Stephanie Quayle
Animal Instinct

May 11 (Thu) - June 25 (Sun), 2023

©︎ Stephanie Quayle
Photography: Osamu Sakamoto

Gallery 38 is pleased to present “Animal Instinct”, a solo exhibition by Stephanie Quayle.

Stephanie Quayle’s life and art are inextricably bound to the Isle of Man, whose ancient civilization bears the strains of Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norwegian, Scottish, and English influences. Born and raised on the island, she currently lives there on the family farm, raising sheep and cows with her parents, and making her artwork in an old farm mill outbuilding. Some of the raw clay she uses to create her sculpture is dug out of the soil surrounding her home. 

Quayle’s art is direct and immediate. Her clay slabs are scaled to forms that her fingers, hand, and arm can mold, throw, or stretch, leaving the marks of their making, and many of her sculptures are fired in a kiln on her farm. Her drawings, which she displays unframed in order to connect more directly with the viewer, begin as gestures made with clay stains, graphite powder, or ink wash, and then further defined with strokes of a pen. She has referred to her drawing process as “More mindful, more in the moment, more animal.”

With this exhibition, Quayle continues her exploration of animal imagery as it has manifested over 40,000 years of human history, employing the same elemental materials that were used to make Neolithic pots and Greek vases. The animals she sculpts are not anthropomorphized, but are instead rooted in myths and totems ― a thematic drive vividly demonstrated by the figure of the Minotaur alongside her more earthbound creatures.

Quayle’s new works include a bull, sacred to the Hindus, and the first piece she made out of clay and straw from the farm; a vulture, a scavenger signifying the cycles of the ecosystem, revered by Tibetans and Ancient Egyptians; a baboon, also revered, as well as feared, by the Egyptians; and a rat, hallowed in India but reviled just about everywhere else.

She has also created images of our closest genetic relative, the chimpanzee; as well as the wagtail, the bird sent by the creation gods of Japanese mythology to fertilize the earth; and the hare, the Celtic symbol of our relationship to the land, to the moon and the seasons, and to fables, myths, and madness.

The images Quayle creates, and her methods of making them, are meditations on what it means to be an animal, informed by the destructiveness of mankind and the encroaching disembodied threat of artificial intelligence. Rather than presuming to identify with animals, Quayle is instead asking what it is to be human, and what underlies the hubris of our belief that we can elevate ourselves above nature. Her contemplation of animal instinct is her way of rediscovering our lost spiritual connection with the earth.

Stephanie Quayle received her BA in Fine Art from The Slade School of Art, London, in 2005, and her MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions include Bear Nature, Gallery 38, Tokyo, Japan; In the Snow, Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury (2018); Jenga, TJ Boulting / Fitzrovia Chapel, London (2016-2017); ANIMAL, Post, Tokyo (2014); Lion Man, TJ Boulting, London (2013); and Stephanie Quayle, Nantenshi Gallery / t.gallery, Tokyo (2013).

Group shows include Human and Animal, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan / The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Koka City, Japan / Iwate Museum of Art, Morioka, Japan (2021-2022); Ellyn, A Tale of Manx Contemporary Art, Villa Marina, Isle of Man (2021); Clay TM, TJ Boulting Gallery, London (2020); In the Company Of, TJ Boulting Gallery, London (2019); Animals & Us, Turner Contemporary Margate (2018); Sculptural Ceramics & Stone, Pangolin Gallery, London (2017); Wild: Untamed Mind, 21_21 Design Sight Museum, Tokyo (2017); A Woman’s Hand, Saatchi Gallery, London (2015); Vita Vitale, Venice Biennale, Italy (2015); and the art fair Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris (2015).

She is the recipient of the BTCF Award for Excellence, Zelli Porcelain Prize, Zelli, London (2010); British Council Artist Residency, Bangladesh (2008); REMET Royal College of Art Bronze Prize (2007); Belize Sculpture Park Scholarship Residency (2006); and Slade School of Art Award for Figurative Work (2005).

Exhibition detail:

Stephanie Quayle
“Animal Instinct”

Date: May 11 (Thu)  - June 25 (Sun), 2023
Hours: 12:00 - 19:00
Closed on Mon, Tue and National holidays

Opening reception: May 11 (Thu) 17:00 - 19:00

Place:
Gallery 38
2-30-28, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Japan
+81 (0)3 6721 1505
contact@gallery-38.com