Nino Mier Gallery is pleased to present Eyes Of The Landscape by British artist Lisa Ivory. The artist’s first presentation with the gallery, this exhibition brings together Ivory’s distinctive coterie of characters in a series of fifty scenes, dancing and misbehaving through a classically romantic shadow world of her own concoction. Eyes Of The Landscape will be on view from November 8th – December 21st in Brussels.
In this exhibition Ivory invites us into her fantastical world populated with tumbling, dancing, and jostling mythical creatures. Skeletal bodies, fleshy nudes, and allegorical figures playfully fight within lush landscapes and classical edifices. This shadow world, a liminal space between the heavenly and earthly realms, delves into the deep recesses of the mind where inhabitants appear as ghosts within dreams. Intentional and energetic, Ivory’s luscious use of a dark tonal palette simultaneously references classical romanticism while pointing to ideas of primal sexuality; desire, sex and fear are all prominently at play. Here, intimacy is heightened by scale as Ivory’s small canvases cocoon these emotionally charged scenes while calling the viewer in for closer inspection, as if peering through a keyhole. Ivory’s practice and the concepts informing it are in close conversation. Indeed, Ivory has likened the movement permeating each narrative with her painting practice: “It doesn’t matter how much I plan it there is always a dance-putting on paint, taking off, putting on, wiping off”.
On occasion of this exhibition, Ivory elaborates on the ideas she explores central to the uncanny nature of the cyclical human existence:
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My landscapes are commonly occupied by a Wildman, who occasionally interacts with a female human figure. There is a Rake’s Progress of sorts, with a skeletal Death figure interrupting the discourse between these characters. The Beast attempts sympathetic magic by scrawling images into the landscape. These exchanges occur in a shadowland—a liminal space of a half-forgotten place that exists simultaneously as rural, urban and wasteland populated with anomalies, chimeras and spectres.
In this new series, I anchor an exploration of mortality by depicting the symbolic figure of Death. This motif, often linked to the memento mori tradition, serves as a reminder that death is an unavoidable part of the human experience, urging viewers to reflect on their own mortality and the transient nature of worldly pleasures.
The portrayal of skeletons being spanked or depicted as a puppet controlled by a female nude, presents a converse view of death’s power over life. This layer of macabre humour offers a satirical commentary on control, manipulation, and fate.
Events take place in distinctive landscapes with an archaic tone and her archetypal subjects present a paradoxical discourse including the feral and tamed; the worshipped and abandoned; the empowered and the subjugated.
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Lisa Ivory (b. 1966; lives and works in London; UK) studied at Central Saint Martins School of Art, earning her BA in Fine Art, with honors, in 1988. Ivory has had recent solo exhibitions with Charlie Smith, London, UK; and Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, New York, USA. Her work has also been featured in recent exhibition with Saatchi Gallery, London UK; Sim Smith, London, UK; Ricco Maresca Gallery, New York; Wönzimer, Los Angeles, California, USA; Fabian Lang, Zürich, Switzerland; and Charlie Smith London at the London Art Fair.