Rethinking, reworking, reshaping… history… what are the possibilities…
Gertrude Contemporary
9 November-17 December 2022
Curated by Tim Riley Walsh
Clay, glue, acrylics, hydrostone, resin, polystyrene, sand, cement, pigments and oxides. Sculpture incorporates replicas of studio plaster models by Soviet monumental sculptor Valentin Topuridze (1907-1980).
Dimensions variable.
Photos by Christian Capurro.

Rethinking, reworking, reshaping… monuments… what are the possibilities… speaks to the ongoing worldwide movement of dismantling monuments in order to challenge the ongoing legacy of toxic ideologies. Specifically incorporating replicas of demolished Soviet monuments, the composition attempts to playfully rethink the problematic histories they represent. Set against the melancholy of the ‘ruin’ aesthetic, the soft and dynamic clay-lump shapes – with its expressive finger print texture embodying the creative action of the artist’s hands – symbolically alludes to the possibility of the undoing and reshaping of history. The work proactively describes the process of hope and peacebuilding that needs to take place during these challenging times.