NATURAL HISTORIES
4 February - 4 March 2011

Mandy Bonnell, Tracey Bush, Mich Maroney
Will Maw, Alke Schmidt, Ruth Simons

An exhibition of artist's books and mixed media works on paper that explores how contemporary artists are referencing traditions associated with 17th and 18th century botanicals, herbariums and natural histories, to comment on economic and environmental issues.

Mandy Bonnell is currently working on a project based on the collected works of the Victorian botanist Miss Rowe, following a residency at the Alber's Foundation in 2009. The delicate lines of Miss Rowe's plant studies are echoed in Bonnell's hand-coloured drypoints, which have been made as studies towards a large-scale artist's book.

Tracey Bush's Nine Wild Plants series examines the correlation between brand recognition and the diminishing knowledge of indigenous flora and fauna. The fragility of threatened species is hinted at in the blue Rizla butterfly that hovers in her tiny paper sculpture The Art of Rolling 2010.

Mich Maroney's Solstice is a photographic record of a nature reserve on the banks of Deptford Creek. Inspired by medieval books of hours and The Garden Kalendar of naturalist Gilbert White, this contemplative work documents the passing of time through the changing atmosphere of weather, landscape and tides.

Will Maw utilises the book form in his Histoire Naturelle d'Impremerie Economique to posit the impossibility of a definitive image of printed value. Almost 100 digitally printed plates use bank notes as a ground over which to collage myriad visual references. The book reminds one of an age 'when Europeans sought to encapsulate the world of multiple realities which they were beginning to discover and record.' (Dr Mark Golder)

Alke Schmidt's Birds of America series was prompted by the disastrous effect of the BP oil spill on the wetland habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. Working on found pages of a reprint of James Audubon's famous book, Schmidt traced the original habitats of indigenous species, some now gravely endangered. Intrigued by the shapes of the oil spill Schmidt painted 'spill' maps over the 'rescued' prints.

Ruth Simon's ambitious publication Kapa Kapa uses the contradictions of the conservatory plant Medinilla magnifica as a metaphor for human behaviour. Screenprinted in the form of a wallpaper sample book, with 60 images, Kapa Kapa explores migration, invasion and cultural erosion.

For further details of both exhibitions please contact The Eagle Gallery on 020 7833 2674 or email: emmahilleagle@aol.com