Time and Materials

Daniel Silva, Tess Williams

Curated by After

9th – 25th March 2017

Time & Materials seeks to explore the enduring fascination of analogue processes in a digital age. Two emerging artists will present works that engage their physical surroundings, providing the slowness necessary to allow our contemporary velocity to be better perceived.

Tess Williams responds to the sensual immediacy of paint and its effect on our experience of materiality. All her surfaces are unprimed in order that liquid paint and porous substrate become one, producing both an immersive presence and experience for the viewer. Further amplifying this presence, her painting often reaches beyond the boundaries of the frame.

Daniel Silva works with materials in their raw state, revealing the sublime through layered process. Using beeswax, horse-hair, salt and wood, Silva offers sculptures and installations that catalyse their elemental components, crafting a cohesion free from fixed narrative.
Physically engaging with robust material, both artists explore the traditions of their respective practices (painting and sculpture), and expose their origins, seeking to give pause, and to question the boundaries between two traditionally distinct practices.

Daniel Silva graduated from Central Saint Martins’ MA Photography, where he also won the 2014 Daniel Ford International Prize for Innovation. Shortly after graduating he was shortlisted for Saatchi New Sensations. Daniel was selected to represent the University of the Arts London (UAL) at the Art15 Art Fair. He is represented by Baert Gallery, L.A., where he had his first solo show in the summer of 2016.

Tess Williams graduated from Central St Martins in 2015 with a Masters in Fine Art. She has exhibited widely, showing at Surface Gallery in Nottingham, Charlie Smith Gallery, London, and the Griffin Gallery, London, following her selection by Zavier Ellis for Young Gods, 2016. Her first solo show in London took place at White Conduit Projects and was curated by AFTER. Tess has also shown at Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, and has solo shows upcoming at Galeria Kernel, Caceres, and Nir Altman Galerie, Munich.

Founded in January 2015 by Julie Bentley and Nick Scammell following their graduation from the London College Of Communication’s MA Photography, AFTER showcases and supports recently-graduated artists through a programme of exhibitions, digital residencies, and an annual art prize. Off-site shows will take place in 2017, prior to the opening of a new permanent gallery space.