2018-10-25—2018-11-03
Opening reception: 6–8pm Thursday 25th October 2018
Exhibition runs: Thursday 25th October – Saturday 3rd November
Gallery open: 12–6pm Thursday–Saturday
——
Artist Talk: Ann Ensor and Louisa Casas will be in conversation in response to their exhibition Matter Has No Destiny with fellow artists and members of a New Materialism reading group HEAVY WEATHER on Thursday 1st November, 6–7pm.
——
Pallas Projects/Studios are pleased to present Ann Ensor & Louisa Casas—Matter Has No Destiny the eleventh exhibition of our 2018 Artist-Initiated Projects programme.
‘...Matter is produced and productive, generated and generative. Matter is agentive, not a fixed essence or property of things. Mattering is differentiating, and which differences come to matter, matter in iterative production of different differences…’
—excerpt from Meeting the Universe Half Way, Karen Barad 2007
Matter Has No Destiny represents the related practices of Ann Ensor and Louisa Casas, which delve into the immanent generativity of matter. The exhibition engenders physical and sensory dynamics through both sculptural and two dimensional pieces unified within an immersive sound installation by Ann Ensor.
Ann Ensor’s work explores a world of agential matter which is in continual flux and has no fixed destiny. Here bundles of trajectory lines flow and counterflow and form an immense living tissue. She considers the human as part of this biosphere of living tissue where porous boundaries interconnect to other forms at molecular levels. Ensor’s work considers what is meaningful to us as humans in our relationship to the universe. In referring to the Anthropocene, the work combines steam bent Oak and sound elements to juxtaposed technological and tree-like structures.
Ensor’s work in this exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the Artists Support Scheme at Fingal Arts Council.
Louisa Casas extends traditional media of oil painting, mutating support materials into fragment-like pieces and integrating installations of organic and synthetic material to explore boundaries of matter and synthesis. A conversation of edges and side-to-side energies explores possibilities for flexibility, divergence and endurance while plays of shape figure cohesion and rhythm within the dynamic contingency of existence.
For the exhibition Matter Has No Destiny Ensor and Casas have invited Danny Kelly to write a text in response to their work. Copies of Kelly's text will be available at the gallery over the duration of the exhibition and by download from the link below.
——
Biographies:
Ann Ensor has been awarded a Residency in 2019 by Ballinglen Arts Centre. Recent exhibitions include Heavy Weather at The Complex 2018, RHA Summer Show 2018, KFest 2018. In 2017 she was a finalist in the R.D.S. Visual Arts Awards Exhibition, curated by Nick Miller. Ensor is a Graduate of NCAD and has received an MFA Degree (Dept. of Paint) and in 2015 - BA First Honours Degree in Fine Art (Dept. of Sculpture).
Louisa Casas’ practice is primarily that of a painter. A graduate of MFA paint NCAD her show Superficies was listed for the RDS Visual Arts Award (2017). Recent exhibitions include Heavy Weather at The Complex, Dublin (2018) and PeripheriesOpen Gorey School of Art (2017).
Danny Kelly is a painter based in Dublin. He will be showing work at DeAppendix in Dublin this October.
——
Artist-Initiated Projects at Pallas Projects/Studios is an open-submission, annual gallery programme of 12 x 2-week exhibitions taking place between April and November 2018, in the context of a gallery space with a dedicated tradition towards the professional development of artists in a peer-led, supportive environment. This unique programme of funded, artist-initiated projects selected via open call is highly accessible to artists, with a focus on early career, emerging artists and recent graduates. Projects are supplemented with artists' talks, texts, workshops or performances, and gallery visits by colleges and local schools.
Artist-Initiated Projects aims to act as an incubator for early careers, and support artists' practices at crucial stages, providing a platform for artists to produce and exhibit challenging work across all art forms. The model of short-run exhibitions with a relatively short turnaround time of 3–6 months is an alternative to the normal institutional model, where the process of studio visit to exhibition can take several years. Shorter lead-in times allow the programme to be quick and responsive, reflect what artists are currently making, and encourage experimentation and risk-taking.
Pallas Projects/Studios Artist-Initiated Projects is supported by The Arts Council.
Installation images photography: Vera Ryklova ©2018
