Some of the best art and fashion makes you sit up, take notice and question yourself and your place in the world you inhabit. Navigating the different personas we present in different situations (and on different social platforms) can lead to a serious case of digital-age confusion. In an ever hectic time, how often do you get the chance for important self reflection and examination so you can hone in on who you really are? This is what Louise Gray and Scott Ramsay Kyle have come together to explore in their launch of Split The Difference, showing at The Archive Gallery. The show combines ideas of perception, identity and self-portraiture and explores themes of contradictions, think: real vs. façade and the presented vs. the invented. Want to make sense of your identity right now? This exhibition is for you.
Designer, artist and Wonderland-fave Louise Gray has always paved her own fierce way. Her collections and artworks fight conformity and make the viewer sit up and take notice. She’s collaborated with a host of big names – everyone from Topshop to the V&A, with a style famed for questioning the rules and celebrating individuality and everything eccentric. Louise’s work is perfectly complimented by artist Scott Ramsay Kyle – a mainstay in both the fashion and art worlds. He loves to blur the lines of masculinity through the use of collages and mixed media. He has done recent collaborations with Judy Blume for his RIOT Zine at ICA London, with House of Holland SS17 menswear.
For Split The Difference, Louise’s work responds to Caribbean-American poet June Jordan’s work, including the most cited “To tell the truth is to become beautiful”. Meanwhile, Scott drew inspiration from mescaline trip memory, taken from Aldous Huxley’s The Door of Perception. With both of their extremely eclectic influences, they seamlessly come together to create works that centre around self-reflection and personal experience. If you’re super intrigued, (as you should be) be sure to catch the show as soon as you can, as it has a short run from the 6th September to the 11th September. And the Gallery is open from 10am to 6pm daily and 11am to 3pm on Sunday.