Julia Phillips exhbition: Impenetrable Entry

Campoli Presti is pleased to present Julia Phillips’ first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Impenetrable Entry presents works from Phillips’ latest series of ceramic objects. The works on view pose as‘tools’ that the artist creates incorporating partial body casts using her own body as a matrix.The works allude to the language of functionality while at the same time negating their use as tools, workingwith the fragility of ceramics.

Objectifier I – IV (2014) is the artist’s first series of ‘body tools’ that relate directly to the body and theinteraction of two bodies, exploring Phillips’ interest in mechanical connections. Connecter (2015),
Archer (2016) and Positioner (2016) expand into apparatuses that include fluid traces and imprints of thepositioned body. The suggestive frame of bodily traces solicits the viewer to make assumptions about abody’s position in relation to functional objects and to other bodies, becoming a screen of projection.

Intentionally leaving space for ambiguity, Phillips’ sculptural objects combine shapes simultaneouslysuggesting aggression and stimulation. The relief ink prints on paper similarly explore relations of force,tension and embodiment. Raising questions about the coexistence of control and desire, the exhibitioncontinues Phillips’ interest in the relation between feminist, post-colonial, psycho-analytical thought and thebody as a primary ground for experience. The video on view further probes questions of hierarchy andagency. Clay and dance are used as demonstrational materials exploring the interaction between the body,sculpture and text.