IMPACTArdrawiad : Angharad Pearce Jones
21st July - 11th February 2024. Aberystwyth Arts Centre
For her largest solo show to date, Angharad Pearce Jones’s huge installation places visitors on either one side of the fence or another, by presenting them with a simple choice…. whether to enter the gallery through the left or right doorway.
The work was developed in response to the artist’s perception of increasing divisions in society following the 2016 Brexit referendum and was originally constructed in her own home during Lockdown, when she dissected the kitchen and dining room table with a palisade fence. The Covid19 pandemic brought new meaning to the piece, yet it is emblematic of any kind of divide or border and conjures up so many questions on the nature and impact of both personal and political choices.
Angharad has worked in steel for over 30 years, as a blacksmith, metal fabricator, installation artist and sculptor. She understands its ability to divide, imprison or protect and for this installation she has built a dedicated space, quoting the aesthetics of the edge of town industrial estate, where visitors can stare back at one another through a 3-meter-high security fence. The table and chairs are no longer the original, wooden Ikea furniture of her home but sculptural constructions in solid, plate steel with perfectly laser cut slots for the fence panels to glide through.
As a material, steel can also implode, twist, and distort and for the second part of this exhibition, Angharad Pearce Jones presents immaculate re-productions of scenes of impact, that she has been documenting for over 7 years. Incidental artworks, painted in bright colours, and printed with beautiful aqua graphics, enticing us to look more closely at scenes of destruction. Many of them are from places known to the artist, ferrying her three children around over the years. Swimming lessons at Ystradgynlais, training at Pontardawe Town football Club or drop-offs at Swansea Central Station.
This exhibition is funded by an Arts Council of Wales Create Grant and the publication accompanying the show is funded by the Henry Moore Foundation. A seminar in the company of Guardian cartoonist Martion Rowson, to discuss some of the issues behind the work was held on the 12th November 2023. Specialist tours for local disability groups and a comprehensive education program for schools and colleges is ongoing until February 2024.
