- Venue
- Shtager&Shch
- Starts
- Thursday, July 20, 2023
- Ends
- Thursday, August 17, 2023
- Address
- Lower Ground Floor, 51-53 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SQ
- Location
- London
- Organiser
- Shtager&Shch
With Concrete Whispers, Brutal Dreams Shtager&Shch presents a dialogue between artists Emma Papworth and Kirill Chelushkin. Born on either side of the Iron Curtain, both in terms of geography and age, the two artists share a visual language that draws on architectural elements as signifiers of cultural identity.
Emma Papworth creates sculptural artefacts that hint at lost civilisations and speculative futures, while Kirill Chelushkin conveys constructivist ideas through large scale sketches and drawings of dark dreamscapes that are at once familiar and alien, comforting and unsettling.
Both artists respond to a longing for certainty with idiosyncratic shapes and textured surfaces that evoke an aesthetic of control and stability. Stripped to their raw components, Papworth’s concrete whispers and Chelushkin’s brutal dreams encourage viewers to question perceived facts of modern life and to reimagine failed utopias.
Kirill Chelushkin (b. 1968, Russia) lives and works in Paris and Moscow. Initially training as an architect, Kirill Chelushkin is best known for illustrations and drawings that are anchored in Soviet art history and socialist realism.
His work is held in public and permanent collections, including the State Art Museum, Ivanovo, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and State Museum of Architecture (MUAR), all Russia; Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Bolzano Art Museum, Bolzano, Italy; Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany.
Emma Papworth (b. 1993, UK) lives and works in London and holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Referencing elements of twentieth century architecture and modern cityscapes, her sculptures and installations have been exhibited widely in the UK and across Europe.
