About
My practice involves fixating on the standardized and mass-produced apparatus of domestic and city life to dig out buried vulnerabilities, intimacies and narratives. Some of these are there to be excavated, but some have to be fantasized, extrapolated from scraps. This search is motivated by the strong emotions I feel in certain places alongside a curiosity for how materials can be mis-functioned beyond their original context. Formal qualities of materials (proximity, weight, roughness, rigidity) give me metaphors for emotional states and relationship dynamics. I try to balance introspection with a search for common ground. Cardboard, coat hooks, newspaper, concrete: Familiarity is important, I want you to recognize the generic materials I choose, remember your interactions with them. Like these objects, the feelings and memories I draw upon are both personal and generic: Stunted conversations, someone’s absence, closing the front door.
Paper is a recurring material in my work. Previously wallpaper and super-soft toilet paper brought a suburban domestic context to my work, conjuring narratives of comfort and aspiration. Recently work has been made from the Metro newspaper and cardboard from Amazon deliveries. The change in materials marks a shift in the subject of my work moving beyond the home to the front door threshold and street. ‘The Surface’ is something I think about a lot, how it can both obscure and give clues to what’s invisible. The pavement has taken center stage in recent work. Generic, familiar, hap-hazard, industrially produced, I’m interested in the pavement surface as a site of exchange - a place where commerce, community, glances and meetings take place. The pavement is a metaphor too, a hard surface constructed by forces of industry, design and politics. What can we learn about a society or a person through examining the surface they choose to present?
Bio
Ellie Pearch (b. 1994, London) MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London, 2024. BA Fine Art Sculpture, Brighton University, 2016. Recent two person shows: No Format Gallery, London, 2024. Take Courage Gallery, London, 2024. Selected group exhibitions: hArtslane, London, 2023. Hypha Studios, London, 2023. East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol, 2018. Chisenhale Studio 4, London, 2017. De La Warr Pavilion, Hastings, 2016. Awards: Selected for Into The Wild, Chisenhale Studios, 2016. Ellie is a visiting tutor at The King’s Foundation Diploma Year.
My practice involves fixating on the standardized and mass-produced apparatus of domestic and city life to dig out buried vulnerabilities, intimacies and narratives. Some of these are there to be excavated, but some have to be fantasized, extrapolated from scraps. This search is motivated by the strong emotions I feel in certain places alongside a curiosity for how materials can be mis-functioned beyond their original context. Formal qualities of materials (proximity, weight, roughness, rigidity) give me metaphors for emotional states and relationship dynamics. I try to balance introspection with a search for common ground. Cardboard, coat hooks, newspaper, concrete: Familiarity is important, I want you to recognize the generic materials I choose, remember your interactions with them. Like these objects, the feelings and memories I draw upon are both personal and generic: Stunted conversations, someone’s absence, closing the front door.
Paper is a recurring material in my work. Previously wallpaper and super-soft toilet paper brought a suburban domestic context to my work, conjuring narratives of comfort and aspiration. Recently work has been made from the Metro newspaper and cardboard from Amazon deliveries. The change in materials marks a shift in the subject of my work moving beyond the home to the front door threshold and street. ‘The Surface’ is something I think about a lot, how it can both obscure and give clues to what’s invisible. The pavement has taken center stage in recent work. Generic, familiar, hap-hazard, industrially produced, I’m interested in the pavement surface as a site of exchange - a place where commerce, community, glances and meetings take place. The pavement is a metaphor too, a hard surface constructed by forces of industry, design and politics. What can we learn about a society or a person through examining the surface they choose to present?
Bio
Ellie Pearch (b. 1994, London) MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London, 2024. BA Fine Art Sculpture, Brighton University, 2016. Recent two person shows: No Format Gallery, London, 2024. Take Courage Gallery, London, 2024. Selected group exhibitions: hArtslane, London, 2023. Hypha Studios, London, 2023. East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol, 2018. Chisenhale Studio 4, London, 2017. De La Warr Pavilion, Hastings, 2016. Awards: Selected for Into The Wild, Chisenhale Studios, 2016. Ellie is a visiting tutor at The King’s Foundation Diploma Year.
Exhibitions
Past
Mapping Beyond Sight, Algha Works, London, 2024
MFA Fine Art Degree Show, Goldsmiths University of London, 2024
Flesh and Blood, No Format Gallery, London, 2024
Sludge Signals, duo show with Lucie Holzer, Take Courage Gallery, London, 2024
Not Found, Goldsmiths MFA Interim Show, London, 2023
Approximate Distance, hARTslane, London, 2023
Taste the Difference, Hypha studios, London, 2023
Instant Karma, SET Lewisham, London , 2019
Low Entertainment, Arch 5 Hackney Central, London, 2018
EBC018, East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol, 2018
The Fear Is Back, Chisenhale Art Place, London, 2017
Blue Sky Thinking SET Capstan House, 2017
Soft Opening SET Studios, London, 2017
Platform Graduate Showcase, De La Warr Pavilion, 2016
Fine Art Degree Show, University of Brighton, 2016
The Five Abstractions, Atelier 51 Gallery, Brighton, 2016
North Lodge Residency, Cawdor Castle, Scotland, 2015
Shift, Grand Parade Gallery, Brighton, 2015
Summer of Somewhere to_ , Circus Street, Brighton, 2015
After Image, Artista Gallery, Hove, Brighton, 2014
Education
MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, 2022-2024
INTO THE WILD artist development programme with Chisenhale Art Place, 2016-2017
Fine Art Sculpture BA, University of Brighton, 2013-2016
Awards and Publications
Emotional Art Magazine, Haunted - Intimacy in a digital age, 2019
Selected for INTO THE WILD, Chisenhale Art Place 2016-2017
Shortlisted for The Platform Award by De La Warr Pavilion 2016
@elliepearch
[email protected]
Past
Mapping Beyond Sight, Algha Works, London, 2024
MFA Fine Art Degree Show, Goldsmiths University of London, 2024
Flesh and Blood, No Format Gallery, London, 2024
Sludge Signals, duo show with Lucie Holzer, Take Courage Gallery, London, 2024
Not Found, Goldsmiths MFA Interim Show, London, 2023
Approximate Distance, hARTslane, London, 2023
Taste the Difference, Hypha studios, London, 2023
Instant Karma, SET Lewisham, London , 2019
Low Entertainment, Arch 5 Hackney Central, London, 2018
EBC018, East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol, 2018
The Fear Is Back, Chisenhale Art Place, London, 2017
Blue Sky Thinking SET Capstan House, 2017
Soft Opening SET Studios, London, 2017
Platform Graduate Showcase, De La Warr Pavilion, 2016
Fine Art Degree Show, University of Brighton, 2016
The Five Abstractions, Atelier 51 Gallery, Brighton, 2016
North Lodge Residency, Cawdor Castle, Scotland, 2015
Shift, Grand Parade Gallery, Brighton, 2015
Summer of Somewhere to_ , Circus Street, Brighton, 2015
After Image, Artista Gallery, Hove, Brighton, 2014
Education
MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, 2022-2024
INTO THE WILD artist development programme with Chisenhale Art Place, 2016-2017
Fine Art Sculpture BA, University of Brighton, 2013-2016
Awards and Publications
Emotional Art Magazine, Haunted - Intimacy in a digital age, 2019
Selected for INTO THE WILD, Chisenhale Art Place 2016-2017
Shortlisted for The Platform Award by De La Warr Pavilion 2016
@elliepearch
[email protected]