Odd Peer Nexus

Odd Peer Nexus brings together five artists (Brit Bunkley, Paul Cullen, James R Ford, Natalie Guy, and Francesca Heinz) working with objects in a surreal or absurdist manner, in the form of sculpture, assemblage and installation. The artworks feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur, and their placement/context plays an important role in the ground floor rooms of this nineteenth century villa.

Ford’s main work in this exhibition, This That, consists of a perfectly balanced see-saw with a half-filled glass of water at each end. The glasses may be perceived as half-full or half-empty, but they are the same. Language and perception are what change the balance from positive to negative, and what dictates meaning and value in art and life. The name see-saw is a phonetic Anglicisation of the French “ci-ça”, with the literal translation meaning “this-that”. Hence the title of this work, like the work itself, is the same thing by a different name.