In the first of a series of short pieces focusing in more detail on some of the artists in the Drawing show, to get an idea of their work beyond, I’d like to being with Giulia Ricci, an artist with one of the several moving image works featured in the show. Her short digital work Order/Disruption, 2011 begins as a tight geometric pattern of blue and white triangles, a uniform surface that then slowly begins to warp and bend in places. Unidentifiable shapes emerge, pushing out from the surface then retreating. It’s immersive feel sucks you in, giving an underwater glow that then with the shapes for me begins to feel quite claustrophobic, like someone stuck underwater, which contrasts with its calm demeanor. This animated, digital version itself came out of hand drawn experiments with that same pattern, like below.
Ricci in her practice begins with the grid, as a limitation and a structure to work within, and a boundary with which then to react. The process began working years ago with collages made with crosswords, using the boxes as a readymade form; this then developed to her current practice working more with boxes as a basic unit.
Drawing from the legacies of both minimalism and the more craft-based artist movements of the 1970s, as well as artists such as Agnes Martin, Ricci looks at textiles and tiling, using the pattern’s form as a sort of foil for rationality, shapes that then get altered, bent and swollen with the irrational, the emotional, the human.
More work can be seen on Ricci’s blog, and she also has a solo exhibition on at the Ring Here Gallery on until the end of October, not far from the Jerwood Space, featuring a range of works including a vinyl pattern on their front window.
