Household Name
Laura Ford | Cherry Pickles | Zoe Gingell | Zena Blackwell | Adele Vye | Fern Thomas | Raji Salan
Exhibitions opens Friday 28th May 2021*
Continues until Saturday 10th July 2021
Gallery open Wednesday – Saturday, 11-6pm by appointment only.
*Dates may change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Seven Formidable Welsh Women Artists Examine and Disrupt the Meaning of the Household Name.
Household Name is a dynamic and timely contemporary art exhibition featuring seven Welsh and Wales-based women artists working in paint, sculpture, film, photography, text and performance. Ranging from internationally renowned practitioners to emerging artists, and all producing bold, innovative, exciting and engaging works, Household Name features direct responses to the title from questioning the political and the scientific, through to investigations of the domestic setting via witchcraft, gender identity and climate change.
To become a household name as an artist is for most, an unachievable feat, yet household names abound in society and suggest fame and notoriety. But what validates someone or something to become one? The majority of household name artists are and always have been male, so Household Name seeks to redress not only this imbalance but also the inadequacies in gender representation in museums and galleries. Infamous cult leaders, human traces in the house, perceived ideas of family members, the availability of the working parent to its offspring, gender norms and of being at the precipice of climate breakdown are just some of the themes scrutinised in Household Name.
Sculptor Laura Ford has exhibited extensively and has work at major institutions including TATE, V&A and National Museum Cardiff; Cherry Pickles teaches at the Royal Drawing School, London, and has also exhibited extensively, most recently with Coombs Contemporary and Kapil Jariwala; Zoe Gingell is director at Cardiff MADE which has been instrumental is propelling the careers of many Welsh and Wales-based early career artists whilst Zena Blackwell explores the anxiety-ridden role of the parent and won 1st Prize at Cardiff MADE Open in ’17 and this year 3rd prize at PS Mirabel’s ‘PAINT’ (Manchester). Fern Thomas currently has a Fellowship supported by The Freelands Foundation at g39, Cardiff, and is a 2019 Jerwood Bursary recipient; Adele Vye has won Welsh Artist of the Year and was awarded the John Brookes Memorial Prize for Fine Art; whilst Raji Salan won a BA travel award upon graduation and has exhibited in numerous exhibitions including the Jerwood Drawing Prize (twice) and most recently Galeri in Caernarfon.
Household Name is curated by Zena Blackwell who founded Contemporary Cymru in 2017. She was struck by the amount of World-class art being produced there that she had not encountered whilst living and working in London for almost 20 years, where she co-founded the acclaimed live music and multi-media event Club Mofo and completed her MFA at Central Saint Martins and BFA at Wimbledon College of Art. Contemporary Cymru seeks to champion and promote outstanding art made and shown in Wales to an international audience.
Visitors to elysium gallery WILL HAVE TO BOOK a FREE time slot:
Household Name Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite
(if you have already booked to see any of the other exhibitions you do not need to book again).
Due to COVID -19 we have a limited capacity to ensure public and staff safety.
Doors to the exhibition at elysium will open on the hour every hour for ten minutes between 11am and 5pm.
If you want to book another slot straight after so you can spend longer with the exhibition, then you may do so if spaces are free.
** Image – ‘Grumpy Mum’ Still from performance / intervention by Zoë Gingell & Josh Leeson 2012