Overview
In her first solo show at Flowers, Esther Teichmann invites us into a liquid dream-like world of desire. Cascading waterfalls and seashells whispering the lapping of waves are juxtaposed with statues who seem to be stepping out of the stone from which they are carved. A large scale backdrop of a cave is painted in dripping inks. Languid female nudes punctuate mythical landscapes, auto-erotic in their gaze and gesture, eyes turned away or averted to storm clouds above them. A pregnant woman lies under a night sky with a child lying between her thighs, another rests on her elbow, back turned, swallowed by the darkness of the boat-bed she is lying upon. Sisters, friends, lovers, strangers, these women of flesh and stone tell us of pleasure and longing.
Teichmann's practice uses still and moving image, collage and painting to create alternate worlds, which blur autobiography and fiction. Central to the work lies an exploration of the origins of fantasy and desire and how these are bound to experiences of loss and representation. Both filmic works and photographs of turned away bodies and primordial spaces of enchantment work with the relationships between images, and the narratives these juxtapositions create.
A limited edition artist book with original cyanotype cover is published to coincide with the exhibition (published by Self Publish Be Happy in an edition of 500). At the centre of the book, a short story takes us further into the images and into the invisible oceans inside the shells' gleaming openings. A special gallery edition will be available from Flowers only.
