Amy Stephens: A Stone is a Rock Out of Place

Zuleika Gallery

In her first solo show at Zuleika Gallery, Amy Stephens celebrates the Rollright Stones through sculpture and photography. With the monoliths residing only 14 miles from the gallery, the artist is offering these atectonic rocks a new spatial logic.

The definition of a stone in the Oxford English Dictionary is ‘a hard solid mineral substance that is found in the ground, often used for building.’ Spanning nearly two thousand years of Neolithic and Bronze age development, it is believed that the Rollright Stones were collected from within five hundred metres of the site. In the neighbouring Cotswold villages, this material has been used extensively for building churches, houses and stone walls.

The artist has created a series of photographic works that capture these megalithic monuments located on the border between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. The overlay of circular forms highlights the Jurassic oolitic limestone, a sedimentary rock formed from ooids: spherical grains composed of concentric layers.

In the main gallery, an undulating Perspex form is suspended from the ceiling offering a portal onto the pop up landscape behind. On the other side of the gallery, a series of colourful mini-monoliths create a playful interaction and evoke architectural forms within the space, a stark contrast with the static oolitic stones.

The artist’s use of bright colours throughout the exhibition references her experience of how visitors to the Rollright Stones celebrate the site. People bring ribbons and small gifts that ultimately change and embellish the patterns of the stones on a regular basis.

Duration 30 September 2021 - 01 November 2021
Times Mondays (closed Tuesdays), Wednesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Sunday 11 pm – 4 pm
Cost free
Venue Zuleika Gallery Woodstock
Address 6 Park Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SP , ,
Contact +44(0)1993 3570777 / info@zuleikagallery.com / www.zuleikagallery.com

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