top of page

Pressing. (Rhea Dillon, Peter Spanjer, Oscar yi Hou)
11/01/21 - 28/02/21

Pressing as in urgent
Pressing as in getting to the core of things
Pressing as in squeezed to within an inch of its life
Pressing as in leaving a mark
Pressing as in using your finger to click a button
Pressing as in continuing on the long open road to resolution

Pressing explores the work of three artists: Rhea Dillon, Peter Spanjer and Oscar yi Hou. They each explore different means of expressing selfhood and dealing with the ways their work is often compressed and understood. Exploring issues of agency that are intertwined with their own identity each artist has been invited to present their work for Division of Labour􏰍s new virtual environment.

Rhea Dillon presents a new series tell me some / before you go, a collection of paintings on the front page of newspapers released in London on the day Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced they would be leaving the monarchy. The paintings are playful, stealthy and beguiling. Dillon makes a series of gestures which reframe our attention of the media coverage, asking us to reconsider how the former Royals portrayal reflects notions of Britishness and community.

Peter Spanjer presents work from his Eros series, a set of sensual prints created using details taken from gay and black adult movies. This series addresses how we might aesthetically identify sex within gay culture not through overt sexualisation. The abstracted forms simultaneously take you into and away from the body creating a space for sensual contemplation.

Oscar yi Hou presents Self Portrait (21) or to steal oneself with a certain blue music, (2019) part of his yearly practice of documenting himself, alongside a few tender drawings. Concerned with questions vis-a-vis the (sovereign) subject, yi Hou gestures beyond a simple politics of representation and we are often invited to bear witness to the humanity of his sitters. His work often contains a myriad of text and symbols, toying with (il)legibility which relates to his insistence on a complicated subjecthood, one that is perhaps never knowable.

bottom of page