Francis Upritchard - Wetwang Slack
Wetwang Slack was an Iron age burial ground where skeletal remains where found buried within chariots, many of the finds from the site are now housed in the British museum. the title could suggest an archaeological discovery in the form off an overview of the artists material practice. the show progresses through Francis new figurative sculptural textile works to floating shelves stacked with decorated hats of all shapes and sizes some truly beautiful glass urns, brightly colored polymer clay and ceramics.
Wetwang Slack was an Iron age burial ground where skeletal remains where found buried within chariots, many of the finds from the site are now housed in the British museum. the title could suggest an archaeological discovery in the form off an overview of the artists material practice. the show progresses through Francis new figurative sculptural textile works to floating shelves stacked with decorated hats of all shapes and sizes some truly beautiful glass urns, brightly colored polymer clay and ceramics.
 Upritchards floating shelves of decorated felt hats |  the artists beautiful glass vessels depicting fauna and mythical figures |
Positioned at the end of the show were her works made with a Brazilian rubber called balata. This is wild rubber and is exclusively collected processed by natural methods and crafted by expert hands in and around the artisan communities of Belem in Brazil.
Amazingly Upritchard has been given permission to work with with this incredible material and has been since 2004 during a residency in Belem where she met the De Oliveria Pinto who expertly manages the extraction process. The Balata figures a melding of myth and history are all limbs and movement, the sculptures convey a sense of being stretchy true to its materiality. The work on a whole for me had a newness to it a brilliant mythical and jumble of object and adornment. The way the works progressed made for a really wonderful sense of discovery.
The artists has sought to extend the bounds of her sculptural craft In a very material responsive and visceral way. This kind of reinterpretation of artifacts could be likened to the fetishistic souvenir. Like a fantasized vision of an ancient culture. This show and my initial experience of the British Museum for are very much entwined, I can imagine Upritchards works infiltrating, hovering above and about alongside the collections in the Enlightenment Gallery.
Amazingly Upritchard has been given permission to work with with this incredible material and has been since 2004 during a residency in Belem where she met the De Oliveria Pinto who expertly manages the extraction process. The Balata figures a melding of myth and history are all limbs and movement, the sculptures convey a sense of being stretchy true to its materiality. The work on a whole for me had a newness to it a brilliant mythical and jumble of object and adornment. The way the works progressed made for a really wonderful sense of discovery.
The artists has sought to extend the bounds of her sculptural craft In a very material responsive and visceral way. This kind of reinterpretation of artifacts could be likened to the fetishistic souvenir. Like a fantasized vision of an ancient culture. This show and my initial experience of the British Museum for are very much entwined, I can imagine Upritchards works infiltrating, hovering above and about alongside the collections in the Enlightenment Gallery.
these figures reference Ashinaga-tenaga (translated as Long Legs and Long Arms) who are characters who are part of Japanese mythology
