In Conversation: Anj Smith with Alexander V. Petalas and Yates Norton
On the occasion of ‘Anj Smith: Where the Mountain Hare has Lain,’ we joined the artist, Alexander V. Petalas, the Founder, The Perimeter, London and Yates Norton, Curator at the Roberts Institute of Art in conversation.
The discussion focused on insights into Smith’s practice from the perspective of a collector and collaborator, as well as the range of references and ideas in Smith’s new body of work.
‘Where the Mountain Hare has Lain’ is at The Perimeter, 20 Brownlow Mews, London WC1N 2LE until 17 Dec 2022.
About Anj Smith
Anj Smith’s luscious visual languages explore issues of uncertainty, eroticism, mortality and anxiety. Rich in detail, colour and texture and collapsing definitions of portraiture, landscape and still life, Smith’s work rejects neat or easy classification. Remarkably detailed in places, wildly feral landscapes, ambiguous figures, textiles, and rare and exotic flora and fauna are used, amongst other things, to investigate the possibility of a contemporary sublime.
In October 2022, a commissioned work by Anj Smith will be on view at Mount St. Restaurant & Rooms: a circular work reinterpreting tentacle erotica painted directly onto the ceiling of the turret room.
About Alexander V. Petalas
Alexander V. Petalas is a London-based collector and founder of The Perimeter, a public exhibition space in Bloomsbury which he opened in 2018. The exhibition programme highlights artists from his collection which include among others Phyllida Barlow, Geta Brătescu, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Martin Creed, Isa Genzken, Camille Henrot, Zoe Leonard, Wilhelm Sasnal, Anj Smith and Zhang Enli.
About Yates Norton
Yates Norton is a curator at the Roberts Institute of Art. He also works closely with his companion David Ruebain on disability justice work, and together they have presented at arts and educational settings, including at the ICA and the Serpentine, London. He often collaborates with artists and has been singing in Lina Lapelytė, Vaiva Grainytė and Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė’s Golden Lion-awarded opera, 'Sun and Sea.' He regularly writes on artist’s practices for a range of publications.
