An exhibition of works by Maria Alvarez Echenique & Carlos Gonzalez Perez (to raise funds for The Centre For Better Health)
Alvarez Echenique’s body of work to date presents unusual perspectives on humanity’s complex relationship with surrounding environments, both ‘natural’ and ‘man made’.
The pieces have a dreamlike quality; influences among others, coming from the 20th century Surrealist movement, earlier European Romantic traditions, world folk art & even aspects of science fiction.
The works take the viewer on a journey into a world where the fusion of the natural and the human sometimes seems to be in harmony and respect, and other times appears to be wilder and darker.
In her recent angel pieces, influenced by an overgrown Victorian cemetery (Abney Park), the abundant growth of nature can seem as spiritual as the representations of Angels.
A combination of casting and hand-building techniques using porcelain are characteristic of her sculptural work. Exploring the potential of different materials and techniques the pieces become vivid and unique images which call into question many of our preconceptions about porcelain, craft and even beauty.
Gonzalez Perez approach to photography has evolved in a very particular way, forcing a clearer sense of what he wants to achieve; a space where the constellation of all possible meetings and encounters comes alive together.
Drawing on his intuition, the camera is solely a means to document what he sees with his own eyes. He does not use digital manipulation, distortion lenses or double exposure as creative tools. He wants to show the viewer the other realities that already exist. One does not have to manipulate them, merely change the way we see.
He likes to play with the viewer’s perception of what they think they are seeing and make them question the authenticity of their visual reality. Nothing is real and everything is real, nothing has boundaries and we are all boundaries.
He seek to capture the natural and, at the same time, unnatural juxtapositions in our lives, a reminder of the uncertainty and fragility of our own existence.
The Centre For Better Health is a community mental health charity that supports recovery and promotes social inclusion to individuals in East London. The organisation originally started out in 1959 and has over 50 years of experience in the community mental health sector.