Sally Webber : Calibrations
Curated by Rowena Chiu
Generation & Display, London
26 September - 21 October 2018
Curated by Rowena Chiu
Generation & Display, London
26 September - 21 October 2018
Generation & Display is excited to present Calibrations, Sally Webber’s inaugural solo exhibition in London, curated by Rowena Chiu. Living and working between Brighton and London, Webber is an avid walker who draws inspiration from daily perambulations through her cityscapes. Collecting and examining discarded objects from extended explorations in the manner of an archaeologist or forensic scientist, she works with the poetic and aesthetic possibilities of found material.
Realigning objects through pared-down adjustments, Webber creates ephemeral and oftentimes playful works. Celestial Planisphere, 2013, consists of a brilliant yellow street sign that has had its original text reduced to the languorous sentence ‘Moon O ... Sun O’.
Folding a metal street sign as though it were a scrap of paper discarded by a disappointed lottery player, Untitled (sign), 2018, obliterates its original text to spell a bold proclamation: ’LOSE’. The folded object retains the physicality of a street-sign within its new format, whilst simultaneously proposing something altogether more abstract.
Untitled, 2011, is a monochrome hand-print produced using a piece of found wood that Webber later identified as a supporting section of a headboard. Considering the notion of construction, Webber repeated the print along the entire length of a readymade paper scroll, allowing the sheet’s predetermined scale to set the work’s perimeters. The result is an image that resembles a bustling crowd of surreal personnages or a cluster of primitive totems.
Untitled, 2010, reminiscent of an abstract geometric composition, is a pressing from a fragment of pavement that Webber found in Glasgow. Though ephemeral at first glance, specks of dirt ingrained within the work hint at its origins. Working sympathetically with discarded objects that catch her eye, Webber’s practice reveals a distinct respect for material. Speaking of her process, Webber describes her practice as ‘a game of cards: a game in which I must endeavour not to undo any of the objects’ existing beauty, whilst carefully assembling something new.’
Sally Webber graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with a First Class Honours in Painting and Printmaking in 2012. She has exhibited in a solo exhibition at Assembly Gallery, Glasgow (2011) and numerous group exhibitions including at Gallery Lock In, Brighton (2017); Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2015); Summerhall, Edinburgh (2013); Jerwood Space, London (2013-14) and the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2013). She was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2013; RSA New Contemporaries in 2013 and awarded the Essay Prize at the Glasgow School of Art in 2012.
Generation & Display was established by sculptor Henry Krokatsis in 2014 in Queensrollahouse, a former Rolls Royce building in Park Royal converted into artists’ studios.