Artworks

Anna Reading

Spanning sculpture, performance drawing and text, Reading’s work celebrates growth and survival in (in)hospitable environments, within organic and non-organic worlds. Using modified shell-grotto techniques, she combines materials, such as oyster shells surplus from pearl farming, wooden chip-forks and lumps of asphalt extracted from road surfaces. The works appear as relics from an unknown future, depicting imagined landscapes and forms of non-human consciousness. Taking inspiration from the harsh but abundant ecologies of coastal landscapes, the structures appear populated by marine accretions. Rooted in experiences of human vulnerability and exposure, the works foreground forms of shelter, synthesis and regeneration within the organic world.

Anna Reading (b.1987 Newcastle Upon Tyne) graduated from MFA Sculpture, Slade School of Fine Art 2017, was a Bloomberg New Contemporaries Artist 2018 and held the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2018-2019. A recent solo exhibition The Pothole, toured the UK to Standpoint Gallery, London (2019), Cross Lane Projects, Kendal (2019) and Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre (2020). The work Flock was presented on the Broadway Plinth in Letchworth Garden City in 2019. Recent group shows include Five Hides, curated by ThorpStavri and Snails For Eyes, at Kingsgate Project Space, London (2019). Two person shows include Shell Shelter and Raven Ravine, at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London (2019) and POND, Kaitak Gallery, Hong Kong (2017).