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'Art
Imitating Nature'
JOHN PULLEN & PHILIPPA ELUEM
25th Feb to 29th March 2012
A mysterious chemistry between artists Philippa Eluem and John Pullen
enables them to work 'in tandem' – quite literally on the same
painting. Their relationship started when they met at Chelsea School
of Art in 1973 but was interrupted when Philippa travelled to Nigeria,
retracing the path of her biological father. They eventually put
down roots in the Lake District. After graduating, Philippa began
applying traditional techniques from her West African homeland to
her textile designs.
John trained as a marble mason but redirected his
enthusiasm for sculpture towards painting. Eluem and Pullen work
almost exclusively from their collection of dried plants. The gradual
dehydration process helps to accentuate the 'natural engineering'.
Exquisite shapes and patinas reveal themselves - designs within
design. The striated tissue-like surface of a tiny, dead-headed
daffodil for example, is seemingly transformed into an aerial view
of a furrowed landscape or, the smooth interior of an acorn cup
with its delicate tracery of capillaries beneath the surface - a
familiar womb-like space.
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