Agar Suite
Lawrence Leaman
Preview Saturday, April 16 at 7PM
Including a performance by Simon Davenport - Cannon Lincoln: Musical Sorbet
A publication written by Sarah Godfrey will accompany the exhibition.April 17th - May 7th / Fri, Sat from 12-5, or by Appointment
For his solo exhibition at Rez-de-Chaussée Lawrence Leaman presents new works in clay, chalk pastel, watercolour and digital print.
Within the Victorian decor of the exhibition space a partition wall has been installed. The wall is cladded in plaster board, unpainted and light grey in colour. A shelf holds a faux-terracotta clay bowl. On the opposing original wall two digital prints are tacked over the wall paper. Each print displays an internet sourced image with an added line drawing made in Adobe Illustrator. Between the walls stands a table frame with wire mesh stretched across its top: modelled Kerimistone leaf forms lie across the mesh.
The exhibition title Agar Suite names the Rez-de-Chaussée gallery space in the tradition of hotel rooms and reception areas. ‘Agar’ is a jelly substance used in the biological sciences as a growth medium for cultivating micro-organisms. The front room of a Victorian terraced house can be the setting for a G.P. or dentist’s clinic. There, decoration ceases to connote safety - the domestic home environment, as clinical function encroaches on original features. Aesthetic concerns are replaced by an understanding of use, although here - in Agar Suite - use is always speculative.
Lawrence Leaman lives and works in London. He studied BA in Philosophy at University of Warwick 2003-06 and MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths College 2008-09. His previous solo exhibition was Floreat Salopia at Outpost Gallery, Norwich 2010. Forthcoming group exhibitions include Suppono Subpono with David Osbaldeston and Joe Devlin at E:vent Gallery London, 2011.
