PRESS RELEASE
@CIRCA - CARYN SCRIMGEOUR: FLOTSAM
Nov 1 – Nov 25, 2017
CARYN SCRIMGEOUR
FLOTSAM
CIRCA GALLERY
1- 25 November 2017
This exhibition is an exploration into our inclination to collect and arrange miscellaneous objects and trinkets in an attempt to imbue them with significance and meaning. The process of arranging or classifying objects forces us to view them in an entirely different context, one defined by what surrounds them.
Collections (groups of objects arranged as a whole), are usually classified in terms of a single unifying factor which imposes a sense of order on what would otherwise be a hotch potch of seemingly unrelated odds and ends.
On the one hand, collecting objects is a way of coldly documenting and preserving information deemed valuable and relevant (in museums and archives for instance), while on the other hand collecting can become a self-destructive, pathological compulsion.
Somewhere in between these two extremes lie numerous collections of ‘found' objects grouped together by some sort of unifying factor or commonality. A collection of otherwise unrelated objects grouped together by colour for instance, can be just as rewarding as a prized collection of rare and valuable china.
Our desire to collect is often an attempt to salvage and preserve objects and their associated memories. By presenting a physical representation of our past experiences for future perusal, we create a sense of continuity between the past and the future. Because we tend to collect objects that are significant to us as individuals, these collections become extensions of our identity serving as memory banks and legacies of the lives that we’ve lived.
Scrimgeour’s subject matter is chosen from commonplace objects that surround her. Delicate chinaware, glassware and insects are combined with common trinkets and knick-knacks and portrayed against a backdrop of richly patterned fabric in a way that is reminiscent of 17th century Dutch still life painting.
Scrimgeour has been exhibiting with the Everard Read Gallery for more than a decade. She has had several solo exhibitions at the Everard Cape Town, Johannesburg and London galleries as well as a solo exhibition at the Cape Town Fair in 2014
For more information and/or images, please contact gallery@everard.co.za Tel: 011 788 4805
Or
Musa Nxumalo at musa@everard.co.za or Monique Howse at monique@everard.co.za
