REBECCA HARPER – CONCRETE SHADOWS
2019-09-09These new works build and expand on themes that Harper has explored throughout her career, particularly ideas of displacement and nostalgia. Harper is interested in how we interact with the world around us, specifically connected to the ideas of transience and alienation. Says the artist: ‘The works contain deep echoes of a personal displacement and narrative. A storm brews, siblings drape on family trees, the figures journey from place to place much like some of my ancestors in exile.’
The subjects of her recent paintings are situated in what Harper describes as ‘middling space’: camping, tree climbing or mid-road trip. Although visually referencing the aesthetic of the classic British holiday snapshot, the initial wistfulness found in these scenes is disrupted by the precarious or temporary nature of the situations and settings. Says the artist: ‘In my work semi-fictional characters travel like chameleons, morphing through varied cultures and classes- taking on different guises in different places. I hope to highlight ideas around the notion of the relationships that exist between identity and displacement (the action of moving something from its place or position).’
Opposite – Trying to Travel the Spaces Between Us, 2019
Exhibition runs through to October 12th, 2019
Huxley-Parlour Gallery
3-5 Swallow Street
London
W1B 4DE
