Nottingham, U.K.
Nottingham Contemporary
When I entered Francis Upritchard’s recent exhibition, I was puzzled at first. Two spacious galleries were filled with eccentric, fantastical figures placed on plinths designed by Martino Gamper. In the first room, white, terra-cotta, brown, and gray creatures wearing medieval clothes looked as though they had been unearthed from the past. Were they fighters? Soldiers? Robin Hoods? The second room was inhabited by colorful figures that might have been acrobats, or saints, or maybe shamans. These peculiar humans, their faces distorted in contemplation, stood in awkward postures as though caught in the middle of action. With their eyes either closed or looking away, they made me feel uneasy. Who were they? Where did they come from? There was something magical and mysterious about them. Though Upritchard referenced particular historic details, this was not a historical display. Upritchard, who represented New Zealand at the 2009 Venice Biennale, is currently based in London, and this show marked her first solo exhibition in the U.K. …see the entire review in the print version of March’s Sculpture magazine.
