Rook & Raven presents ‘She Came To Stay’, an exhibition that takes its title from the novel of the same name by the writer Simone de Beauvoir, and includes the work of Paula Rego DBE, Eileen Cooper RA, Marie Jacotey, Lucy Farley and Annie Kevans. The exhibition is a cross-generational exhibition, and curated by Aretha Campbell and Lucy Farley.
PAULA REGO DBE, Mary Makes Gloves, 2013, Pastel on paper, 80 x 100cm She Came To Stay, Rook & Raven © photo P A Black Artlyst 2015
Driven by autobiographical themes, the show explores female writers and painters and subsequently their collective concerns. Through these selected works the artists question the perception of the human condition from a multi-generational perspective, and thus an inherent interest lies in assessing what has happened during that time lapse between females working then and females working from autobiographical sources today.
MARIE JACOTEY, She Drove Me Mad, 2015, Fragments of coloured pencil on tissue paper on perspex, 195 x 150cm, Detail, She Came To Stay, Rook & Raven © photo P A Black Artlyst 2015
Curator Aretha Campbell was kind enough to give Artlyst a tour of this latest exhibition at Rook & Raven, and discusses the relationship between the five artists on display. From Paula Rego’s animal substitutions and quirky contemporary mythologies pointing to an underlying psychology and sexuality, through a feminine view-point – to the equally ‘magical realism’ of Eileen Cooper RA, bringing an unapologetically female perspective to her subject matter, which encompasses sexuality, motherhood, and life and death.
Artists: Paula Rego DBE, Eileen Cooper RA, Marie Jacotey, Lucy Farley, Annie Kevans
Audio: Aretha Campbell. Photos: P A Black © Artlyst 2015 all rights reserved
Rook & Raven – She Came To Stay – until 22 August 2015