Nnena Kalu’s solo exhibition Nnena Kalu opened at Arcadia Missa
25 April – 2 June 2024
Arcadia Missa, 35 Duke Street, London, W1U 1LH
ActionSpace artist Nnena Kalu presented a solo exhibition titled Nnena Kalu at Arcadia Missa. Exhibiting new ambitious sculptural work and drawings, this was Nnena’s first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery in London.
The exhibition showcased an immersive installation of suspended sculptures constructed from tightly packed bundles of colourful textile, paper and cellophane that were wrapped in layers upon layers of colourful tape, plastic, paper, fabric, string and reems of unspooled VHS tape. These bulbous bodily forms were suspended overhead in the gallery as an exploration of material, space and form.
The accompanying exhibition text was written by curator, writer and researcher Dr Maggie Matić.
An ode to gesture, line, colour and form, this presentation of new work by Nnena Kalu exemplifies the artist’s unique fascination with and commitment to materiality and process.
Working predominantly in drawing, sculpture and installation, Nnena Kalu’s prolific practice spans over two decades, with the past five years seeing the artist begin to receive the critical acclaim her practice has long deserved.
Repetition is the driving force behind Kalu’s work. Ambitious explorations of space, texture and scale, Kalu’s voracious sculptures hang heavy with the muscle memory of her methodical process of packing, wrapping and binding. Starting with tightly packed bundles of colourful textile, paper and cellophane, Kalu grows and builds her forms, wrapping and assembling them with layers upon layers of colourful tape, plastic, paper, fabric, string and reems of unspooled VHS tape. Kalu continually and iteratively returns to her sculptures, working and reworking them, often taking old works to reform anew.
Kalu’s sculptures explode and invade the spaces they occupy, as was the case in her major presentations with Studio Voltaire in 2020 (where she has held a studio and has been supported by ActionSpace since 1999) and the Royal Academy’s 2021 Summer Exhibition. Here, in a new presentation style, Kalu’s chrysalis-like sculptures quite literally hang heavy. Her voluminous, bulbous bodily forms are suspended overhead in the gallery for the first time, imposing from above like overripe fruit.
Kalu’s practice fosters a radical parity between process and product, between production and presentation and between the artist’s body and its output.
– Dr Maggie Matić
Press
- Wallpaper reviewed the exhibition, written by Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou. Read the review here
- Read Eddy Frankel’s four star review of the exhibition in Time Out. Read the review here
- Nnena Kalu at Arcadia Missa featured in Time Out’s ‘Top 10 art exhibitions in London’. Read here
- Elsie Bell reviewed the exhibition for Plaster Magazine. Read the review here
Image: Installation view, Nnena Kalu, Arcadia Missa, London. Courtesy of the artist, ActionSpace and Arcadia Missa, London. Photo credit: Tom Carter
