Artists: Sam Austen, Fani Parali
Exhibition title: Sentient Summer
Venue: Sundy, London, UK
Date: June 4 – July 17, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Sundy, London
A night garden
Of scattered mutant pieces
Plants and creatures
Morphing out of themselves
Under moon light render
Sundy is pleased to present Sentient Summer, a two person exhibition by Sam Austen and Fani Parali. Sentient Summer explores themes around wildness, apocalypse, transformation and science fiction, using installation, sculpture and sound. This show is part of the ongoing exhibition series Lovers where artist couples are invited to exhibit their individual practices alongside each other at Sundy.
Austen and Parali’s collaboration is conceived as a night garden inhabited by plants, creatures and objects created by the artists. There is a strong sense of an alternative reality distinctly separate from what is going on outside of the walls of the exhibition space, turning one wall into a portal from which the inhabitants of the garden morph and shape-shift into others. Most of the creatures found in the garden are hybrids of some sort, plants turn into insects, planets turn into flowers, humans turn into plants, plants into animals. A soft and equalizing light envelopes the garden, stripping away hierarchies and harmonizing all beings.
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Sam Austen, Fani Parali, Sentient Summer, 2021, exhibition view, Sundy, London
Fani Parali, Gravity upon the Umbilical Creature, 2021, PVC, plaster bandage, paint, PVA, dimensions variable
Fani Parali, Survival Shifter, 2021, Steel, life cast, aluminium, cable ties, wire, plaster bandage, paint, 192cm x 80cm x 55cm
Sam Austen, UFO in love with the city, Ink on paper, 29,7cm x 21cm
Sam Austen, New Moon, 2021, jesmonite, fibreglass, latex, steel wire, 50cm x 60cm x 11cm
Fani Parali, Crested Elix Plant, 2021, Steel, plaster bandage life cast, paint, 65 cm x 40 cm x 35 cm
Sam Austen, Night’s Arrival, 2021, Plasticine, chicken wire, wood, jesmonite, 32 cm x 23 cm x 37 cm
Fani Parali, Desert Vision Resting, 2021, Clay, 7 cm x 13 cm x 9 cm
Fani Parali, Owl, 2021, Clay, 15cm x 20cm x 3cm
Sam Austen, 2000 years ago, 2021, Jesmonite, fibreglass, 13cm x 38cm
Sam Austen, Earthshine, 2021, Jesmonite, steel wire, fibreglass, 12cm x 38cm
Sam Austen, Forest, 2021, Wire, 100cm x 30cm x 0.5cm
Sam Austen, Night’s Witness, 2021, Plasticine, spray paint, jesmonite, wood, chicken wire, 32cm x 19cm x 35cm
Sam Austen, Skeleton Palm, 2021, Wire, spray paint, 82cm x 26cm x 34cm
Fani Parali, Nightingale singing, 2021, Clay, 15cm x 20cm x 3cm
Sam Austen, Satellite, 2021, Steel, threaded rod, wire, latex, 73cm x 80cm
Sam Austen, Earth Sucker, 2021, Jesmonite , fibreglass, 12cm x 40cm
