Between You and Me – new show at San Mei Gallery

Between You and Me is the new group exhibition in Brixton’s San Mei Gallery. 

It features works by Boon & Baum, Gray Wielebinski, Louis Blue Newby and Laila Majid, Madeleine Pledge, Steph Huang, and Veerle Melis.

Reflecting on the relationship between material objects and social relationships, the artists in this exhibition explore the patchwork of things and people that coalesce and give form to an art space. 

The exhibition space is both a public and personal forum, informed as much by collaborations, casual conversations and friendships, as by wider contexts and historical events.

At the entrance to the show is Stretch(after Sylvie Fleury) – a striking ribbon fence by Madeleine Pledge which serves to divide the space and direct the flow. She often turns to fashion and design as a means to understand systems of production and power and authorship. Here, wall-based works created by pulping down past editions of British Vogue contrast the glamour of capitalism with the destruction of boom and bust economic cycles.

Close-ups  is one of a number of collaborative works by artist duo Boon & Baum exploring the intimate relationships we have with our clothing. A monolithic wall dressed in magnified garment details, Close-Ups explores clothing as a form of architecture in and of itself. But the focus on zips -in jackets and jeans – has an undeniably erotic edge. 

Crystal 01-05 is a series of prints by Louis Blue Newby and Laila Majid. Photographic Images of sculptures of fantastic creatures have been reprinted and recomposed to create gentle and intriguing glimpses into a world that seems to be the process of transition and decay.

The sounds of human activity can be heard throughout the exhibition. The noise of markets emanates from Steph Huang’s sculpture Do you hear the people speak? Gray Wielebinski’s Blind Item focusses on that most trivial of things, gossip. Constructed from copper plates used for newspaper printing, this work bears tangible traces of what gossip leaves behind, acting as an archive of rumour.

Veerle Melis’s Postcards from Spain is a series of postcards made from beads. As a time-consuming and methodical object to produce, this piece blurs the boundary between leisure and work, drawing on the postcard’s role as a humble link between places and people.

All the artworks in this exhibition are for sale, the profits from which will help support San Mei Gallery’s 2023 programme of exhibitions and events with emerging artists.

Between You and Me runs until 17 December in San Mei Gallery, 39a Loughborough Road, SW9 7TB.

For further information go to www.sanmeigallery.co.uk