Explore Abundance online
Abundance was an unmissable group exhibition of artworks by the artists Chandrakant Patel (ActionSpace, London), Erin Keogh (Project Ability, Glasgow) and Kathy Wilmott (Venture Arts, Manchester), held at V.O Curations. This digital profile of the exhibition brings together video, audio and photography from the group exhibition.
About Abundance
27 February – 2 March
V.O Curations, first floor, 56 Conduit Street, London, W1S 2YZ
Abundance was the culmination of a three year collaborative project between ActionSpace, Project Ability and Venture Arts celebrating the work of learning disabled artists, shown in Glasgow, Manchester and London. This final showcase of the touring exhibition in London was produced by ActionSpace in collaboration with V.O Curations and was curated by artist Louis Caseley. All three artists in Abundance exhibited significant bodies of work and were shown on a larger scale to explore the relationship between the prolific making of the artists and their distinct abstract practices. The exhibiting artists were selected by artist Sonia Boué, who comments that audiences would be drawn to and ‘connect with the immediacy, energy and abundance of life within the three selected practices.’
Artist Sally Hirst (Venture Arts, Manchester) was commissioned to create poetic audio descriptions for the exhibition. Listen below to a selection of Sally’s immersive audio descriptions which accompanied each artwork in the show.
Abundance was part of the Explorers Project, a creative programme and framework for increasing the visibility and representation of neurodivergent artists in contemporary visual art.
Abundance Online
Chandrakant Patel, Installation
ActionSpace artist Chandrakant Patel created a new site-sensitive artwork titled Installation for the exhibition, using a large selection of his richly coloured and detailed paintings made between 2022 – 2023. Watch how Chandrakant constructed the installation in the gallery.
Erin Keogh
Erin Keogh is an artist based at Project Ability in Glasgow. Erin creates large, expressive and thoughtfully composed abstract paintings. The colour palette, layering and application of paint all become physical choices for Erin, resulting in richly energetic paintings.
Audio Description: Stripes, Erin Keogh, acrylic on canvas, 2021
Audio Description: Green, Erin Keogh, acrylic on canvas, 2022
Kathy Wilmott
Kathy Wilmott is an artist based at Venture Arts in Manchester. Kathy’s work is full of movement. Flowing looping lines and vivid colour combinations fill space and surface immersively. Kathy works across a variety of mediums, including illustration, textiles and ceramics and her practice draws upon her love of music.
Audio Description: Elvis, Kathy Wilmott, embroidery and pastels on canvas, 2022
Audio Description: Untitled, Kathy Wilmott, acrylic and marker on canvas, 2023 (left)
Resources
Download a transcript of Sally Hirst’s Audio Descriptive Poetry
Download a copy of the exhibition guide
Events
A programme of live, inclusive events accompanied the exhibition, including an artist and curator tour of the exhibition with Chandrakant Patel and artist/curator Louis Caseley and In Parallel, a live mixed media painting event with Robin Smith and Jerome.
About Explorers
Explorers is a dynamic collaborative programme of art and action that opens up routes into artistic practice for neurominorities, dismantling attitudinal and systemic barriers to representation and rights in art and society. Explorers is led by Project Art Works, in conjunction with eight key partners: ActionSpace, Autograph, BALTIC, IntoArt, MK Gallery, Outside In, Photoworks and Venture Arts. Explorers is a creative programme and framework for increasing the visibility and representation of neurodivergent artists in contemporary visual art.
Explore the previous showcases of Abundance at Project Ability and Venture Arts.
What did you think of Abundance?
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Photo credit: Nicola Tree
Design: Victor Hwang
