TONDO COSMIC

Text and concept by Gilly Fox

 

Despite what some would have you believe, no one is born an artist.  It is skill nurtured through quotidian practice, and a calling fuelled by curiosity for understanding both the world and themselves. What is rarely considered when we see the final work presented is the journey the artist may have gone upon to arrive at this place - the small eureka flashes, that turn happy accident into foundational shifts in understanding and progression. It can be from little moments such as drying times, or the humidity when making your canvas bases; the point when erasure will leave just amount of residue from previous paint when lifted away; points where certainty and randomness can combine with confidence to create each image. At the Flood signals a moment in all these womens’ careers where this important development time spent is coming to fruition through ever increasing recognition, exhibitions and awards, after years honing their craft.

 

Jo Chate is a painter whose paintings present close illusions of reality. Playing with negative space, reflection and distortion, the paintings operate across a seemingly three-dimensional plane which push and pull towards abstraction. The figurative also exist in this proxy state; as in these works mannikins stand as a simulacrum for women; offering an alternate reality to the female ideal. Questioning the representation of women within art as merely a form of which an idea can hang, much of Jos’ processes and influences reference renaissance painting and compositional form.

 

Sarah Longworth-Wests’ works are part-painting, part-sculptural relief. Each work emerges like as though from a Rorschach print reading, the composition signalled by the background underpainting, formed of a particular blend of plaster, glue-size, and pigment perfected after years of trial and error. Taking this foundation, Sarah adds further thin layers of plaster pigment, then either sands into the surface to knock areas back or forward. Held on this complex foundation, small images – concerns and connections the artist has been turning over in her mind - find their natural place thanks to what the surface conjures; be they iron age remnants, the ponytail of her child or disposable consumer culture.

 

Tamsin Morse is a painter whose narratives blend contemporary issues with art history and classical myths and symbolism. Drawing parallels between the past and the present - depictions of Zeus and Greek Gods stand next to Free Palestine protesters and Tommy Robinson supporters, each character seamlessly blends to build a tableau that transcends time and skews indexical meaning. Frenetically layered, the works demonstrate the organic process of narrative and the evolvement of imagery as an ongoing social commentary on the ever-looping nature of mankind’s histories, and the stories we tell to explain and justify our actions.

 

Flora Parrotts’ collages explore interior landscapes of the body, thinking through the unseen workings and sensations that occur under the skin. It often takes the form of tableau or 3-dimensional collage, using everyday objects and experiences to reimagine the mysteries of blurry ultrasound images, the insides of deep, dark pockets and the points at which inside meets outside. Textured and with parts that layer upon each other, each different element is created so they can be achieved in a domestic setting in the spare-time Flora has as she cares for her two young children, to be pulled together in her studio where a recognisable internal monologue of concerns, of care, health and our effect on the world, seep into each work.

 

Supported by the artists’ collective, TondoCosmic, the intent of the exhibition is to look beyond the image to consider how the work as a whole, draw observers into the process of making.  Individual process is not something that can be taught directly, although the tools to experiment can be given by mentorship or education.  Instead, it is the adaptation of these tools that takes years of failure and versatility and devotion to create the confident and knowledge for the artist to take ownership of their approach and adapt to individual workmanship.

 

At the Flood is Curated by Gilly Fox, invited by Tondo Cosmic, for the Union Club in London courtesy of Roz Arratoon.

 

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Tondo Cosmic is an artist led initiative to unite artists with a dedicated practice who lack commercial representation and a foothold in the ‘emerging’ scene.  They are a non-profit organisation and often work alongside guest curators such as Jennifer Thatcher and Emma Yifan Wang.  In 2024-25 they had a six month residency at Making Space, Aberfeldy St E14 where they were able to host a series of back-to-back group exhibitions.  They act as a roving body and have put on exhibition in Cambridge and London, working in non-traditional spaces that skew commercial gallery expectations.  www.tondocosmic.com

 

Gilly Fox is an Associate Curator at Hayward Gallery Touring, Southbank Centre, London.  She is a Lecturer in Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts; Chair of the Board of Trustees at Film and Video Umbrella; and a trustee at The Stuart Croft Foundation.

 

Tamsin Morse is a painter based in Cambridge. She studied at The Slade and Chelsea College of Art and Design.  She has exhibited internationally and nationally, most recently at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate and a recent two person with Kristin Hjellegrde, London www.tamsinmorse.com

 

Jo Chate is painter based in London. She received her MA Painting from RCA, and has exhibits regularly, most recently with a two-person show with New Art Projects, City Road, London. www.jochate.com

 

Flora Parrott works in sculpture, print and textiles, and lives and works in Broadstairs, Kent. She has recently exhibited at the Royal Academy, Nottingham Contemporary, Glucksman Museum, Cork and RAMM, Exeter for Hayward Gallery Touring. She is an Associate Lecturer in MA Print at the Royal College of Art. She has a Techne funded PhD and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow on the ERC funded Horizon research project ‘Think Deep’ based in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway University.

 

Sarah Longworth-West is a painter who lives and works in London. She graduated with an MFA Painting from The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in 2008. She is a senior Lecturer at Norwich University of the Arts (BA Fine Art (Hons)) where she has taught since 2013; and is the External Examiner at Camberwell.