Chilvers_Ricci

The curatorial and editorial project for systems, non-objective and reductive artists working in the UK

Sarah Chilvers and Giulia Ricci at Bartha Contemporary

18 March - 7 May 2016

A review by Fiona Grady

The current exhibition at Bartha Contemporary presents recent works by artists Sarah Chilvers and Giulia Ricci. Focusing on a shared theme of systems-based art with strong geometric tendencies, the artists are placed alongside each other in a mixed hang. This is the first time the artists have exhibited together; these works were created over a similar time-span, and although they didn’t meet in person, they talked when the project was proposed. Both artists’ work is borne out of a symmetry that develops into something further, as their systems move and spread across the surfaces. The connections between their separate practices is evident in the methodology of creation and the finished product. Although the works are placed together, each artist’s identity is sufficiently strong that although the connections between the works are evident, the pieces still stand alone.

Giulia Ricci, Parallel Bend No 5, 2013, light-fast Indian ink on paper, 29 x 29 cm. Copyright Giulia Ricci / Sarah Chilvers, Courtesy Bartha Contemporary Ltd.

Giulia Ricci presents her work in three different forms: ink drawings on paper, laser-engraved laminated boards with acrylic paint, and laser-engraved leather pieces. Each surface has a different sense of material, in which the quality of line and character changes with the medium. The Indian ink drawings are the most traditional medium used by Ricci; they are delicate grids of lines that form a web spreading across the paper. They have a sense of direction that routes itself along the paper, with different widths of rows and lines curving to connect to one another at the corners, creating denser clusters of lines and peaks as the drawing grows. Taking as an example Parallel / Bend No. 5, which is presented as a diamond, the drawing is separated by an implied central fold: the lines seemingly begin in the centre and spread to the edges of the paper. They have an internal logic that creates the energy and development of the lines; although compact and neatly contained within the square, they are hand-drawn and grow organically. This creates a two-fold effect, because neither the gaps nor the tempo of the grid are perfect; at a distance you see this; the density of blackness creates a woodgrain effect, but up close this texture is lost. Instead, the slight wobble of line highlights the artist’s presence, removing what might otherwise be interpreted as a mechanical approach. It’s important to note that the ink drawings works aren’t created with the aid of a ruler. They are hand-made, and the richer for it.

Giulia Ricci, Order-Disruption Painting No 3, 2012, laser engraved laminated board and acrylic paint, hand painted, 25 x 25 x 1.8 cm. Copyright Giulia Ricci / Sarah Chilvers, Courtesy Bartha Contemporary Ltd.

In contrast to the ink drawings, the rest of Ricci’s artworks presented here use a more refined and controlled version of the grid. Order/Disruption Painting No.3 is one of a series of laser-engraved laminated boards with hand-applied acrylic paint. As an object it is beautiful, a sleek 25 x 25 cm tile made up of orange and white triangles. It follows the drawings with a sense of a meandering grid, with triangles formed from curved lines and with an intangible order to the shapes. It is reminiscent of Islamic tiles, but without the perceived perfection of order. Where the ink drawings’ delicacy derives from the imperfection of line and the hand-made touch, the pieces are more removed, but they offer an elegance and completeness that is satisfying to view.

Giulia Ricci, Skin 1 2014, Laser engraving on leather, 45.5 x 77 cm. Copyright Giulia Ricci / Sarah Chilvers, Courtesy Bartha Contemporary Ltd.

Alongside these paintings are two laser engravings on dark leather: Skin I and Skin IV. Of all the artworks, these are the closest to a perfect ordered grid; they have the appearance of highly conceived artworks. Again, they use the curved grid of lines, but in contrast to the works on paper these lines grow organically until they reach the edges of their shape, where they begin to straighten up and box into their diamond format. What is interesting about the translation of this drawing language onto leather is that it holds a different weight. Whereas the works on board have a rigidity, the leather pieces aren’t presented flat; they are allowed a slight flap, or curve, in the way they are placed on their shelf. They have an uncanny warmth, perhaps by association with the material. If they were presented with the scored perfection of laser-cut lines on a hard material, they would feel cold and removed, whereas the leather retains a softness due to the richness of its surface and the malleability of the material.

The clearest separation between the works by Chilvers and Ricci is in their supports. At first glance Chilvers’ work doesn’t have the polish and exactitude of Ricci’s work. Sarah Chilvers’ paintings are presented on thick plywood boards with chewed edges, splintered corners, and rough surfaces fractured by a saw and rough sandpaper. Bought from her local builders’ yard in Wales, and cut to size on site, the wooden panels are treated as an everyday object as opposed to a surface for a refined painting. Although their purpose is not volunteered, the casualness, or unimportance, of the support is where the apparent absence of consideration ends. Perhaps Chilvers’ intention is to demonstrate that the artwork’s genesis, and its growth, are more significant than the way in which it is presented. Her formations of shapes are created through a long, slow process, growing over years as each line is considered to the nth degree. The structures have an internal logic that is not pre-ordained; the artist uses her compositional skills, experience and acquired knowledge to present them in the act of making. They are revisited from time to time until the perfect balance is reached. There is a tension between the accidental nature of the boards and the highly ordered image of the painting.

Sarah Chilvers, Untitled (BC_SC2016_01), 2014-2016, Gouache on plywood, 30.3 x 40.5 cm. Copyright Giulia Ricci / Sarah Chilvers, Courtesy Bartha Contemporary Ltd.

The backbone of these forms falls somewhere between painting and drawing. In Untitled (BC_SC2016_22) the background is a flat, sanded-back white gouache, adorned with a delicate grid of pencil lines; a few of the shapes drawn out of this grid are completed with intersections of gouache colour. These pencil marks suggest the potential growth of the artwork; ideas to be expanded upon. The paintings are understated in the sense that there is a structure in place that might be developed further - is this an unrealised energy or a fragile indication of space? There are strong references to the Suprematists in the style of painting and form, hinting at a spiritual purity. There is an uneasiness in the lack of polish, but this helps to extend the depth of plane, and the cloudy, rubbed-out layers of paint imply the process of painting, editing and reformation. It is worth noting that each of the painted forms is a unique colour; by using each tone only once, the perspective and flatness of the painting is distorted. The colours are used sparingly, but where they do appear, they often have a clear direction. In Untitled (BC_SC2016_01) the pencil grid completely covers the surface of the board, but only a small section of it is coloured in. Forming a C shape, the blacks, yellows and greys sit on top of the grid, stamping their direction onto the painting and dictating its manner.

Both artists’ practices are reminiscent of children’s drawing games. Chilvers’ paintings are not dissimilar to those geometric colouring books containing printed empty grey grids of shapes, which allow the user to fill in the shapes while learning about how shapes are formed and how to balance colours. And Ricci’s work could be the game ’Squares’, in which two players compete to draw straight lines that form the sides of a square – the goal is to trick your partner into drawing three sides, thereby allowing you to finish the fourth side and win the square. Unlike these games, where the logic is preordained, these artists are finding new ways to navigate the grid. All artists start with a blank canvas, but the decision to build a non-figurative structure opens up a multitude of possibilities. This exhibition, and the comparative practices of the artists, demonstrate two alternative methods of making. What is striking is the stemming of logic, the automatic sense of drawing and the translation between media. Each artist allows us a glimpse into her mind, through the tactility of marks, the hints of developing ideas and the imposed restrictions. The divergence from symmetry into evolving forms is the key to each artist’s practice; neither is offering a solution to a problem; they are both navigating geometry and inventing systems, and the result is their intriguing multi-layered artworks.

Installation shot: Office 3. Copyright Giulia Ricci / Sarah Chilvers, Courtesy Bartha Contemporary Ltd.