The Thousands

There’s something truly fascinating about art that seems to be ‘thrown together’. Where you might be in awe of someone like Amy Joy Watson’s delicate handiwork, or the thematic dedication of say, Celeste Aldahn, things that literally look like scraps from a studio combined in a haphazard way often attract the most curious and interested eyes of all.

Afterthoughts and leftovers are the domain of Ben Leslie’s recent work. As a painter, he’s left the canvas behind but has translated a careful consideration of colour and form to his masses of plastic chain, lit candles, spools of thread, foam and more. Patrick Rees, with his slightly more pastel palette, similarly explores considered clashes in both 2D and 3D, bringing fluid materials together with hard, rigid forms to create something else entirely.

There is an energy in these works, and something that asks the viewer to participate – to look closer, to look around, to think harder, and to see what is and isn’t there.

‘Meta’ as a prefix can be used to either denote change or signify something beyond. It’s a perfectly fitting name for this exhibition, where what is between and beyond the pieces is just as important as the works themselves.