Second River
Jade Gaskin
Maggie Menghan Chen
Rosalind Howdle
Five Years
18 - 26 November 2023
Preview: Thursday 16 November 6.30-8.30pm
Opening hours: Saturday & Sunday: 12-4pm
and by appointment: a.teles@arts.ac.uk
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Geryon was a monster everything about him was red
Put his snout out of the covers in the morning it was red
How stiff the red landscape where his cattle scraped against
Their hobbles in the red wind
Burrowed himself down in the red dawn jelly of Geryon’s
DreamAnne Carson, Autobiography of Red
Geryon is a figure from Greek mythology, a three-bodied, four-winged giant, who owns a herd of cattle whose coats are stained red by the light of the setting sun. He is killed by Hercules, who then steals his cattle. In the ‘Autobiography of Red’, Anne Carson adopts Geryon's perspective, offering a different narrative where the giant is the victim of the actions of the famous Greek hero. The narrative takes us into a world where the colour red symbolises otherness and alienation, embodying a spectrum of emotions from passion to anger. In this exhibition, the work of Jade Gaskin, Maggie Menghan Chen, and Rosalind Howdle provide different echoes of this narrative, using colour, invented characters, and transformative methods to create a fantastical realm, mirroring Geryon's vivid and complex world.
Jade Gaskin’s creative process starts from reimagining female figures from folklore, literature, and mythology, moulding them into distinct characters. At the centre of Gaskin’s work lies the concept of the 'wild woman’, which serves as a vital narrative thread in her drawing and painting processes, allowing her to explore the female identity, the human psyche, and woman as a symbol of female empowerment, creativity, and self-discovery. Gaskin's artistic approach commences with a female figure and, gradually, she crafts an ambiance by incorporating, subtracting, and concealing elements within her images. The women she paints echo those found in the figures painted by William Blake and Francisco Goya through the exaggeration and distortion of the faces and through their proximity to the ground, suggesting tension, sometimes despair, and transformation. Gaskin conjures an atmosphere of uncertainty by layering figures beneath paint, decisions that unfold during the act of painting, often influenced by the rhythms of music she listens to while making work.
In her artistic practice, Maggie Menghan Chen employs a strategy that involves providing concealed clues to the viewer, allowing them to discover and construct a world that does not exist. Her quasi-archaeological approach suggests a universe where humans, animals, and plants are one single organism, each relying on the energy of the other. Whereas in Gaskin's work, the elements are brought to life during the painting process, Chen's sculptures blend into a unified organism through imaginary symbiotic and aesthetic negotiations. This combination of elements poses the question of what survives and what is assimilated by other organisms, as part of the duality of natural forces. In the act of creation, there is also a simultaneous process of transformation and dissolution.
Rosalind Howdle’s process also reflects the interdependent relationships between development, procreation, and self-restoration. She draws from the microscopic and cosmic to explore various aspects of creation through the medium of paint. Despite the reference to and the mimicry of biological systems, the vivid hues of the paintings are more evocative of a fantastical universe, where mythological figures such as Geryon feel more at home than anything from the natural world. Howdle approaches painting as an organic process as if sculpting thoughts on canvas. Unlike Gaskin and Chen, she abstains from pre-visualising what she will paint and allows each painting's unique challenges to guide its evolution, embracing the rhythms of life itself: absorption, iteration, erasure, and transformation.
In Greek mythology, gods, goddesses, titans, and nymphs engage in repetitive cycles of conflict, births, deaths, and other transformations. These figures do not adhere to a simple classification of good or bad. Instead, they embody human psychological traits and represent elements of the natural world, which is itself both life-giving and unpredictable, at times harsh and destructive. One such character is Geryon, whose death is recounted in the tenth of the twelve “Labour of Hercules”, which describe Hercules’s transformation from criminal to hero. Gaskin, Chen, and Howdle, through their varying approaches to making and subject matters, explore the complexities of human emotions, nature's dualities, and the relationships between creation, death, and self-renewal.
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Biographies
Rosalind Howdle (b.1997) is a London-based artist. She obtained a BA in Painting from Camberwell College of Arts (2019), and an MA from the Royal College of Art (2022). Howdle also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (U.S.) and Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Canada).
In 2019, Rosalind Howdle was awarded the Vanguard Prize and the Ali H. Alkazzi Scholarship for her studies at the RCA between 2020-22. She was shortlisted for the Now Introducing Prize 2022 and included in Artlyst’s Ones to Watch 2023.
Maggie Menghan Chen (b. 1998) lives and works in London. She obtained her MA degree in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts (2022) following her BA degree in Art History at New York University (2020). Chen's sculptures explore life's evolution and transformation, drawing inspiration from both plant and animal worlds to craft symbolic hybrids. Her aim is to encapsulate the earth's innate wisdom, transcending human rationality. Her work serves as metaphors for the human psyche, symbolising the battle between aggression and sensitivity using the ferocity of beasts and the delicacy of flowers.
Jade Annalise Gaskin (b.1994) is an interdisciplinary artist based in London. She graduated from her BA Hair, Make-up and Prosthetics for Performance from London College of Fashion (2016) and is currently studying on the ESOP Advanced Painting Course (2023-2025). Gaskin challenges the portrayal of women, especially in Anglo-pop culture. Her muse, the wild woman, thrives in a jungle-inspired world. Gaskin is drawn to landscapes and mythology to capture the feeling of charged stillness in her work. Her background in prosthetics and performance influences her paintings, infusing them with unique characters.
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Five Years:
Unit 2B1 Boothby Road, Archway, London, N19 4AJ
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