Preview: Spike Island’s 2020 exhibitions

Spike Island has released its exhibitions programme for 2020 and beyond, and there’s an intriguing mix of witchcraft, 1980s dancehalls, science fiction and much more to be enjoyed over the year.

They begin with a solo exhibition for emigre Filipino artist Pacita Abad. Curated in collaboration with artist (and Pacita’s nephew) Pio Abad, Life in the Margins (Jan 18-April 5) includes over 20 large-scale trapunto quilt paintings and other works on fabric made between 1983 and 2003. Characterised by their vibrant colour and intricate construction, these works combine a broad range of styles, subjects and techniques, from social-realist tableaux incorporating indigenous textiles to richly detailed abstractions inspired by Korean brush painting and Papua New Guinean macramé.

Spike Island kicks off 2020 with an exhibition of work by Filipino artist Pacita Abad

Next up, When There’s No More Music to Write (Apr 25-June 21) is a joint exhibition by artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire and composer Alvin Curran. Curated in collaboration with music historian Maxime Guitton, the exhibition includes a new film commission exploring how Curran’s life and work intersects with the radical political movements emerging in Italy, and around the world, during the 1970s.

Composer Alvin Curran collaborates with artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire for Spike Island’s major spring show

Running alongside that show, Wet Room (Apr 25-June 21) is the first major UK solo show and a new commission by artist Lucy Stein, comprising a new series of coffin-scale paintings, deities carved from soap, and a fully functioning, hand-painted wet room.

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Building on a lasting engagement with goddess culture, witchcraft and the concept of the anima, the exhibition is based on Stein’s research into the ancient, womb-like Neolithic passages unique to West Cornwall.

Lucy Stein’s show explores goddess culture, witchcraft and Cornwall’s Neolithic passages

Next up, Itchin & Scratchin (July 4-September 6, presented in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary) is a solo exhibition by painter Denzil Forrester, including new and existing paintings and works on paper that capture the vibrant energy of the dimly lit dancehalls of 1980s London and the present-day open-air clubs of Jamaica in vivid colour.

Denzil Forrester’s paintings explore the dancehalls of 1980s London and Jamaica’s open-air clubs in vivid colour

That show will be partnered by a major new commission, and the first UK solo exhibition, by artist Amitai Romm. Often combining archaic, mundane and high-tech materials and references – from trilobite fossils to biotech membranes and household spices – Romm makes drawings, sculptures and installations as forms of science fiction.

Amitai Romm (July 4-September 6) creates drawings, sculptures and installations as forms of science fiction

The year at Spike ends with the largest solo exhibition to date by artist Veronica Ryan (Septemeber 19-December 13), comprising new sculptures and assemblages that combine a wide range of materials and techniques: from organic forms cast in plaster, clay and bronze to more ephemeral found materials such as dried flowers, feathers and fruit. Supported by the Freelands Foundation through the 2018 Freelands Award.

Veronica Ryan Arrangement in Layers, Stacking Up Moments I-X, 2016-19. Copyright Veronica Ryan. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

For more info on these and all other forthcoming events at Spike Island, visit www.spikeisland.org.uk

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