LONDON.- Lyndsey Ingram and James Mackie announced their first collaborative project ‘Chance Encounters’. The exhibition brings together an exceptional collection of early English Mochaware pottery, to be shown alongside mixed media work by British contemporary artist Georgie Hopton (b.1967).
This exhibition will be an immersive experience, with Mackie, a renowned British interior decorator, transforming the gallery to create an installation that uses Hopton’s wallpapers and fabrics, which complement the decorative surfaces and colours found in Mochaware, to create a conversation across time. The synergy of organic form and materiality found in both Hopton's collaged pieces, fabrics and wallpapers finds echo in the swirling decoration of Mochaware ceramics.
Mackie comments: ‘I’m hugely excited to collaborate with Lyndsey to create an installation that will explore form, colour and pattern through the juxtaposition of this extraordinary collection of early Mochaware and the work and textiles of Georgie Hopton.’
Lyndsey Ingram comments: 'I am fascinated by the potential conversations across mediums and centuries, bringing together objects and artworks made with different intentions but with a serendipitous synergy. Hopton’s contemporary aesthetic energises the ceramics, and I am delighted too to be working with James, whose shared passion for the objects and incredible visual talent will transform the gallery.’
Georgie Hopton comments: 'For me, seeing a collection of ceramics is like a happy vision of rows of shiny wrapped sweets on supermarket shelves. Only better. Being given the opportunity to luxuriate, at work, in the idiosyncratic and playful company of this collection of Mochaware is enough to make me believe greedy, childhood wishes really do come true. The fluidity of nature, wild abstraction and so many individuals' creative musings are all contained and reigned in by the simultaneous geometry, compulsory in these designs. There is nothing like the sight of a meadow in full bloom, framed by a mown border. Mochaware embodies this perfect, addictive congruity. To all those unknown artisans gathered here - I salute you!'
The genesis of this exhibition is an exceptional group of early English Mochaware painstakingly formed over a 30-year period. This highly sought-after English pottery, with its abstract forms, natural patterns, marbled surfaces and bands of colour, speaks directly to the contemporary imagination. Made in Staffordshire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this utilitarian ware was originally made for humble homes and inns. It derives its name from the markings it has in common with those found in moss agate, which, in the late 18th century was imported via the port of Mocha (in Yemen). Artisan-made, with decorative patterns created in part by chance through the glazing process, there is an organic freshness in the abstract geometries characteristic of this pottery that belies its age.
The ceramics form a perfect balance with Hopton’s work. The British artist’s fine art practice runs in parallel with her applied art production of wallpapers and fabrics, originally block printed from vegetables and flowers grown in her garden, creating one-of-a-kind, organic, natural forms. Many of these will be shown here for the first time and will be used throughout the installation to explore the visual connections between Hopton’s dynamic aesthetic and the collection of Mochaware. This exhibition of pots and patterns, will celebrate the art of making and bring together old and new, dynamic colour and texture.
Georgie Hopton was born in 1967 in the UK and studied at St Martin’s School of Art, London in 1989. Her works in photography, collage, printmaking and sculpture are made in conjunction with wallpaper, fabric designs, unique and editioned rugs.
Self portraits, studies of flowers and still life are consistent subject threads, woven through forays into abstraction and decoration. Her heart lies in creation with no boundaries, the melding of art and life, the one reflecting and intersecting the other. Shows include; The South London Gallery, Milton Keynes Gallery in the UK, and Brancolini Grimaldi, Rome. Her work is housed in several permanent collections including the Arts Council Collection and her public art commissions can be seen at The Home Office and Royal London Hospital.
Hopton was nominated for the Max Mara prize in 2007.
James Mackie is an Interior decorator, art advisor and founder of J. James Mackie Ltd. Prior to establishing the company James held senior positions in international auction houses for more than two decades, most recently as Head of the Impressionist & Modern Art Department at Sotheby’s in London and Board Director of Bonhams before that.
Throughout his career he has worked with some of the world’s leading collectors and been involved in the sale of many important works of 20th century art. The company today is founded on James’ years of experience, expertise and his academic background in architectural history and the decorative arts.
