PIECE(D) WORK
Gillian Lowndes and Tenant of Culture
11th September – 26th October 2022
It was once observed that ‘in the process of production, human beings work not only upon nature, but also upon one another.’ In other words, this is a chain of interactions in which we find ourselves interlinked. ‘Raw material’ has already been the subject of human labour. In order to be of value it has to first be excavated or grown, rendered or refined, packaged and transported. Only then can a product be fabricated from those constituent elements.
The utility of such products is finite. They might become depleted through repeated use, or find themselves surplus to the vagaries of consumer demand. In either instance, these discarded objects become a sedimentary layer of human activity –an archaeological record of past social relations. Or, a corpus of inanimate things, dreaming of fresh purpose.
Pieced Work: A crafting process in which a whole is created from an assemblage of smaller parts. Ideally suited to the recycling of remnants.
Piece Work: Labour that is measured by task, as opposed to a delineated time period. The individual assumes responsibility for their own regulatory patterns. Traditionally carried out in non-industrial contexts, this is a model of working prevalent in both Pre- and Post-Fordist economies. It remains, however, the basis upon which cultural production has consistently grounded itself.
Gillian Lowndes (b.1936, West Kirby, d. 2010, London) was a British ceramicist whose transgressive approach to the medium marked her out as one of the most daring practitioners of her generation. Recent solo exhibitions of her work have been held at York City Art Gallery (2021), The Sunday Painter, London (2016) and the Ruthin Craft Centre (2013). Recent group exhibitions include Clinamen, Fold Gallery, London (2021); The Shape Left by the Body, The Sunday Painter, London (2018); Daughters, The Hepworth, Wakefield, and Markers, David Zwirner, London (both 2017). Her work is held in many collections including The Craft Council, London, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The Hepworth, Wakefield, Paisley Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Anthony Shaw Collection: York Museums Trust.
Tenant of Culture (b. 1990, Arnhem) is an artist based in London. Recent solo exhibitions of their work include Soft Acid, Camden Arts Centre (2022); Et al., Kunstverein Dresden; Autumn Cloth, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna; Georgics (how to style a chore coat), Fons Welters Amsterdam (all 2021); Tenant of Culture, Het Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, and Exterior Assemblage, Soft Opening, London (both 2020). Recent group exhibitions include Eternally Yours, Somerset House; Testament, CCA Goldsmiths (both London, 2022); Post-Digital Intimacy, National Museums, Prague; Look: Exposing Art and Fashion, Museum Marta Herford; Ghosts and Bones, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw and I Hear Your Keys Clinking, Fragment Gallery, Moscow (all 2021).
Ivory Tars would like to thank the Estate of Gillian Lowndes, The Sunday Painter and Soft Opening for their kind assistance.
This exhibition has been generously supported by a grant from the Dutch Embassy in the UK.
Photography: Patrick Jameson