黑料不打烊

Pilar Corrias is pleased to present Allus Do It Fer Thissen, a solo exhibition by James Owens. This exhibition forms part of Gallery 2, an occasional programme of exhibitions by non-represented artists at Pilar Corrias Conduit Street.

Drawing its title from the Yorkshire saying meaning 鈥榓lways do it for yourself鈥�, Allus Do It Fer Thissen echoes a quiet call to resilience, an undercurrent that moves through each of the works in the exhibition. Entangled in foliage or submerged in rising undergrowth, the figures in these paintings traverse dense landscapes as beings negotiating survival, connection and uncertainty. In Owens鈥檚 world, the natural and the human are not opposed, but entangled, each shaping the other in moments of subtle tension, care and survival.

In this new body of work, flowers lean, stretch and entangle; plants creep and communicate in hushed tones. Nature grows in unlikely places, pressing through cracks, reaching skyward with discreet determination. Owens depicts a world where nature becomes a language of survival, capturing the delicate tension between growth and decay, connection and isolation. This language echoes the myriad of figures鈥� own quiet will to endure; the natural world becomes both collaborator and witness to their fragile acts of self-reliance. Whilst sometimes not welcomed, figures move in dialogue with their surroundings. Vines trace the line of a shoulder whilst limbs mirror the bending of branches. At times, Owens鈥檚 figures draw near, bound by an urgency to shield one another from an ambiguous threat; at others, they appear adrift, searching without knowing what for.