Daphne Wright, Stallion, 2009, marble dust and resin© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery.
BRISTOL.- Arnolfini and National Trust Tyntesfield present a selection of work from the last 25 years by the Bristol-based artist Daphne Wright, who has developed a series of conceptual ideas and sculptural languages which have been quietly influential. Her work is the result of a relentless curiosity into the way in which materials can create an involvement with often unspoken human preoccupations.
The exhibition at Arnolfini includes major projects by the artist including Where do Broken Hearts Go? (2000), Stallion (2009), Kitchen Table (2014) and Domestic Shrubbery (2009). Emotional Archaeology extends to National Trust Tyntesfield with the presentation of works that respond directly to the history of the estate, including The Prayer Project (2009) and Bulls (2002).
Daphne Wright,Kitchen Table, 2014© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery
Daphne Wright, Kitchen Table, 2014 © the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery
Daphne Wright, Kitchen Table, 2014© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery
Wright has been based in Bristol for nearly two decades; she has divided her time between this city and Ireland. Often working from her studio at home, her practice is imbued with the emotive but unsettling power of the suburban and the domestic realm, drawing upon references from art history, literature and film to nonsense poetry and country and western music.
Working with clay, casting, video and sound, Wright's processed are often labour-intensive, using fragile or unstable materials, with extended periods of research and drawing on the skills and knowledge of a range of professionals. Her subject matter offers ways to think about difficult, often side-lined issues relating to class, aspiration, faith, parenthood, ageing and care.
Daphne Wright, If You Broke Me, 2014© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery
A new publication will accompany the exhibition. Daphne Wright: Emotional Archaeology, edited by Josephine Lanyon, is available from Arnolfini bookshop. This survey includes texts by the curator; Xa Sturgis, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Penelope Curtis, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; and Shirley McWilliam, Belfast School of Art. The book also includes an almost complete pictorial catalogue of the artist's works produced over the past twenty-five years.
Daphne Wright, Still Life Plant, 2014, unfired clay, wire© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery
Daphne Wright, Home Ornaments, 2002, fastcast polyurethane and wool© the artist. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery.
Installation view. Courtesy Daphne Wright and Frith Street Gallery, London.
Installation view. Courtesy Daphne Wright and Frith Street Gallery, London.