Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at White Cube Mason’s Yard of new work by Rachel Kneebone. I have seen Kneebone’s work before most notably a column in the Renaissance sculpture gallery at the V&A. Her work consists of white porcelain apparent fragments collected together into large sculptures. In this show some of these hung from the ceiling and gently swayed in the air. For this collection she had taken inspiration from Géricult’s “The Raft of the Medusa” invoking contemporary themes of migration, displaced persons and hope in the face of despair. I love the way you start to see something within a piece that then seems to dissolve as you look at it more. A new addition to these works was the inclusion of a single smooth orb in each work. It was lovely to see them presented with some of her drawings and to read that the wonderful dark blue colour of the gallery was chosen by her to give the idea of sinking into or emerging from the seabed. Closes 4 November 2021

Fantastic exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum of new work by the sculptor Rachel Kneebone. The works were in two of the sculpture galleries and looked beautiful amongst the Renaissance and 19th century work. The works are a wonderful tumble of melting legs and bodies made in beautiful white glazed porcelain. They are such exquisite objects and yet show a Dantesque fall into a sort of hell. The largest work, in the Renaissance sculpture gallery, was the title piece “399 Days” and was a large column of panels looking very like the cast of Trajan’s column nearby. Each panel was a writing mass of bodies with a series of small figures around the rim at the top, which could be viewed from the balconies around the room. I loved the way there was a gap at the back of the column which lets you see the interior which is also worked.   The piece fitted in well with the other pieces in the gallery as like them it seems to have been influenced by classical sculpture. ...

Small exhibition at Brighton University of porcelain sculptures by Rachel Kneebone as part of the Brighton Festival. The works were like mounds of melting bodies with distinct shapes and broken bits. They have a Renaissance feel as they have a basic classical shape before they disintegrate. They look like a nasty accident in the Bow factory! I wish I’d had more time to study all the detail in them.