Pindrop

SOFT PASTEL ON PAPER

Work Details:
Soft pastel on paper in found  Edwardian carved wood frame
29cm x 34cm

Reading Stones
Linseed Projects, Shanghai
November 7 – December 28 2023

LINSEED (Shanghai) and Ginny on Frederick (London) are delighted to collaborate and present the group exhibition “Reading Stones” at the gallery space of LINSEED in Shanghai from November 7 to December 28, 2023. Considered to be the first instrument used to create an enhanced sensory experience; reading stones, also known as reading pebbles or reading rocks, refer to small polished stones or gems that were historically used as aids in reading or magnifying text. Originally created from ground beryl and rock, these stones were employed before the invention of magnifying or reading glasses, and placed directly on top of written texts to magnify the letters or images for clarity.

The soft pastel drawing diptych explores vehicles of damage and repair. Presented in a pair of Edwardian era carved found wooden frames in the Arts and Crafts tradition, these repurposed found objects employ a system of care ’that values worn and sullied objects. That favours darkness, patina and fragility’, to quote Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows. As psychological metaphor, this practice of repair or renewal embraces traces of memory, these knocks and scars that accompany the passage of time. It is the inverse of discarding or disinterest due to perceived damage: rather it suggests a ‘temporal continuity of beauty that embraces the living legacy embedded in objects that have been used and loved for generations, seeing the process of aging as something that amplifies rather than muting the material’s inherent splendour.’