AS A technicolour antidote to the darkness of the past year of lockdowns, Carson Parkin-Fairley and Ramona Eve present their exhibition, Paradise Found, at The Stash Gallery, part of Vout-O-Reenee’s Surrealist Arts Club in east London.
The works featured were produced in each lockdown, part of Parkin-Fairley and Eve’s mission of joy-seeking and spreading when things seemed most bleak. They are jubilant and playful: experimental in their range of materials and media. Shrines to beloved icons are displayed alongside kaleidoscopic prints and witty, graphic, textual work. The works explore personal growth and expression, as well as the sheer joy of making.
Both artists work across a variety of forms, including 3-D works and prop making. There is a physicality and theatricality to these works. They are experience-orientated; direct products of the artists’ experiences of lockdown as makers, and earnestly intended to be enjoyed by their viewers. Visitors are encouraged to interact with the works, including an installation where viewers can pose themselves as icons of Parkin-Fairley’s shrines.
Ramona Eve, foil collage
Ramona Eve, installation
Carson Parin-Fairley, Life is not a Bitch
Carson Parkin-Farley, Icons
Ramona Eve, Mindful Memphis Squares
By Connie de Pelet
Paradise Found is open at Stash Gallery, from May 21 – June 12