lowered herself onto the pavement on the dead-end street. It was early evening now, and the sky had turned candy-floss shades of pink and blue. Her feelings of agitation had begun to ebb away along with the heat of the day, and for the first time in a while she realised she was capable of opening her eyes and standing. Looking down at the patch of concrete on which she had been sat, Simone observed a thin skin, made from the intermingling of cotton fibres, exhaust fumes, and traces of formaldehyde from the synthetic indigo used to dye denim. The ground around her was still undulating – as was the air – but like a sailor who had found her sea legs the motion had ceased to be a cause of distress. She turned around, and noticed a giant bramble that was pushing through a gap in the pavement and making its way up the yellow-brick wall. It was hollow, she thought, just like me. Simone looked down at her hands, and noticed that her skin had started to ripple too. Her fingerprints were no longer a unique marker of identity, the signature of a oneness, but an endlessly revolving set of doors. She raised the index finger of her left hand and extended it towards a thorn. Rather than pricking her skin, it passed right through.
Alice Channer
Writing by
Rosanna Mclaughlin
Press
Flash Art, ‘Alice Channer ‘Megaflora’ Large Glass/London’, Alex Bennett, 28 May 2021
The Art Newspaper, ‘Interview: I weaponise glamour… I see clothes as a kind of armour that can change and mutate’, Louisa Buck, 19 April 2021
Art Monthly, ‘Alice Channer: Megaflora’, Chloe Carroll, June 2021
Writing by
Rosanna Mclaughlin
Press
Flash Art, ‘Alice Channer ‘Megaflora’ Large Glass/London’, Alex Bennett, 28 May 2021
The Art Newspaper, ‘Interview: I weaponise glamour… I see clothes as a kind of armour that can change and mutate’, Louisa Buck, 19 April 2021
Art Monthly, ‘Alice Channer: Megaflora’, Chloe Carroll, June 2021