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FRACTURED LANDSCAPES IS A SOLO EXHIBITION BY LONDON ARTIST NATHANIEL RACKOWE, HIS THIRD EXHIBITION AT THE GALLERY. RACKOWE’S PRACTICE SPANS PUBLIC ART, INSTALLATION, SCULPTURE, CONTEMPORARY DANCE AND PAINTING; INVESTIGATING FORM AND MATERIALITY THROUGH HIS OBSERVATIONS OF LIGHT AND THE EFFECT ITS VICISSITUDES HAVE ON OUR EXPERIENCES OF URBAN SPACES. WHEREAS IN PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS RACKOWE WORKED WITH LIGHT AS A SOURCE (EMBEDDING NEON TUBES INTO HIS SCULPTURES) IN THIS EXHIBITION HE CONSIDERS THE NOTION OF LIGHT (ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL) AS A REFLECTOR - THESE WORKS EXPLORE HOW LIGHT BOUNCES ACROSS OBJECTS TO GUIDE OUR SENSATION OF SPACE, MATERIAL AND COLOUR.
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Nathaniel Rackowe, Fractured Landscapes, Courtesy of the artist and Lawrie Shabibi, 2022; Photo by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things -
IN FRACTURED LANDSCAPES RACKOWE PRESENTS FRACTURED CITY, AN INSTALLATION CONCEIVED TO OCCUPY THE CENTRAL FLOOR OF THE GALLERY AROUND WHICH VISITORS CIRCULATE. IT DEVELOPS HIS WORK EXPANDED LANDSCAPES, 2022 WHICH WAS COMMISSIONED FOR THIS YEAR’S SUMMER LIGHTS FESTIVAL AT CANARY WHARF, LONDON. THE INSTALLATION CONSISTS OF SILVER REFLECTIVE FILM AND BLACK BUILDING NETTING PANELS EXTENDED BETWEEN BLACK TIMBER RECTANGULAR FRAMES ARRANGED TO INTERSECT AT VARIOUS HEIGHTS ACROSS THE GALLERY FLOOR: THE FORM AND REFLECTIVITY OF THE INSTALLATION ECHOES THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT OF HIGH-RISE CITY CENTRES WHERE SURFACE, COLOUR, TRANSPARENCY AND FORM COME TOGETHER TO ACT AS AN EXPANSIVE COUNTERPOINT TO THE ADJACENT ARCHITECTURE.
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Nathaniel Rackowe, Fractured Landscapes, Courtesy of the artist and Lawrie Shabibi, 2022; Photo by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things.
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THE TITLE OF THE EXHIBITION IS INSPIRED BY A PASSAGE IN "KLARA AND THE SUN" BY ACCLAIMED WRITER KAZUO ISHIGURO. KLARA, THE ARTIFICIAL FRIEND PROTAGONIST OF THE NOVEL, UNDERSTANDS HER ENVIRONMENT IN MOMENTS OF INTENSE FOCUS BY FRACTURING THE VISUAL INFORMATION SHE RECEIVES. THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTION OF THIS HAPPENING IN THE SETTING SUN ACROSS A RURAL LANDSCAPE, AND THIS MOMENT BRINGS KLARA GREAT CLARITY AND AN ABILITY TO STEP BACK AND SEE THINGS FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES SIMULTANEOUSLY. RACKOWE READ THE BOOK DURING A PERIOD OF REEVALUATING HIS OWN SPATIAL SURROUNDINGS, EXPLORING LONDON IN A DIFFERENT WAY DURING LOCKDOWN, AND REASSESSING HIS LIFE AFTER SURVIVING CANCER. THE INTERSECTION OF THE RURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS IN LONDON BECAME INCREASINGLY SIGNIFICANT, AND HE FOUND HIS WORK SHIFTING TO FOCUS ON NATURAL LIGHT, REFLECTION, HORIZON, AND FRACTURED UNDULATING SURFACES THAT SEEMED TO LAYER THE NATURAL AND BUILT.
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“The approach to making these new works is much more instinctual and process led than I have ever worked before. They are about connecting urban and rural space in a city, an unpicking and making sense of the natural and urban and abstracting them. This is my approach to landscape painting.”
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"A lot of the inspiration comes from the built space that I'm moving through, so the materials in the work will often have direct association with materials we might find in urban environments. But then there’s a sort of reordering and re-reading of those materials. I really like the idea that the viewer might be familiar with some of the materials but might not recognise them because they have been used in a way that deserts their original purpose."
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IN HIS NEW WALL SCULPTURES RACKOWE EMPLOYS RAW MATERIALS TO CREATE ANGLED SMOOTH SURFACES THAT ALTER WITH EACH MOVEMENT BY THE VIEWER. ALUMINUM HONEYCOMB GRP SHEETS, A MATERIAL MORE COMMONLY FOUND IN AIRCRAFT, FORM THE BASIS OF HIS ASSEMBLAGES, THEIR INTRICATE HONEYCOMB CONFIGURATION EXPOSED ON THE SIDEVIEW OF THE SCULPTURES. THESE SHEETS ARE LAYERED WITH DICHROIC FILM, A MATERIAL THAT CREATES STIMULATING COLOUR EFFECTS THAT BEND THE COLOUR OF LIGHT AS YOU MOVE AROUND THEM. THE ARRANGEMENTS VARY IN SIZE AND FORM – AT TIMES THEY ARE POSITIONED HORIZONTALLY TO RESEMBLE VENTS, VERTICALLY TO CREATE MULTIPLE REFLECTIONS OR WITH VARIATIONS IN THEIR SYMMETRY TO CREATE FLUIDITY AND MOTION. TOGETHER THEY CREATE PLAYFUL AND ENERGISING EFFECTS – BRIGHT VIVID SURFACES THAT ARE IN CONSTANT MOTION.
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Images courtesy of the Artist and Lawrie Shabibi | Photography by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things
