Caroline Achaintre: Encounter L.

In 2019 ESW commissioned Caroline Achaintre to make new work for our gallery and central courtyard space; an exhibition entitled Encounter L.

Caroline Achaintre, 2019.

Achaintre’s work brings together abstraction, figuration, wit and materiality. She is known for her sculptures in ceramic and metal as well as her drawings, prints, watercolours and fabric pieces in the form of tufted rugs. For this project, Achaintre’s first major outdoor sculpture, Echo Peel, was created by hand knotting rafia, creating a shaggy, shifting surface hovering within our courtyard. She also made a series of ceramic and cast metal sculptures, an extension of her drawings of multipersonalities. The imaginative co-existence within each object-body and a deftness in use of materials,  created works with the allure of familiarity, humour and lustre which are unreliable in communication of their actual substance; alloy, paperclay and glaze in flux. 

Caroline Achaintre was born in France and raised in Germany, she now lives in London. She studied at Kunsthochschule in Halle/Saale, Germany and then at Chelsea College of Art & Design and Goldsmiths College, both London. Recent solo exhibitions include Permanent Wave, Belvedere 21, Vienna (2019); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead (2016); and Fantômas, De La Warr Pavilion (2018). Her work was included in British Art Show 8, Hayward Touring which was presented in Leeds, Edinburgh, Norwich and Southampton (2016-17).

Read an interview with Caroline Achaintre here.

Artist Brunch Tour – Caroline Achaintre

Saturday 27 July, 10.30 – 11.30am

Tickets: £2, booked online.

Artist Caroline Achaintre will talk about her art practice including the new work she has made for ESW’s Courtyard.

 

Art Late – Leith

Thursday 15 August, 5.30-10pm

Tickets: £10 (£8 concs), booked on EAF website.

Organised by Edinburgh Art Festival, this evening begins with an exploration of the exhibitions at Scottish National Portrait Gallery, before continuing on to Travelling Gallery, and finishing with performances at ESW. (Art Late events are taking place on 1, 8, 15 and 22 August – see EAF Website).

 

Find out about our Exhibition Tours and Sculpture Saturdays throughout Edinburgh Art Festival.

Images: Caroline Achaintre, Encounter L., 2019. Photos: Graeme Yule and ESW staff.

 

ESW supported by:                                                                   Project part of:

 

An owl like tufted sculpture with two eye holes, has a zig zag pattern in pink, cream, white black and orange. It is held up on a black metal armature in an open courtyard. There are tables spaced around with children taking part in workshops
Four glazed ceramic wall pieces are in a row at varying heights, they each look like different masks and have repeat patterns like scales
A small child in a red and white striped top is held at shoulder height, they reach toward a section of a tufted sculpture made out of pink, black, white and brown plastic
A black glazed ceramic geometric wall piece with a repeat pattern of scales is beside a light blue glazed ceramic wall piece folded in on itself, both look like masks
Artist Caroline Achaintre working on ceramic slabs, folding them over on themselves to make pieces similar to masks, standing beside a large white worktable with kilns and shelving units in the background