Balancing Bird, Private View

Royal Over-Seas League wishes to invite you to a preview drinks reception for our forthcoming group exhibition Balancing Bird.

Balancing Bird examines opposing themes of poise and restlessness in contemporary art with works by Scarlett Bowman, Ed Burkes, Susan Vera Clarke, Nathan Graves Tuttle, Sogon Kim, Keith Roberts, Kuba Ryniewicz, José Guillermo Sarmiento, Benjamin Andrew Smith, Ryan Smith and contextual work by influential 20th Century British sculptor and printmaker Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930 - 1993).

Frink's anthropomorphic forms such as Small Bird 1 (1961), operate as avatars for feelings of panic, tension and aggression. Her expressionist style gives a grounded, human-like, flightless mobility to birds - often seen as a progressive symbol of freedom and flight. The accompanying sketch follows this example, the bird's hindlimbs encumbered with weight, lurching forwards.

This surface tension is present in many forms, a "balancing bird" for example, is a simple children's toy illusion, performing the seemingly impossible feat of an outstretched bird capable of balancing its entire body on a fingertip using the tip of its beak. 2022 ROSL RCA Ceramics and Glass Award Winner Sogon Kim's Celestial series encapsulates the interaction between metal oxides and glass. The effect is a dazzling world suspended in time at the point of reaction, presented in a circular form capable of rolling off at any moment.

Please note that due to the architecture of the building, disabled access for the exhibition is limited, please contact ROSL ARTS on [email protected] or on 020 7408 0214 x 213 for further information and to make arrangements.