I am talking to Elizabeth de Monchaux about her forthcoming exhibition Gathering at the Atrium Space, 32a Hertford Road, London N1.
When Elizabeth mentions that the individual pieces in this show are called art particles, I’m reminded of the terminology used by the Russian Constructivists in the early 20th century.
They were dealing with momentous political changes and scientific discoveries, and part of their aim was to systematise the poetic. For them, if art was a branch of mathematics, it could more safely fit into the goal of general societal improvement. At the same time, artists throughout Europe were looking for similar links between art and science which would re-define art.
I ask Elizabeth about this possible influence and her answer is no. What she says about her art particles feels more light-hearted and less proscriptive.
In physics you're dealing with particles, so why not have works of art that function as particles as part of a of a bigger whole, in the sense that atomic particles are parts of a bigger whole. I don’t pretend to understand the deep complexity of physics, so these are not representations of that.
There has always been an underlying system and a feeling of geometry underlying the process in the way Elizabeth works. Each piece in this exhibition is unique and made from a template. Three cut-out pieces are soldered together to form an upright structure. We talk about three sections rather than four and Elizabeth says three is the minimum required to allow the form to stay upright.
The template shapes which are mounted on the wall are angular and have a kind of jauntiness. It’s very easy to anthropomorphize and think about these forms as loosely moving along or standing together like a group of people. Each individual piece has its own tics and movements and uniqueness. The large carboard pieces in the show allow us to experience the forms on a more human scale.
The title Gathering seems appropriate. Each piece can stand alone, but the features of each piece come alive in relation to pieces around it; there's more of a collective impact. Grouped together they have a distinct presence.
For me, the parallels today are that we increasingly gather in in groups to react to what is going on politically, or we need family-and -friends’ groups to help us feel connected. None of it is perfect. Some of it is awkward.
How does all that link up with particles of atoms? In a sense it doesn't, even though we're made of these things. Is the meaning somewhere in the vast gap between the two? In Elizabeth’s work, I’m reminded of the importance of visual research, connection, moving along, and gathering.
Jayne Reich
May 2025
When Elizabeth mentions that the individual pieces in this show are called art particles, I’m reminded of the terminology used by the Russian Constructivists in the early 20th century.
They were dealing with momentous political changes and scientific discoveries, and part of their aim was to systematise the poetic. For them, if art was a branch of mathematics, it could more safely fit into the goal of general societal improvement. At the same time, artists throughout Europe were looking for similar links between art and science which would re-define art.
I ask Elizabeth about this possible influence and her answer is no. What she says about her art particles feels more light-hearted and less proscriptive.
In physics you're dealing with particles, so why not have works of art that function as particles as part of a of a bigger whole, in the sense that atomic particles are parts of a bigger whole. I don’t pretend to understand the deep complexity of physics, so these are not representations of that.
There has always been an underlying system and a feeling of geometry underlying the process in the way Elizabeth works. Each piece in this exhibition is unique and made from a template. Three cut-out pieces are soldered together to form an upright structure. We talk about three sections rather than four and Elizabeth says three is the minimum required to allow the form to stay upright.
The template shapes which are mounted on the wall are angular and have a kind of jauntiness. It’s very easy to anthropomorphize and think about these forms as loosely moving along or standing together like a group of people. Each individual piece has its own tics and movements and uniqueness. The large carboard pieces in the show allow us to experience the forms on a more human scale.
The title Gathering seems appropriate. Each piece can stand alone, but the features of each piece come alive in relation to pieces around it; there's more of a collective impact. Grouped together they have a distinct presence.
For me, the parallels today are that we increasingly gather in in groups to react to what is going on politically, or we need family-and -friends’ groups to help us feel connected. None of it is perfect. Some of it is awkward.
How does all that link up with particles of atoms? In a sense it doesn't, even though we're made of these things. Is the meaning somewhere in the vast gap between the two? In Elizabeth’s work, I’m reminded of the importance of visual research, connection, moving along, and gathering.
Jayne Reich
May 2025
Evanescent, liquid, sensuously present: Modern Figures by Mark Bell rework classic themes like conflict, desire and nature with a distinctive political yet poetic style. The prints emerge from a process the artist has named Media 4IR in reference to the 4th Industrial Revolution, the current age marked by the fusion between the physical and digital. Bell has photographed his recent large-scale paintings on aluminium and digitally altered and developed their colours and details. The luminescence of the original aluminium works is thus transfixed into variations that have a certain musical quality when seen together in the gallery.
In Bell’s contemporary take on The Three Graces, Science and Peace are reasoning with War – a very much timely musing on today’s state of the world. Similarly timely is Gaia, where a wild large cat representing nature and a human body are grappling (or dancing?) surrounded by leaves. In other pieces, solitary androgynous figures relate to gender and primal longing. Details like skulls and a gun tell of mortality and innate human violence, yet the vibrancy of strokes and colours remind the viewer of the gaiety of existence.
Margherita Pevere, Berlin 2025
In Bell’s contemporary take on The Three Graces, Science and Peace are reasoning with War – a very much timely musing on today’s state of the world. Similarly timely is Gaia, where a wild large cat representing nature and a human body are grappling (or dancing?) surrounded by leaves. In other pieces, solitary androgynous figures relate to gender and primal longing. Details like skulls and a gun tell of mortality and innate human violence, yet the vibrancy of strokes and colours remind the viewer of the gaiety of existence.
Margherita Pevere, Berlin 2025
Paintings and work on paper by women arists asscociated with Barbican Arts Group Trust.
Lesley Dalton is a British artist who was born in Singapore. She later settled with her family in Leicester and attended Loughborough School of Art followed by De Montfort University. Following her graduation she moved to London and worked as a colourist for Marvell Comics. Later, she gained a Higher National Diploma In Ceramics at City Literary Institute, London. She has exhibited regularly in group shows since 1978. From 1982 to date she has held 5 solo exhibitions in Leicester and London.
Lesley Dalton works across a range of disciplines including painting, collage, sculpture and ceramics. Her BAGT Editions #I print is derived from a continuing series of paintings on paper. The original paintings are often made from day to day and take on a personal character, much like a visual diary. They are painted and stencilled, sometimes including collage, with deceptive dexterity.
Lesley joined BAGT in 1986. She currently has a studio at BAGT Hertford Road Studios.
Lucile Montague's earlier work looked at people and city life. In recent years she has shifted her attention to landscape. Her paintings derive from regular walks in the green areas of North London. Her subjects are a mixture of fantasy and reality set within the calming effects of nature.
Her work has featured in many exhibitions that have included the Royal Academy Summer Show and the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Her work is to be found in numerous public and private collections which include Coventry Museum and Art Gallery, Coopers & Lybrand and the Bankers Trust Company.
Lucile studied at Plymouth College of Arts and Byam Shaw School of Art. She joined BAGT in 1977 and currently has a studio at BAGT Blackhorse Lane Studios.
Franki Austin’s work has been exhibited widely and is included in both private and public collections.
Franki studied painting and glass at the Central School of Art and Design in London, and gained an MPhil in fine art from the University of Plymouth for research relating to the international artists working at Dartington Hall in Devon during the 1930s. She later pursued the subject of this research, working and travelling in India.
She has worked with poets, installing participatory exhibitions in the UK using folk tales common to peoples across the world. In 2007 her work began to include references to climate change. She first learnt about trees from her Scottish grandfather.
“The trees in my paintings are those found in ancient Scottish woodland. The stories I weave around them come from all parts of the world. Trees play major roles in our constantly changing climate but I paint only those trees bound into my personal history”.
Her works on the subject of climate change have been shown in mixed exhibitions at artist-led spaces. These include:
Artworks Project Space Barbican Arts Group Trust, 2023, 2024,
The Way It Is: a solo show at the Chelsea Arts Club September 2020,
Dispositions: Bermondsey Project Space, curated by Marguerite Horner 2019
We Grow into the Forest: at The Art Pavillion, Mile End, curated by Judit Prieto, 2019
Aviary: Transition Gallery, curated by Matthew Krishanu and Niamh White, 2016
Franki joined Barbican Arts Group Trust studios in 2005. Currently, she has a studio at BAGT’s Balckhorse Lane Studios.
Lesley Dalton is a British artist who was born in Singapore. She later settled with her family in Leicester and attended Loughborough School of Art followed by De Montfort University. Following her graduation she moved to London and worked as a colourist for Marvell Comics. Later, she gained a Higher National Diploma In Ceramics at City Literary Institute, London. She has exhibited regularly in group shows since 1978. From 1982 to date she has held 5 solo exhibitions in Leicester and London.
Lesley Dalton works across a range of disciplines including painting, collage, sculpture and ceramics. Her BAGT Editions #I print is derived from a continuing series of paintings on paper. The original paintings are often made from day to day and take on a personal character, much like a visual diary. They are painted and stencilled, sometimes including collage, with deceptive dexterity.
Lesley joined BAGT in 1986. She currently has a studio at BAGT Hertford Road Studios.
Lucile Montague's earlier work looked at people and city life. In recent years she has shifted her attention to landscape. Her paintings derive from regular walks in the green areas of North London. Her subjects are a mixture of fantasy and reality set within the calming effects of nature.
Her work has featured in many exhibitions that have included the Royal Academy Summer Show and the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Her work is to be found in numerous public and private collections which include Coventry Museum and Art Gallery, Coopers & Lybrand and the Bankers Trust Company.
Lucile studied at Plymouth College of Arts and Byam Shaw School of Art. She joined BAGT in 1977 and currently has a studio at BAGT Blackhorse Lane Studios.
Franki Austin’s work has been exhibited widely and is included in both private and public collections.
Franki studied painting and glass at the Central School of Art and Design in London, and gained an MPhil in fine art from the University of Plymouth for research relating to the international artists working at Dartington Hall in Devon during the 1930s. She later pursued the subject of this research, working and travelling in India.
She has worked with poets, installing participatory exhibitions in the UK using folk tales common to peoples across the world. In 2007 her work began to include references to climate change. She first learnt about trees from her Scottish grandfather.
“The trees in my paintings are those found in ancient Scottish woodland. The stories I weave around them come from all parts of the world. Trees play major roles in our constantly changing climate but I paint only those trees bound into my personal history”.
Her works on the subject of climate change have been shown in mixed exhibitions at artist-led spaces. These include:
Artworks Project Space Barbican Arts Group Trust, 2023, 2024,
The Way It Is: a solo show at the Chelsea Arts Club September 2020,
Dispositions: Bermondsey Project Space, curated by Marguerite Horner 2019
We Grow into the Forest: at The Art Pavillion, Mile End, curated by Judit Prieto, 2019
Aviary: Transition Gallery, curated by Matthew Krishanu and Niamh White, 2016
Franki joined Barbican Arts Group Trust studios in 2005. Currently, she has a studio at BAGT’s Balckhorse Lane Studios.
