! BLESSED BE :)) MERRY PART :(( BUT AGAIN ! (2017)

Space In Between Gallery, Homerton, London, UK 26/01/2017 – 25/02/2017

 

Commissioned by Hannah Hooks and Laura Macfarlane for Space Inbetween Gallery and made possible with a grant from Arts Council England.

 

! Blessed Be :)) Merry Part :(( But Again ! explores - through installation, sculpture and sound - correspondences between Alchemy and Contemporary Art; the ritual arrangement of objects and symbols in the physical, visible world to create a narrative dialogue that affects and changes the invisible, conceptual and emotional world within us. The exhibition is, in part, a response to the archaic revival; the reinvigoration of ancient knowledge and practice that has been censored, subsumed and manipulated by dogmatic ideological hegemonies for the last few centuries.

 

For ! Blessed Be :)) Merry Part :(( But Again ! Jeans Houghton presents an installation as an immersive self-reflexive-portrait. At once childhood bedroom, museum, studio and ceremonial space, a dreamlike environment sets the stage for the unfolding of an improvised idiosyncratic ‘learning curve’. The exhibition centres around a sculptural Birth Chart: an astrological diagram that depicts the planetary map on the date and time of the artist's birth, each planet represented in the sign and house it resided in at the moment he was born.

! Blessed Be :)) Merry Part :(( But Again ! reveals personal ritual technologies, inspired by a non denominational investigation into, and development of, magical tools; including objects to map intention, aid reflection and punctuate an open narrative of symbolic improvised self exploration. The exhibition draws much inspiration from The Quickening; a weekly 12-month programme of events hosted by the artist, spanning 318 hours of open improvisation at The Newbridge Project, Newcastle with members of the city’s vibrant art, music, noise, poetry and dance scene.