Alligators in the Hall

Alligators in the Hall
Phil Goss & Fay Ballard

Private View 22 July 2015 6 ­ 9pm
Open to the public 26 & 27July 10 ­- 6pm

The work of both artists see the domestic space as a place that cultivates the imagination. In the quiet of the home often fears and passions vegetate and thicken. Phil Goss’s images are inspired by ‘The Drowned World’ by J.G. Ballard. In the novel London is flooded and regresses to a primordial swamp. Buildings we once recognized are distorted in the reflective water and overrun with vegetation and reptiles. Phil Goss’s drawings explore this world of distorted reflections in a rotting city. Fay Ballard’s work scrutinizes the domestic spaces of her childhood, shared with her father, J.G Ballard. Her work interrogates a domestic landscape from which the imaginative landscapes in ‘The Drowned World’ grew. The fragility of the everyday is examined here, where the world becomes a stage set. Goss takes this up and incorporates elements of Fay Ballad’s everyday details it in a surreal manner in his drawings.

Phil Goss studied English Literature before completing a Masters from the Royal College of Art. His work explores ideas of narrative and depiction although the idea of a central subject matter is allusive. Figures, faces and objects appear and rescind into abstract form and patterns. Spaces in his work are often obliterated into abstract constructs as depth and perspective are removed in the scene. These often leave the figures suspended in a disorientating state of limbo.

Phil Goss graduated in 2012 from the RCA. Since then he has shown at Evelyn Yard Gallery and the V&A. The exhibition includes a limited edition screen printed artist’s book that was completed on a residency with Fay Ballard at the Aldeburgh Lookout Tower. Philgoss.co.ukwww.aldeburghbeachlookout.com

Fay Ballard completed MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s. This exhibition builds on her recent solo shows at Eleven Spitalfields Gallery in London and & Model Gallery in Leeds. www.fayballard.com

The exhibition can be viewed at the reception (all welcome) or during opening times 1 – 6pm Thursday – Saturday, at 2 – 4 Highbury Station Road, Highbury Islington N1 1SB, London. C4RD is a Registered UK Charity 1123530, and would particularly like to acknowledge the support for this exhibition of the Dovehouse Trust.