Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear
Débora Delmar and Sung Tieu
3 July - 10 August 2018
Weston Studio, RA Schools
Daily 10am – 6pm Friday 10am – 10pm
Free, no booking required
RA Schools students Débora Delmar and Sung Tieu take on Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko in this new collaborative installation in the Weston Studio.
In 1937, artist and instructor Hans Hoffmann said – in what he thought was a compliment – to his student and future Abstract Expressionist painter Lee Krasner: "This is so good, you would never know it was done by a woman".
This quotation led Delmar and Tieu to resurrect the imagery and tropes of Abstract Expressionism, in particular the male painters Newman and Rothko. Tieu makes "paintings" from craft fabrics that mimic Rothko’s colour field paintings. Delmar utilises offcuts of men’s suits from Savile Row tailors to construct abstract "paintings" reminiscent of Newman.
Sculptures formed of car mirrors give the project its title. These mirror sculptures reflect the selective gaze of art history, but also enact a shift towards a new generation of female artists. Photographic portraits of Delmar and Tieu among taxidermied animals depict the artists as confident new species disrupting a monotonous history.
This project uses humour, reappropriation and play to undermine the outdated narrative of the great male artist.
The dates of the exhibition include installation and deinstallation. To see the project once installation is complete, we recommend you visit between 11 July and 9 August 2018.
Daily 10am – 6pm Friday 10am – 10pm
Free, no booking required
Gallery
Débora Delmar, Sung Tieu, Nudes, Jaguar, 2018
Canto II (Mayfair Businessman), 2018
Débora Delmar, Sung Tieu, Nudes, Baboons, Zebra, Giraffe, Springbok, 2018
Blue, White, Blue (after Rothko), 2018
The Weston Studio
The Weston Studio is a hybrid of an artist’s studio and a gallery. It will host a series of experimental projects and interventions by RA Schools students and graduates. Project dates include the entire process of putting a show together. Returning to the Weston Studio during the course of the project will give you the chance to see the work develop over time.
The RA Schools is a school of contemporary art at the heart of the Royal Academy. Each year, up to 17 artists join our free three-year programme. Former students include Turner Prize nominee Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Eddie Peake, Catherine Story and Matthew Darbyshire.