BEARSPACE

////////////////////

 

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW is a platform of four exhibitions drawing together some of the most innovative and exciting artistic talent in the UK exclusively throughout 2012. Taking its name from Robert Wise’s classic 1959 Film Noir, ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW is curated by Julia Alvarez and Katherine Hawker who assume the role of detectives. Alvarez and Hawker unveil underground artists and arrange them into artists gangs, by identifying trends and talent for 2012 and tomorrow, compiling a snapshot artists anthology.

EXHIBIT B takes inspiration from anthropologist Michael Taussig’s work on shamanism - interpreting it to look at art and a relationship with material, magic and ritual. Artists evoke a sense of slippage - the wild infiltrating the urban, through the symbols and scenes in their practices: the multi-sensual, the dream, the wild, the relic, the ritual.

Matt Gee and Beth Shapeero’s material installations capture the magical, tactile qualities of the objects they work with: textures of velvet and rose quartz are enhanced and mysticism revealed. Priya Chohan’s mixed media sculptures appeal to all the senses with their colourful, tactile and scientific composition.

Photographers Tatiana May and Anya Smith approach their medium from opposite ends of the spectrum: May focuses on the ritual significance of the female nude in the art historical canon, whilst Smith creates vacant, cinematic moon-scapes. Lastly, Rachel Alliston presents multi disciplinary pieces from the series Der Krampus, inspired by German folklore evoking childhood allegories and nightmares.