Lapsus Calami
Curated by Eddie Peake
Artistic direction by Will Davis
Marlborough Gallery, London
8 December 2023 - 27 January 2024
Lapsus Calami is a group exhibition curated by Eddie Peake featuring works by Actress (Darren Cunningham), Bolade Banjo, Jennifer Bornstein, Woodsy Bransfield, Megan Broadmeadow, Saskia Colwell, Enej Gala, K8 Hardy, Claire Hooper, Motoko Ishibashi, Leigh Ledare, Jocelyn McGregor, Tian Mu, Harriet O’Ryan, Robert Overby, Fabian Peake, Proscenium Arch, Christina Ramberg, Jemima Stehli and Ajamu X.
Literally translated to ‘slip of the pen’, Lapsus Calami relates in this instance to artworks that are a result of laterally connected and associative modes of thinking and making, instead of predetermined or diagrammatic approaches. The selected works consider the notion of masculinity in the broadest possible sense – its permutations, fragility, falsehoods, antitheses, the areas where it collapses and may manifest as qualities that are not typically male, or arguably as definitively not male at all. It looks at representations that ostensibly compound normative ideas of what masculinity might be, as well as purposely complicating and undermining them.
Lapsus Calami acknowledges the impossibility of the term masculinity in its singular form, and instead approaches it as a vast, diverse and highly subjective spectrum which is shaped by circumstance, societal context and lived experience. It argues that the manifestation of self and identity is an arbitrary and intuitive combination of design and accident and that masculinity in itself is a mistake, a haphazard ‘slip of the pen’.
While the self-portrait by musician and artist Actress can be seen as a confident re-appropriation of stereotypes commonly associated with the image of male black musicians, it simultaneously highlights the issues that come with the self-perpetuation of such standardised readings. Similarly, the chunky jewellery that adorns Woodsy Bransfield’s silhouettes signals the association with a certain social status, the evident cheap quality of the diamanté material, however, confronts masculine bravado with the harsh reality of circumstance and means.
Leigh Ledare’s video works examine gendered power dynamics in family relationships versus their normative portrayal in the context of sexuality, while Harriet O’Ryan’s piece considers themes of masculinity and violence.
A very personal, private inquiry into different facets of masculinity is offered in the quiet portraits by Claire Hooper, Fabian Peake’s tender depiction of his sleeping son, Proscenium Arch’s associative written account of his own coming-of-age, and Ajamu X’s photographic explorations of queer black desire and visibility.
Bolade Banjo’s photographic resin sculptures expand the medium of photography and consider the theme within a social context, while in Enej Gala’s installation bone-like elements combine to create fragile, intertwined anthropomorphic shapes, spreading around the space like a viral fungus.
The notion of the male gaze constitutes another key theme of the exhibition. Christina Ramberg’s quasimorphological studies of women’s clothing address the objectification of the female body, stylising the human form into interchangeable fragments that can be manipulated at will. The works of Robert Overby and Saskia Colwell expose the voyeuristic nature of traditional art historical topoi, while Motoko Ishibashi and Tian Mu consider the fetishisation of the body in contemporary popular culture.
Jennifer Bornstein’s film and Megan Broadmeadow’s performance explore themes of female togetherness outside of the male gaze, which is continued in Jemima Stehli’s ‘Tit-Works’, Jocelyn McGregor’s Vaginaramas’ and K8 Hardy’s monumental, pigmentsoaked menstrual pad, playfully reclaiming agency over stereotypical narratives around the female body.
MARLBOROUGH
6 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BY
