House of Egorn

Ana Mazzei
Molly Palmer
Andrés Pereira Paz
Vanessa da Silva

curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli

Private View/Opening: 9 March, 6-9pm
Exhibition dates: 10 March - 14 April, 2018



House of Egorn is delighted to present I AM HE AS YOU ARE SHE AS YOU ARE ME, concluding the gallery’s mini-season of group shows by invited guest curators. Curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli, this exhibition brings together works by Ana Mazzei, Molly Palmer, Andrés Pereira Paz and Vanessa da Silva.
Taking the first line of the Beatles song I am the Walrus as a source of inspiration, the exhibition speculates the possible connections between identity and performance as played out in the works of the featured artists. Rather than a fixed or stable notion, identity – understood broadly as the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is – appears in these pieces as something that is constantly shifting, expanding or mutating.
Drawing primarily on literary and dramatic arts sources, Ana Mazzei is renowned for her fragmented geometric sculptures that are conceived in a straight relationship to the viewer’s body. This aspect is often emphasized by the way the artist plays with scale, sometimes creating works that are reminiscent of architectural models of fictitious ancient civilizations or producing expansive installations that are evocative of stage sets. In both cases, the performative aspect is highlighted by the activation of the viewers’ awareness of their own bodies in space: either as enlarged observers of a micro world or the spectators of a theatrical play about to be acted out by her sculptural characters. Also employing stage setting as a tool, Molly Palmer produces layered video worlds that are presented in immersive environments that often replicate visual elements found in the film, placing the viewer within her eccentric, kaleidoscopic, and nonlinear narratives. As well as producing the visually striking sets, props and costumes that appear in her installations, the artist also composes the music and sounds that are elaborately manipulated to create an all-encompassing atmosphere. All these elements are brought together in works that explore the strangeness concealed within ordinary things, revealing the fractured identities and dream-like qualities that emerge from her hallucinatory take on simple gestures, dialogues or images. Born in La Paz and currently based in Lima, Andrés Pereira Paz is interested in art historical representations of otherness, with a focus on the Pre-Columbian legacy from the Andean region. Sketch for a Platonic Cabinet is an installation that playfully deploys traditional museological codes to exhibit a series of seemingly ‘non-western’ objects found in car boot sales across London. This collection comprising a variety of trinkets – including ethnic statuettes, a mug decorated with Egyptian motifs, a bong – is neatly displayed on a woven rug made by Andean artisans that hangs from the ceiling. This ethnographic exhibition is accompanied by a series of Photoshop posters that function as labels for each object, referencing the often inaccurate, made-up or Eurocentric narratives put forth by archaeological museums worldwide.
Based in London for over a decade, Brazilian artist Vanessa da Silva produces works combining sculpture, installation and performance focusing on issues of formation of identity, migration and displacement, weaving together the personal and the political. The artist is interested in the space between nationalities and the complicated borders where identities/cultures mix and meet, where diverse and conflicting ideas cohabit. The works presented at House of Egorn comprise a selection of sculptures and textiles recently shown at da Silva’s solo exhibition at the Studio RCA Riverlight in London. In her embroidered or printed textiles, da Silva creates complex colourful compositions by borrowing elements taken from flags of different nations, while her abstract organic sculptures convey a strong sense of transformation and movement, simultaneously evoking both primitive and futuristic forms.