Eastbury Manor

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

‘Open Construction’ at Eastbury Manor, Barking

14 to 24 March 2019

A Saturation Point project curated by Patrick Morrissey and Hanz Hancock.

‘Open Construction’ presents the work of 14 artists whose work covers a range of activity but who are drawn together by their shared interest in geometric form, pattern and construction. The building that houses this work has, over four hundred years or so, been exposed to a variety of uses and has lost much of its original decorative scheme, although some evidence of it can be seen in the Painted Chamber. The building’s survival is remarkable, and the presence of the artists in its current incarnation reflects the changing nature of how we use and occupy our built environment.

Geometric, systems, minimalist and non-objective art have long been regarded as typifying the development of 20th century artistic movements. However, the physical, material and design properties contained in, or displayed by the artists’ work in this exhibition - whether intentional or by coincidence - all reflect the qualities and concerns that the original builders, and the commissioners of this space, would have recognised. The work presented in ‘Open Construction’ demonstrates the continuity of tradition while also showing the relevance and sympathy of contemporary artistic practice in a ‘non-white-cube’ context: the vernacular conflated with the future.

Artists: Dominic Beattie, Felix Baudenbacher, Jyll Bradley, Daryl Brown, Will Cruikshank, Garry Doherty, Tim Ellis, Hanz Hancock, Stephen Jaques, Steve Lewis, Patrick Morrissey, Laurence Noga, Sarah Sparkes, Ian Thompson. Neil Zakiewicz