The biennial Outset Residency at the South London Gallery (SLG) is offered to an international artist commissioned to make new work as part of the SLG’s exhibition programme.
Following a period of two months living in the SLG’s Outset Artists’ Flat, artist Thea Djordjadze (b. 1971, Tbilisi, Georgia) presented a major solo exhibition in the main gallery from 2nd October to 29th November 2015.
For her solo shows ‘MA SA I A LY E A SE – DE‘, Djordjadze has created an entirely new sculptural installation in direct response to the main gallery space. It represented the latest step in her practice which she approaches as a continuous process of reconfiguring earlier works into fresh iterations, combined with entirely new sculptures made from materials accumulated in her studio. Here, however, for the first time all the components in the exhibition have been newly made, but in an evolution of thought that is inextricably linked with her previous methodology.
Djordjadze spends time in the spaces she works, absorbing their particular character then subtly transforming them into installations which defy definitive categorisation, hinting at domestic and functional potential but ultimately remaining resolutely sculptural. Using materials she has found in and around the South London Gallery building – planks of wood, an old staircase, floorboards, sheets of plexi-glass, plaster and paint – supplemented by others inspired by the material and atmospheric qualities of the space observed in the course of making the work, Djordjadze has created an installation which gently but thoroughly infiltrated our reading and negotiation of the room.
A low, broad structure spanned the entire 20 metre length of the gallery, inspired by traditional village dwellings in West Georgia, in which raised wooden platforms indicated a place of domestic activity. The whiteness of the space was injected with subtle shots of colour in the form of ink-stained wooden beams, a subtle inquiry into painterly composition which simultaneously meddled with our expectations of materials, function and form.
Djordjadze’s work shifted our perspective on the space, gently prompting us to question how, if at all, it should be used. By testing the scope of her specifically-selected materials, Djordjadze generated new formal structures laden with unexpected potential, genuinely extending the language of sculpture.
Thea Djordjadze (b. 197, Tbilisi, Georgia) is currently based in Berlin. She studied at the art academies in Tbilisi, Gerrit Rietveld in Amsterdam, and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf recently with Rosemarie Trockel. Her works have been presented in numerous solo exhibitions including shows at the MIT Cambridge (2014), the Aspen Art Museum (2013), Malmö Konsthall (2012), The Common Guild Glasgow (2011), Kunsthalle Basel (2009) and Kunstverein Nürnberg (2008). In addition, she has participated in group exhibitions such as the BB5 – 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008), dOCUMENTA 13 (2012) and the Venice Biennale (2015). Upcoming solo shows include Moma PS1 (2016) as well as Secession Vienna (2016). Djordjadze was part of Frieze Projects 2015, Wed 14 – Sat 17 Oct 2015.
Thea Djordjadze’s work ‘Untitled‘ (2015) has been donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries.
