Home Sweet Home - Press Release - online Instagram exhibition starting Nov 16

 PRESS RELEASE

xxxx Home Sweet Home xxxx

Online show - live on Instagram 16 November 2020

Home Sweet home is an online exhibition featuring an eclectic mix of artists whose practice naturally engages with the theme of The Domestic.

This subject matter was chosen due to the extra time everyone is spending at home as well as 

the repetitive language and actions we are being fed daily via the media/government; "Stay Home", "Lockdown" “Save Lives” etc and how this enters our consciousness as artists/human beings.  

The phrase "Home Sweet Home" traditionally illustrates the feeling of relief of returning home after some time away but particularly at the moment it can be interpreted as both warm and bitter sweet emotionally. So much time at home can change the meaning of such a ubiquitous wholesome phrase that is used in many different contexts from song titles to recipe books and samplers in cross stitch.

This change in conciousness is reflected in the uncanny and unnerving aesthetic that the Rented by the Hour platform, exhibitions and projects provides. The artists work in this show is inexplicably bound with their personal interior lives, the domestic becoming an essential element of creating meaning within the works. The works have an autobiographical, private and intimate element, with artists making and exhibiting work in their own homes and personal living spaces. The artworks, with the home setting as a backdrop and as an integral part of the concepts can convey an array of emotional states, internal and outward conversations and observations.

Some of the works have elements of the performative, ritualistic and narrative whilst others focus on banality, humour, the sublime, obsession and parenthood. The artists involved talk about how they are feeling about the current lockdowns and the general expressions of fear in society, what they are thinking whilst making work at home and reflecting on the compulsive desire and urgency to continue to create despite limited access to studios or equipment and a normal living routine.

Home Sweet Home -Contributing artists - Olivia Hicks, Laura Clarke, Bea Haines, Martha Todd, Emma Critchley, Steve Littman, Christina Rich, Ashley Rich, Dick Jewell, Jonny Briggs, Zoe Simon, James Winter, Agi Haines