Kathleen Fox
Concept Working with texture or found objects as a means to bypass rational thought and attempt to enter the fluid realm of the unconscious, I employ an initial period of automatism when all is in a state of chaos and flux. I view making each work as an adventure, a journey into the imagination and a subsequent development of a personal mythology. The intention behind the images that emerge is often ambiguous, there is a sense of mystery, of shifting and layered meaning. I'm concerned with making visible that elusive and powerful other that lies beneath the skin of reality. Accident plays a large part in the work, as do dreams, memory and black humour. The thrill of the unpredictable is the matrix of the journey. Influences: Ambiguity, surreal, fantasy, female, Africa, black humour, dreams, mythology, death, the unconscious, alchemy, primitive, erotic, conflict, subtle. Career path: 2010 Residency and exhibition at the Freud Museum, London, linking Freud, Surrealism and my investigations into the unconscious. Supporting conference. Film premiere Surviving Life director Jan Svankmajer. 2009 Residency and exhibition Hearts & Bones at The School Creative Centre, Rye, to explore automatism 2005 & 2008 Exhibitions at West Dean funded by AHRC Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies 2001 Selected and funded by KCC Arts & Libraries to take part in Animation & Video Workshop 2000 Selected for Valley of Vision commission to make new work in connection with Samuel Palmer & the Ancients. Funded by KCC Arts & Libraries 1999 Selected by SE Arts to have work on AXIS National Database 1998 Cross-Regional Grant to support two exhibitions in Prague Vnitrni Kontinent/Inside Continent, (solo) and Svatokradez/Sacrilege (group) funded by South East Arts 4 yr Foundation and Fine Art Diploma at Natal College, Durban South Africa. Further 2 years private studies with Michael Pettit, South Africa 3 yr BA English at Natal University
Solo exhibitions: 2021 Dreaming The Found, Farleys Gallery, Chiddingly, East Sussex. 2016 Detour, Cyclists Dismount, Fundcion Eugenio Granell, Santiago de Compstella, Spain. 2011 Mapping Memory, Easton Rooms, Rye Art Gallery, Kent. 2010 The Spaces of the Unconscious, Freud Museum, London (Henry Moore Foundation). 2007 Response (Hidden Myth), Maidstone Library Gallery, Maidstone (KCC Cultural Development). 2006 Mostly Mud, Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells. 2005 Beneath the Tide, Easton Rooms, Rye Art Gallery. 2005 The Clarity of Mud, 4th International Symposium on Surrealism, West Dean Estate, UK. 2001 Dream Game, Rye Art Gallery. 2000 Dream Logic, Sevenoaks Gallery, Kent. 1999 Inside Continent, Galerie Vysehrad, Prague, Czech Republic,.1996 Game 1, Trinity Arts Centre. 1990 Between Dreams, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. 1990 Imagine, Trinity Arts Centre 1988. Theatre of the Drum, Ravensdale Gallery, London. 1986, South African Association of Arts (SAAA) Cape Town.
Group Exhibitions: 2020 Lockdown, Hastings Arts Forum 2019 Les Dessin surréalist en 2019, Amarrage, Paris & Maison André Breton, Saint-Cirq-Lapopié. 2019 Chaos Is My Friend, Hastings Arts Forum, Hastings. 2018 Le Collage Surréaliste En 2018, Amarrage, Paris Surrealist Group. Little Shop of Magic 2, Spode Museum and Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, W Steventon. Stains and Traces IV, curated by Sally Meakins, also 2017, 2016 and 2014, Hastings Arts Forum. 2017 Surrealist Murmurations, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales. 2017 The Archaeology of Hope, Hope Beach, Isle of White. 2017 How to Make an Archive Travel? Women's Art Library (WAL), Goldsmiths University, London. 2017 In The Light of Surrealism II, curated by Jo Welsh, HAF, Hastings, also 2013. 2016 At The Light Of The Glazed Castle, Museu Municipal Santos Rocha, Figueria da Foz, Portugal. 2015 Bringing into Being, Murmurations Gallery, Bexhillon On Sea. 2015 Once Upon A Time in Hastings. 2013 Domestic Disturbance, THE SCHOOL Creative Centre, Rye. 2012 Free For All, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks. 2012, Other Air:The Group of Czech-Slovak Surrealists 1990-2011, Old Town City Hall, Prague 1. 2011 Beta, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks. 2009 El Umbral Secreto , Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, University of Chile, Santiago. 2008 As Far As My Legs Can Carry Me, Terezin Memorial , Czech Republic. 2008 O Reverso Do Olhar, Casa Municipal da Cultura, Coimbra, Portugal. 2008 The World is a Terrible Natural History, Prachenske Muzeum v Pisku, Pisek, Czech Republic. 2007 Natural Order: Art, Science and The Clarity of Mud, Sussex Barn Gallery , West Dean Estate. 2007 Postcard to Mario Cesariny, Museu Municipal Prof. J. Vermelho, Estremoz, Portugal. 2005 Profane Revelations, Granell Foundation, Santiago de la Compostella, Spain. 2003 Art of Imagination, Cork Street Gallery, London. Also 2002 & 2000. 2001 Work on Paper Fair, Bright Ideas, Royal College of Art, London. 2000 British Surrealists, Kabinet Hendrik Beekman, Holland. 2000 Eveil Paradoxal, Conches, France. 2000 Parentè n'est pas Héréditaire, Ostravské Museum, Ostravské, Czech Republic. 1999 Art of the Imagination, Mall Galleries, London. 1999 Sacrilege, International Surrealist, Prague. 1998 Finalist of 1998 Fish Art Prize, Triskel Art Centre, Cork, Ireland. 1998 Montmartre in Europe 98, Montmartre, Paris. 1997 Celebrating Scotland/Africa 97, (S.S.A.), Royal Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh. 1996 Die Galerie, die Kunstler, Das Uberraschungsei" Galerie 13, Hannover, Germany. 1996 Twentieth Century British Arts Fair (with Henry Boxer) Royal College of Art, London. 1995 British Surrealism 1935-1995, England and Co, London. 1995 Curiouser and Curiouser, UVA, Paris. 1995 Fantasy (British Women's Art, W.A.L) Isis Gallery, U.K,, and 1994 at The Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi and Women's Club, Sharjah, U.A.E. 1995 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London. 1994 Hourglass - Tenth Anniversary, Gallery UVA, Paris. 1994 New Collectables, Rye Art Gallery, Rye. 1994 The One-Legged Runaway Horse, , Galerie 13, Hannover, Germany.
