LONDON.- This past January 11th,
No 20 Arts opened the presentation of AFTER BEFORE, a group show featuring artworks by Judith Burrows, Jo Dennis, Tom de Freston, Simon Kidd, Arthur Lanyon, Max Maxwell, Jhonatan Pulido and Keith Roberts. This exhibition, which will end on March 25th, 2023, brings together the work of eight artists who embrace risks, uncertainties and organic transformations of materials and forms in different ways to create distinct captivating works of art that investigate themes of change, belonging, violence and hope.
Based in London, Judith Burrows is a multi-disciplinary artist who encapsulates the exchange between vegetation, the elements and raw steel. Her work observes the imprint of organic matter on metal panels to search for symbiosis and connectivity with the natural world.
Jo Dennis is a British artist based in London. She investigates the idea of belonging, memory and home. Found objects and waste items are used as catalysts to explore our emotional connection to places. Dennis amplifies the sensibilities embodied in these structures, remnants and residual material in her installations.
Tom de Freston lives and works in Oxford. His practice is dedicated to the construction of multimedia worlds, combining paintings, film and performance into immersive visceral narratives. In 2022, his exhibition From Darkness at No 20 Arts explored motifs of reclamation, viewing destruction as a moment of transformation.
Dublin-based Simon Kidd’s practice often responds to the histories of different locations in Ireland. The places he explores are chosen not only for their physical presence and beauty, but also for their cultural, political, and symbolic importance.
Based in Cornwall, Arthur Lanyon’s mixed-media abstract paintings unfold intuitively from figurative motifs. His work is notable for its gravity, compositional control, contrast between soft and hard contours, and colour application.
Working primarily with metals, London-based artist Max Maxwell uses various techniques to capture material changes of his subject matter. His experimentation with metal presents the viewer with abstract and figurative form manipulated with raw materials such as, copper, metal leaf, painting and various chemicals.
Drawing from his personal experiences and memories growing up in rural Colombia, Jhonatan Pulido creates works as an act of remembrance. His paintings reflect Colombian architecture, the traditions of rural communities, and the tumultuous socio-political climate.
Through sculpture and painting, London-based artist Keith Roberts presents artwork which is deliberately slow to form in the mind of the viewer. His visual language is reductive but pushed towards the poetic. At the heart of his work are things felt deeply regarding themes of loss, memory and silence.
