No visit to London would be complete without a visit to some of its world-class museums. Located in Kensington, the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum) is one of the UK’s top tourist sites, attracting nearly 4 million visitors every year. In its 145 galleries, it houses 2.27 million objects which make up the world’s largest collection of decorative arts and designs. Apart from its permanent collection, it also hosts a number of temporary exhibitions. For many Britons, the museum’s lack of entrance fees gives them the opportunity to access free entertainment and culture.
Since April 2017, it has hosted works by the British contemporary artist, Rachel Kneebone (1973-). Her works have been displayed among the museum’s Medieval and Renaissance collection (Room 50a) to illustrate her influences, among whom she singles out Ovid, Dante and William Blake. Her works also share the quality of the past to convey highly emotive states.
Kneebone has chosen porcelain as her medium of choice. Although traditionally associated with arousing feelings of repose and stillness, the intense emotions conveyed in her works introduce a feeling of movement and fluidity which fits in with her themes. She often introduces ruptures and cracks in her finished works to represent the contrasting qualities of strength and vulnerability.
Kneebone is primarily concerned with themes of transformation, renewal, lifecycles, and the complex reality of exhibiting a human body – both its physical limitations and its cognitive possibilities. A common characteristic of her works is that they often contain writhing limbs and … Read More
