Francesca DiMattio: Wedgwood
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery has immersed into Wedgwood, an installation showcasing new works by Francesca DiMattio. Wallpapers and flooring designed by the artist are a maximalist backdrop to impressive sculptural furniture and domestic objects. Through shifting scale and context, DiMattio invites the viewer to see surface and genre in a new way, while expanding our attitude towards the definition of feminine.
Opposing elements become inseparable, while the distance between references, whether aesthetically or chronologically, dissolves as the artist identifies formal connections. A branded Gucci bag flows into an ancient Greek vessel, before transforming into a Vans slip-on sneaker, with its checkerboard design disappearing into a Roman mosaic. The installation also features artist-designed wall-to-wall vinyl flooring with a trompe l’oeil mosaic design and hand-painted wallpapers that interact with complimentary patterns on sculptures and plinths, dissolving and repeating from surface to surface. The flooring plays with the viewer, who sees what appears to be fragile tiles but feels terra firma.
Black and white flowers transform into a silver thread between diverse references, from 18th century Sèvres porcelain production and Viennese DuPaquier, to Nigerian chair beadwork and Meissen floral clusters. New sculptures in terracotta – exploring the visual language and texture of Attic pottery – bring together contemporary branding with the graphic illustrations that adorned ancient Greek amphora. Bringing clashing prints and textures into conversation with this variety of design references, DiMattio orchestrates unexpected behaviours that diffuse the decorative with agency and power, while deconstructing hierarchies of artistic value.
Francesca DiMattio, Wedgwood, 2023, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. Courtesy the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. © the artist. Photography by Mark Blower.
Francesca DiMattio, Wedgwood, 2023, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. Courtesy the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. © the artist. Photography by Mark Blower.
Francesca's DiMattio's Wedgwood is open for view at Pippy Houldworth Gallery until 23 december.