The Medium’s Medium
Spiritualist Art Practices From the Turn of the Century and Beyond
An exciting exhibition will be shown at the booth of the Gallery of Everything at Frieze Masters in London. Mediumistic art of the late 19th and early 20th century is at the core of the exhibition under the title The Medium's Medium.
While at Frieze Masters the main focus of the exhibition will be on the manifold visual expressions of artistic expression in a spiritualistic context by numerous creators, in the Gallery space at Marylebone an examination of spiritualism by contemporary artists will take place with an installation of surrealist works by Jan Švankmajer (b 1934) and his wife Eva Švankmajerová (1940-2005) and the reception of occult and spiritualistic practices by Shannon Taggart (b 1977) and Tony Oursler (b 1957).
At the Frieze Masters the Gallery will not only present works by established art-makers that emerged from with spiritualist circles, such as the famous mediumistic artists by now considered classics like Augustin Lesage, Fleury-Joseph Crépin, Madge Gill, Heinrich Nüsslein, Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, Georgiana Houghton, to name but a few. The exhibition also comprises lesser known figures, but not less interesting, e.g. several artists from the Czech lands where spirit art blossomed spreading from the center of Bohemian spiritualism in the Krkonoše region since the beginning of the 20th century. Among them, the recently rediscovered works of František Jaroslav Pecka (1878-1860) of faces entwined in ornamental structures are certainly among the more interesting. Also, among the more recent discoveries presented to the public by the Gallery of Everything are a whole series of works by the two exciting mediumistic artists Nina Karasek (aka Joële, 1883-1952) and Gertrude Honzatko-Mediz (1893-1975).
It is typical of the Gallery not to approach a complex of themes dogmatically, and therefore it does not stop at works that have been created entirely in altered states of consciousness in a well-defined spiritualistic context. Thus, several artists who attributed their works to the influence of unknown powers or disembodied entities without meeting the classical criteria for mediumistic creation are also included in the exhibition, such as the gloomy-dystopian paintings and drawings of Marian Spore Bush (1878-1946) or Austin Osman Spare’s (1886-1956) automatic drawings that emerged from his intensive preoccupation with occult systems and magical techniques.
The Medium’s Medium
Spiritualist Art Practices From the Turn of the Century and Beyond
The Gallery of Everything
4 chiltern street, W1
London
29.09.19 - 24.11.19
Frieze Masters [stand G20]
03.10.19 - 06.10.19
