FOLD Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Frank Kent, his first solo presentation in the gallery.
Think about a panoramic image sliding into view when your train pulls into its station. Think about the individual style of each place. It might tell you where you are, or make you think about how good that yellow looks with those brown tiles. At the height of a picture rail, circular reliefs that could be found high up on the side of a building punctuate the wall and come into vision at uneven intervals, gradually getting further apart as you come to a standstill.
Kent presents a show where some of the objects have been made on site, and fit seamlessly on the walls; others have been brought to the gallery and arranged in relation to these. The work operates both individually and as part of a whole; they belong to the space as part of the architecture, but are also only appendages, added as an afterthought to punctuate the empty walls. The objects become integral to the composition of the room, and as you move around the gallery, you become part of the rhythm of shapes that score the space. This is a backdrop for the viewer to stand in front of and walk through; the work is an accessory to be noticed at ease.
Frank is fascinated by the phenomenological dimensions of human experience and in particular the ways in which visual experience is integrated and inseparable from touch. The intelligence and humour at work is unafraid of what might be slight: he experiments with both a form of literalism and artifice embracing the synergy between a material and the hand that crafts.
Frank Kent studied at the Royal Academy Schools. Recently he completed a residency at Geidai University of the Arts, Tokyo and completed a commission for the Royal Academy Life Drawing Room. Past exhibitions include Royal Academy Schools Show 2016 and The Taste of Stone at Backlit in Nottingham 2013.