Olivia Bax’s “Handrailing” at The New Art Centre features playful yet intellectually stimulating sculptures crafted from unconventional materials. The exhibition invites viewers to explore themes of navigation, perception, and the nature of sculpture itself, highlighting the artistic process alongside finished works.
Olivia Bax’s exhibition “Handrailing” at The New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park, London, runs from September 14 to November 10, 2024. This exhibition challenges traditional sculpture norms with its playful and thoughtful approach. Bax creatively employs unconventional materials like paper pulp and chicken wire, generating a tactile quality in her work that contrasts solid forms with linear elements. The title “Handrailing” alludes to a navigation theme, encouraging visitors to rethink their spatial perceptions as they traverse the artworks. The dynamic nature of her sculptures, coupled with her innovative use of welding and assembly techniques, creates a sense of movement, highlighting the process involved in their creation. Bax’s practice merges the organic with the constructed, exploring concepts of physical and conceptual balance while occupying spaces that straddle the outdoors and indoors. Influenced by her up-close experiences with Anthony Caro, she develops a distinctly personal style that invites viewers to engage with her sculptures as self-contained worlds that provoke thought on materiality and form.
Olivia Bax’s work reflects a contemporary approach to sculpture, emphasising the use of non-traditional materials to create dynamic pieces that invite viewer interaction. Her exhibition at a renowned art centre highlights both the creative process and the final artwork, showcasing her skill in transforming recyclable materials into provocative forms.
Olivia Bax’s “Handrailing” is a thought-provoking exhibition that defies conventional sculpture. Through innovative use of materials and a focus on process, Bax creates an engaging dialogue on perception and form that challenges audience expectations while delivering a visually impactful experience.
Original Source: artefuse.com