[Title] URBAN JUNGLE
[Artist] Stephanie Quayle
[Date] November 16, 2016 to January 17, 2017
To close the yearly theme of 2016, ‘Nature in full gallop’, Maison Hermès Window will invite the untamed wild animals into the cityscape.
The Manx artist, Stephanie Quayle projects the character and presence of animal using clay. She depicts as she sketches, rapid and spontaneous, building up an energy before the making process begins. Clay become inhabited with a force of nature, the mud and clay rendered in the moment, then placed in the city to highlight the tensions and alliances inherent between man and beast.
In the front left window, a large Terracotta Orangutan gazes out at us and onto a world he is not familiar with. Sitting on top of a tree trunk, he seems to see through us and even understand the art of the human being. Our shared connection and understanding is at odds with the strangeness of the presence of the animals in the city.
In the right window, a troop of monkeys run riot, mischievously investigating the objects of the ‘civilized’ world, with a sense of fun they nod at all the proverbs surrounding animals and reflect back onto ourselves the nature of man.
The 16 small windows see animals perching, exploring, nesting amongst Hermès objects, making them their own and upturning the order of the manmade world.
The sculptures seem on the edge of being, we recognize each with a unique personality as they explore the architecture and manipulate the objects in an almost human way. We seem to understand their character, reminding us of our place in nature and questioning whom is the most displaced. Their energy and presence in the window display makes us realise that it is actually not us who is looking at them but it is they who are looking at us.
Stephanie Quayle
Born in 1982 on The Isle of Man, Stephanie Quayle works between the Farmyard Studio on the Island and her London studio. The work focuses on the force of nature inherent in man and animal. Living & working on a farm, surrounded by nature inspires and drives the making process; the power, the humility, the wonder and all knowingness of the natural world puts us in our place.
Since Graduating from the RCA in 2007 she has been developing her practice of working directly in clay and kiln firing large ceramic sculpture. During a three month residency at The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan, she concentrated on pushing the limits of working at scale and firing in traditional kilns, the results of which were shown in an exhibition at POST in Tokyo – Other exhibitions in Japan include Dover Street Market, Nantenshi Gallery, t-gallery and a forthcoming show at Gallery 38. Exhibiting most recently at TJBoulting Gallery (London) The Saatchi Gallery (London) The Royal Academy of Art London, Paris Art Fair and The Venice Biennale 2015.