We are pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Carolein Smit and Ray Caesar, two artists working at the forefront of contemporary surrealism.
Carolein Smit’s exquisitely detailed ceramic figures draw on the great treasure trove of images that exist in myth, folklore, and religion. Satyrs and skeletons, medusa’s heads and sacrificial lambs – these are characters that lurk deep in our shared cultural psyche, and that re-appear across millenia. Thanks to their timeless nature, the archetypes Carolein references have a deep emotional charge, and tap into some of the most elemental narratives governing the subconscious. But at the same time there is a sense of humour in Carolein’s works, as if they have been playing their roles for so long, they have become more theatrical than fearsome. In tandem with this show, Carolein’s solo exhibition ‘Myth and Mortality: The Fairytale World of Carolein Smit’ runs at the Victoria & Albert Museum until 30 September 2018.
Ray Caesar is renowned as one of the pioneers of digital art, and for his depiction of a vast and complex inner world. His images present a cast of figures he refers to as dolls dressed up in myriad historical costumes and interpreting a variety of cryptic roles. The environments they inhabit are equally uncanny: pastoral landscapes, nostalgic seafronts or neo-classical interiors, idealised imaginary scenes where animals become human and organic plants come to life like triffids. In Ray’s world, everything from historical eras to instinctive animal natures collide and cross-pollinate. An undercurrent of Dickensian macabre runs through the work, juxtaposed with a thread of clinical technology, together with a sense of romantic nostalgia and at times a gentle innocence. Sinister and sweet, surreal and symbolic, Ray Caesar’s images are an adventure into the unconscious imagination.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
_wpfuuid | 1 | This cookie is used by the WPForms WordPress plugin. The cookie is used to allows the paid version of the plugin to connect entries by the same user and is used for some additional features like the Form Abandonment addon. | |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 0 | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary | 0 | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Non Necessary". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 0 | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
test_cookie | 0 | 11 months | This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the users' browser supports cookies. |
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
CONSENT | 0 | 16 years 10 months 14 days 16 hours 18 minutes | No description |
Advertisement cookies help us provide our visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns.
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
IDE | 1 | 1 year 24 days | Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 1 | 5 months 27 days | This cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. |
Analytics cookies help us understand how our visitors interact with the website. It helps us understand the number of visitors, where the visitors are coming from, and the pages they navigate. The cookies collect this data and are reported anonymously.
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
YSC | 1 | session | This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. |