WOLVES BY THE ROAD
May 16 – June 5, 2019
Private View: May 16, 6-9pm
Assembly House, 44 Canal Road, Leeds
EMMA FINEMAN, ALY HELYER, YULIA IOSILZON, FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ AND ANNA JUNG SEO
Curated by Kate Mothes
Wolves by the Road explores the space between familiarity and the unknown. The artists in this exhibition produce paintings that are often figurative while also questioning the relationship of the figures to their surroundings by emphasizing space and surroundings. As viewers we are included in this, sometimes invited into the scene. Other times we are voyeurs, unsure whether we should remain too long. The works oscillate between cheerfulness and darkness, comfort and dread, like a party with the lights flickering in and out. Things start to feel a little sinister. Is everyone accounted for?
Emma Fineman (b. USA) explores notions of human connection, especially within intimate space, and in terms of the metaphorical mirrors which others hold up to us, revealing ourselves within our relationships to others. She earned a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2013 and an MFA from Royal College of Art in 2018. Recent exhibitions include solo presentations, REALMS OF THE [UN]REAL with PUBLIC Gallery, London, 2019, and May I Have Your Attention Please? with BEERS London, 2019. Fineman lives and works in London.
Aly Helyer’s (b. UK) mysteriously charming figures both invite and disturb, instinctually employing a vibrant color palette that belies an undercurrent of wistfulness, love, and loss. Originally from North Yorkshire and now based in London, Helyer graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design and has recently had work in Spring/Break with NOW Gallery, New York, 2019, and Draw Fair at Saatchi Gallery with NOW Gallery. Recent solo exhibitions include Nobody’s Business with Angus Hughes Gallery, London, 2017, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with Charlie Smith Gallery, London, 2016.
The paintings of Yulia Iosilzon (b. Israel) take a cartoonish, satirical approach to figuration, emphasizing everyday, mundane activities as well as events we hear about in the news, to the point of playful absurdity. She has recently included work in We Can Only Have Fun on Certain Days, Warbling Collective, London, 2019, and Something Else, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, 2018. She currently lives and works in London, and earned a BFA from Slade School of Fine Art in 2017 and will be receiving an MA from Royal College of Art in 2019.
Francisco Rodriguez’s (b. Chile) paintings evoke a mysterious, lonely, and at times dark and menacing world. Sometimes figures inhabit spaces or landscapes; sometimes it seems as though an awareness of them passes from canvas to canvas, even if the figure is absent. Recent exhibitions in include Al calor del cemento, Galería Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, 2019, and The Burning Plain, Cooke Latham Gallery, London, 2018. Francisco earned a BA from Universidad de Chile, Santiago, in 2013, and an MFA from Slade School of Fine Art in 2018. He is currently based in London.
Anna Jung Seo (b. South Korea) explores the notion of distance: psychological and emotional distance within and between people, as well as geographical and physical distance between places and people. Her works are populated with figures going about daily activities, both obscured and dramatised by darkness and mysterious light. Anna earned a PhD in French Literature from Yonsei University, Seoul, 1999, a BA from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2011, and attended Turps Studio Programme at Turps Art School in London, 2015-2017. She lives and works in London.
Kate Mothes (b. USA) is an independent curator and founder of Young Space (yngspc.com / @yngpsc). She received a Masters in Art History, Theory and Display from Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh, and a Bachelors in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to yngspc online exhibitions, selected recent exhibitions include Memory Palace at Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska; Settling the Ghost and BIG LINK at Standard Projects, Hortonville, WI; and Conveyor at Morgan Fine Arts and Film Center, Brooklyn, New York. She is based in Wisconsin.
Painting Programme Coordinators: Suzy Babington, Rufus Newell, Jack Towndrow and Rosie Vohra
Painting programme is a seven-month programme of painting exhibitions at Assembly House in Leeds, curated by different painters, each of whom are invite by Assembly House studio holders. The exhibitions explore the role, possibilities and responsibility of collective artistic activity today as well as expose the curators’ unique approach to making, and their appreciation of dynamics within art.
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