Maxine Sutton PLOT September 7th - November 15th 2024 Gallery Lulo proudly presents "PLOT", the first solo exhibit by British artist Maxine Sutton at Gallery Lulo, whose abstract works combine textile, screen print and embroidery in a layered exploration of color and form. In her work, Maxine pursues existential concepts of fragmentation and reconstitution in the human condition. The exhibit features entirely new works in large and small scale textile and paper and will run from September 7th - November 25th 2024 at Gallery Lulo Healdsburg, CA PLOT examines mappings of spaces belonging to the interior and exterior consciousness and land we inhabit. Of the exhibit in her own words, Maxine says, At the beginning my process responds to what is at hand. The studio is my primary site of research where accumulated, salvaged materials and their qualities merge with day to day distractions, and are brought to bear on the formal structure of the work. There are a lot of edges to consider; material edges, selvedges, frayed edges, turned edges, cut and printed edges. Outside is the clifftop edge, and the edge where the chalk meets the sea. There are edges of gardens, walls, hedges, pavements and verges. I began to think about the back and forth, moving between making work inside, and the planting, growing and tending to the garden outside. The two activities slowly beginning to crossover and merge in my psyche. These works consider opposing notions of inside and outside, as well as what is above the ground or under the surface. In a sense they might be landscapes, maps, and interior spaces. There are thoughts of movement, vibrations and light. And there is the weather outside my studio, which I think about like a blanket or a veil. Here by the north sea there is a lot of weather; from mists and salty breezes to raging storms. It seems to me sometimes like a clothy cloak or a curtain of weather. I think about the constant variation as analogous to processes of the body, physically and emotionally. There is time, weathering and ageing; and our breath; gases and water. A world of moisture, salty tears and CO2, clouds and angry rain. I came to the word ‘plot’ which refers to a marked out space of land, and the way we might think about belonging and ownership and what the land is to us? Plot is also a verb, to scheme and plan or navigate space. I think of points on a graph and dots and lines on a map that are like stitched threads. There are points where a needle goes in and out, puncturing the fabric. Yarns make grids of woven cloth and embroidery creates lines of twisty threads. Thinking about ecology is inextricably linked to how we relate to materials and making. In my relationship with textiles there a compulsion to re-assign value to the discarded and to construct, rebuild and reuse. Alongside this, there is a sense of erosion and collapse. ©maxinesutton 2024 For further sales requests please contact [email protected] or call 707 433 7533. Visit us 303 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA. Daily hours are Monday - Friday 11-5pm and weekends 11-6pm. Or by appointment.