Marlborough Chelsea presents WAR GAMES a group exhibition inspired by the legacy of Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz. The exhibition will be on view from 12th September to 17th October.
The show features a monumental sculpture from Abakanowicz's 1987-1993 War Games series, along with new works by American and European artists.
Zyk, Abakanowicz's colossal cudgel of a sculpture, will be accompanied by works from both emerging and established artists including Joanna Malinowska. In some cases, Abakanowicz's influence is direct, and in others it is merely their shared contention with the violence of modern life.
The exhibition includes works that have a rare combination of material struggle and a certain crafted elegance. The main focus is the implication of injury, burns, unnatural contortions, masks and prosthetics shown both in direct relation to the body and extended to commercial products and furnishings that act as analogues to the body or situate it in space.
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz is one of Poland's most internationally acclaimed artists, known for works that transcend the conventional sphere of sculpture production. Born in 1930, Abakanowicz studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, where she tried her hand at painting, producing monumental gouache compositions on cardboard and canvas. Her first major independent achievement was based on using three-dimensional textiles as a medium. Abakanowicz has since become closely associated with soft sculptures known as "Abakans".
Abakanowicz is interested by the texture of matter, particularly the organic nature of her medium of choice. Abakans, made from dyed sisal fibre and with a multiplied organic nature, makes an immediate impression. The diversity of Abakanowicz's work testifies to her unflagging inventiveness and skill in practicing her creed: "I do not like rules and regulations. They are enemies of imagination".