EDINBURGH.- Following her successful solo show last August, artist Frances Richardson returns to the Corn Exchange Gallery in 2008 with a compelling body of new drawings and sculpture, “Playing Against Reason”.

The revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk and how we put the future at the service of the present. “Playing Against Reason” presents a vision of risk that we have not quite mastered however much we would like to imagine we had.

Richardson’s sculptural work is made from predominantly MDF and she calls them “walk in drawings”. The structures resemble ladders that are in-between being constructed and falling apart. Playing cards suits are the iconic images of her latest pencil drawing series, formed from using the signs + and – in densities of lead.

“The proposition seems absurd, really: to be able to express an infinite array of information and emotion through the finite tools of binary code – switching between on/off, zero/one, plus/minus. And yet all communication in this digital era boils down to those fundamental building blocks…(Richardson) demonstrates just how expansive those reductive tools can be.” Leah Ollman, LA Times 2007.

Frances Richardson studied at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2006 with MA in Fine Art Sculpture. She was presented with the Conran Award for overall best graduate exhibition of 2006. She exhibits both nationally and internationally.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Internus, Corn Exchange Gallery 2007, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, 2007, The Scene Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2007.

Group exhibitions include: Walking the Line, Kudlek van der Grinten Gallery, Cologne, ArtFutures 2008, London, Presence, HP Garcia Gallery, NY, Drawing Now, DM Contemporary, NY, Transformer, Woburn Sq Research Centre, UCL, London, ANTICIPATION, One One One, London, Three Part Harmony, The Curators Office, Washingon, BLOCK PARTY, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, LA, No Man Is An Island, London, In Motion, London, The Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition, London, More than Meets the Eye, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Her work is in private and public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, USA.

Frances has a studio in London and is currently a Lecturer at Norwich School of Art.