KIRSTY SAPSFORD | THE WORK
STATEMENT
Kirsty Sapsford’s work is inspired by psychology, microphotography and human nature; she has a morbid fascination with the monotony of the daily grind and the looks of complacency and boredom on the faces of London's commuters. Bigger questions about mortality and purpose lead on from this curiosity and she explores these through her black and white works. “My ink drawings are primarily concerned with group apathy and unfulfilled emotional needs. They usually depict a mass of individuals reacting to a stimulus and to each other. You can stand back and see where they are heading en masse or you can zoom in and sympathise with an individual.”
A need for emotional release from these ideas spawned Sapsford’s abstract colour works, which serve as a visual escape and are inspired by patterns found in microbiology and natural organisms. “Through the microscope”, she states, “these basic life forms reveal vastly different and separate worlds with simpler values and an alluring sense of purity that provides a sort of distraction or rest bite from the topics of my black and white works.”
Recently these two separate elements of Sapsford’s practice have begun to interact and bleed into one another as she starts to see similarities and comparisons between human behavior and that of the various microorganisms she studies. These new works incorporate into her studies of microbiology the questions and ideas raised by Sapsford’s monochrome works and inject into her black and white practice the vocabulary of abstract forms compiled through her study of microphotography.
CV
EDUCATION
BA Fine Art & History of Art Joint Hon – Goldsmiths University 2010
Art & Design Foundation Diploma – North West Kent College 2007
EXHIBITIONS
Year, Group Exhibition/ Solo Exhibition, Gallery name, Location
Vibe Gallery Group Exhibition – 15-19 June 2012 – Group exhibition, Vibe Gallery, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG
Arts Council of Bexley ‘Open Art’ Exhibition – Dec – Jan 2012 – Group exhibition, Stables Gallery, Hall Place, Bexley, DA5 1PQ
‘ART CRAWL’ by Comuniart 18 Aug-18 Sept 2011 – Group exhibition at 17 public houses throughout Shoreditch, Camden and Islington (My work: The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6LP)
‘Somewhere Somehow We Repair’ 3-12 June 2011 – Group exhibition, Body Studio: 89a Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY, Curator: Mary George
Arts Council of Bexley ‘Open Art’ Exhibition – 4 Dec – 3 Jan 2011 – Group exhibition, Stables Gallery, Hall Place, Bexley, DA5 1PQ
Goldsmiths University Degree Show -July 2010
‘Raise And Give’ Art Exhibition – 23-25 Jan 2008 – Group Exhibition, Green Room, Students Union, Goldsmiths, Dixon Road, London, SE14 6NW, Curator: Nuhum Mantra in association with Made in Goldsmiths
Arts Council of Bexley ‘Open Art’ Exhibition – 2 June – 1 July 2007 – Group exhibition, Dashwood Gallery, Hall Place, Bexley, DA5 1PQ