The exhibition “Somewhere (Between Freezing and Melting) there lies Passion” featuring works by London artist JANE SIMPSON (1965), has opened at Galería Javier López, to mark the beginning of the year. The show celebrates the opening of a second space on José Marañón, 4. For her second exhibition in Madrid, the artist presents a huge and magnificent ice sculpture. The melting process will be documented photographically.
Jane Simpson is associated with the so-called ‘Frieze generation;’ termed after an exhibition that made the group popular during the late 80s. Despite being heterogenic, this group of artists has a common view that seeks to renovate the most absolute realism; translated in an irreverent vision of art history as well as of daily common places. This entails the inclusion of new and/or unusual materials that associates the group, in a postmodern way, with 1960s Pop art. Consequently, one finds Jane Simpson’s sculptural work to have a humorous and sensual use of minimalist and abstract principles. For example, this may be perceived in her ‘Morandi-like’ still-lives, produced either in ceramic or silicon, which have been previously on show at the gallery.
Throughout her artistic trajectory Jane Simpson has remained constant on her use of ice. With this medium she has covered furniture, majestic chandeliers, balconies or railings. According to Simpson, her use of ice to create innovative tactile and visual associations “brings a magical quality to quotidian objects.” In its freshly created form, the ice sculpture resembled “Group I (Concourse),” a marble sculpture produced by Barbara Hepworth in 1951 and that is part of the permanent collection of the Tate in London. Hepworth said that this work was inspired by her visit to Venice, where she was captivated by the slender shadows of silhouettes from passers-by formed in water traffic corridors. In Simpson’s work, the slow melting of the ice gives way to sensual forms with flowing curves and changes the interaction between the individual figures that form the composition.
Her most recent exhibitions include her installations at: Gagosian Gallery in London; Galería OMR in Mexico; and Centre Norrtälje Konsthall (Sweden). Further, she has participated in the collective itinerant and opening exhibition at Centro de Arte Artium in Vitoria.
Galería Javier López appreciates the collaboration of ARTE&HIELO, Madrid.