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Maddox Gallery champions emerging female artists with new ‘HerStory – Women in Art’ exhibition
By Freddy Clode | 29 February 2020 | Culture
The March exhibition celebrates 12 exceptional artists to coincide with International Women’s Day
Mayfair's most stylish contemporary art destination, Maddox Gallery, has been a cultural hub for artists and art-lovers since it was established in 2015. Now, it is celebrating emerging female artists with HerStory – Women in Art, an exhibition that coincides with International Women's Day (8th March) and showcasing 12 exceptional artists.
HerStory will run from 2 to 24 March at the prestigious brand's flagship gallery on Maddox Street, Mayfair. Featured artists include Sophie Tea, Beau Dunn, Lauren Baker, Coco Dávez, Lily Kemp and Sooyoung Chung working across photography, painting and neon installations. The exhibition brings together themes of identity, domesticity, the female body, consumerism and spirituality.
"HerStory seeks to shatter the norm, to call for change in gallery programming and to celebrate acts of creativity by providing a platform for female talent to redefine the conversation around women in art and the landscape within which they work," says Maddox Gallery's curator. In addition to the Gallery's three London locations, it also has international galleries in Gstaad and Los Angeles.
"Gender bias remains a major issue in the modern art world; the 12 emerging artists chosen for HerStory have been championed for their diverse and distinctive artistic styles with their works offering an alternative gaze that includes them in the contemporary art dialogue."
In addition to the exhibition, Maddox Gallery will also host events open to the public; including a Q&A and book signing with Hettie Judah, author of Art in London, on Monday 2 March and a painting masterclass for children on 7-8 March. Read on to discover the 12 artists disrupting the contemporary art world…
Beau Dunn | Cayla Birk | Coco Dávez | Emily Ponsonby | Graceland | Karimah Hassan
Kate Bellm | Lauren Baker | Lily Kemp | Molly Brocklehurst | Sooyoung Chung | Sophie Tea
Beau Dunn
Dunn is an American artist described by Maddox Gallery as a contemporary conceptual mixed-media artist. Her work is instantly recognisable thanks to its vibrant colour palette, and underlying sense of childhood innocence – a perfect contrast to her bold social commentary on societal pressures.
Cayla Birk
This young artist has a unique contemporary style, merging traditional acrylics paints with mixed materials to push the boundaries of mixed-media art. Birk is noted for her intelligent and creative mind, Maddox says, describing her as "an outstanding young artist".
Coco Dávez
Spanish artist Dávez is renowned for her block colour style in vibrant acrylic paints. Maddox describes her work an "exhibition highlight", thanks to the themes of identity, nostalgia and iconography explored in her 'Faceless' series. Culture vultures can expect to see a range of historical and cultural influencers – from celebrities and musicians to film characters and cartoons – all represented in her work.
Emily Ponsonby
Ponsonby's ability to capture the natural, the organic and the nude is enhanced to spectacular effect by this English artist's unique style. Over the last eight years, Ponsonby has developed a technique based on the Ancient Egyptian's 'encaustic' process – melting honeyed beeswax between layers of oil.
Graceland
Vibrant illustrations and painting that depict the darker side of human consumption are Graceland's raison d'etre, visualising the self-obsession and inner questioning of a generation.
Karimah Hassan
Hassan's rich heritage – Welsh-born and of Yemeni and Bangladeshi descent – and architectural background imbues her work with a wide appeal. A painter and mural artist, Maddox says Hassan is heralded for "taking stories in full circle, from the canvas to the streets".
Kate Bellm
Our first photographer of the exhibition, Bellm's images reflect her nomadic lifestyle and wild spirit – with iridescent colours, nude silhouettes and surreal natural surroundings all brought to life in her work.
Lauren Baker
A self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist, Baker is significant for her use of lights and reflective material. Expect to see neon, infinity mirrors and moving sculptures that effortlessly question exploration of light, space, energy fields, the afterlife and more.
Lily Kemp
Kemp's work explores the representation of women of colour, and how they are represented within visual culture and art history. She critiques the hyper-sexualisation of women's bodies in the media as well as the female nude in art history, and offer an alternate to the male gaze that is led by, and reflective of, diverse women's experience.
Molly Brocklehurst
Depicting strange fictions that "blur the boundary between document and fiction", Brocklehurst's paintings seek to create new rituals and possibilities for our history, as well as addressing concepts of time, loss and nostalgia.
Sooyung Chung
Chung is a South Korean author whose interests lie in the space between misery and joy, deprivation and desire. She depicts objects that are present in the everyday experience of the modern world to achieve her esoteric style.
Sophie Tea
A colourful celebration of the human form, diverse bodies and self-love, Tea's series 'Nudes' subverts the stereotype of women receiving unwanted nudes from men. In a unique way of making the series a collaborative, connected experience, Tea turned to her Instagram following for submissions for the series, receiving more than 1,000 nudes in a single night.
Maddox Gallery's 'HerStory – Women in Art' exhibition runs from 2nd-24th March 2020