Under the belly and between the dots
Under the belly and between the dots : plasticine, 7ft x 4ft x 4ft, 1994 and part of an installation, Under the belly and between the dots: synthetic green carpet, plasticine, plastic buckets and wooden pick up sticks, variable size,1996.
The first photo was taken in my studio at APT, Deptford, London, it was exhibited in the Eighth Oriel Mostyn Open, Llandudno, Wales, UK, 1996. And was part of an installation " Under the belly and between the dots", (Solo Show), Margaret Harvey Gallery, St Albans, UK, 1996.
"They can look like green velvet suburban lawns, masses of hair or science fiction film sets... these phrases never fully explain what physically and figurally exists...objects that Leila Galloway installs into a space are humorous and finicky. They describe frisson, never reproductions nor illustrations of these but references to, or triggers for, the artist and the spectator. These are spaces where anxiety and pleasure, irritation and lust, transition and stagnation jostle each other for emotional attention....Objects occupy spaces and these become installations. Spaces occupied with multiples and replicas, either purchased at cheap D.I.Y. stores or manufactured through obsessive making. Each sublimely quirky, humorous and finicky. They describe fission...The obvious juxtapositions between sculptural truisms here, the ready made vs craft, is not elaborated on. Here, there is some defiance towards the passions of contemporary art world for the ready-made and there is a suggestive upholding of traditional sculptural processes; modelling. For instance. Neither is deemed the true father of sculptural practice, but both are offered as alternatives to be used with some trepidation as well as passion. The ready-made and the hand-crafted, traditionally antitheses, allow Duchamp to meet Rodin and Rodin, Duchamp, and for each to ask questions of the other.Leila Galloway’s work is obsessive, but this is not just evidenced in the repetitive process of making. Obsessive in its process, it is also obsessive about form. About humour, about excess and about the modern history of sculpture...”
Exhibition booklet, Heidi Reitmaier, 1994.
