Unbound Material

Unbound Material
A group show by Lucía Bayón, Vincent Hawkins, James Lomax and Tomoya Matsuzaki

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Sid Motion Gallery is pleased to present ‘Unbound Material’, a group exhibition of four artists: Lucía Bayón, Vincent Hawkins, James Lomax and Tomoya Matsuzaki.

These artists explore how their wall-based and freestanding sculpture transcends definitions of three-dimensional forms and enters into the language of painting. In turn, their investigations question the importance of material definitions and how we consider artworks in relation to function and purpose, and its situation within its environment.

In 1967, Germano Celant curated the celebrated exhibition 'Im Spazio' (The Space of Thoughts), which was the genesis of the Arte Povera movement. In that exhibition, Celant was interested in how artists at that time used organic and industrial materials to respond to the notion of space. Echoing the themes of the 1967 exhibition, and with great interest in the movement it sparked, ‘Unbound Material’ presents artists who question materiality and site-responsive interactions. The gallery has its own architectural identities which the artists have responded to; set over two rooms, with a generosity of wall height, a metal beam painted in racing green running throughout and an abundance of natural light.

Lucía Bayón’s work consists primarily of sculptures and installations. ‘Cradle to Gate’, a new work made especially for the exhibition is a spiral of denim, constructed from the recycled fabric, starched and remoulded and attached to a metal frame that extends from the gallery walls and into the space. Bayón views the material and objects in her work as a tension between form and function. These notions are advanced in her practice by her interest in the seriality of objects and accumulation of movements, rhythms, and materials.

Vincent Hawkins considers each fold and crease in his two-dimensional paintings to assemble his sculptural paper works. Each are a balance of different paper components, pinned or taped to the wall, often changing orientation throughout their construction. The painted sculptures are the result of the artist continuously using fewer resources and viewing his work as elements that can be built and undone while repurposing resources and materials. The range of hang heights of his works in the exhibition aim to echo the pace and tempo of this making style.

James Lomax often reuses and reframes found objects by shifting their materiality or changing their function and purpose. Often presenting building site hoardings as paintings or reproducing cardboard boxes from luxury goods stores in cast concrete he poses political questions and highlights specific aspects of contemporary culture. With a strong historical art influence on his practice, his work has a specific interest in institutional critique and exhibition making as well as site-reactive interventions. Two new concrete cast works will be presented in the exhibition.

Tomoya Matsuzaki finds inspiration in foraging, food, and the cultural contrasts he has seen between Japan, his country of origin, and the UK. Matsuzaki’s interest in foraging stems from his ambition to better understand and connect with the areas he lives. His chosen palette for the oil paints he applies to his pigmented jesmonite is informed by his interest in nature and his immediate environment. Instead of treating the artwork as a flat surface, Matsuzaki views it as a three-dimensional object by mounting the artworks on wooden beams. These freestanding painted objects placed throughout the gallery space aim to resemble a forest of delicate jesmonite slabs interrupting and restricting the exhibition space.

Artist Biographies

Lucia Bayon (b. 1994, Madrid, Spain) lives and works in Madrid. Bayón studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Universität der Künste Berlin, and holds a Master in Fine Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. Selected work was exhibited at Centro Botín (Santander, 2022), Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (Tenerife, 2022), Intersticio (Madrid, 2022), La Casa Encen- dida (Madrid, 2021) or Haus Wien (Vienna, 2020, 2021), among others. Bayon has received awards such as the Botín Foundation Art Grant (2019) and the ‘Generaciones’ Prize from Montemadrid Foundation (2020). She has been a fellow resident at the SommerAkademie in Salzburg (2019), Matadero Madrid (2022) and Tabakalera Donostia (2022). In addition, together with Lukas Meßner, Bayón is co-founder of digestivo: a collaborative initiative founded as an itinerant project space.

Vincent Hawkins (b.1959, UK) lives and works in London. Hawkins has exhibited extensively in Britain and internationally with solo shows in Chicago and Paris in recent years. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize (2006), was a finalist in the John Moores Painting Prize (2012) and a Prize Winner in the 2006 John Moore’s 24. Hawkins is represented by Sid Motion Gallery. Selected exhibitions include: Planets & Satellites, L’ahah #Griset et #Moret, Paris, France (2022), L’art dans les chapelles, curator: E. Suchère (2022), Landing Like A Comet, Sid Motion Gallery, London UK (2021), Growing a Soul, L’ahah #Moret, Paris, France (2019), Night Garden, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK (2019), Fold some sky in, Bassoues, France (2018).

James Lomax (b. 1991, UK) lives and works in London. Lomax graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2022. He has undertaken residencies at Ikon Gallery, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Henry Moore Institute and Studio Block M74 Mexico City.  Selected exhibitions include: Unprecedented Times, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2022), Absurd, OHSH Projects, London, UK (2022), Modern Relics, Fold Gallery, London, UK( 2022), and Flatten & Collapse, Recent Activity, London, UK (2022). Lomax will release an Artist Edition commissioned by Particular Ideas with an accompanying essay by Craig Burnett, author of Philip Guston: The Studio and Director of Pilar Corrias.

Tomoya Matsuzaki (b. 1977, Fukuoka, Japan) lives and works between London and Tokyo. Selected exhibitions include: Petrichor Grey, Volt, Eastbourne (2023), Unmapped Territory, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo (2021), TORINUKE, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo (2020), Crossing, Hagiwara Projects, Tokyo (2019), John Moores Painting Prize 2018, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2018), A creak in the stair, SIXSECOND, London (2018), Odd Metre, White Conduit Projects, London (2017), Drop, Only Connect Project, Hiroshima (2016), Graphic Interchange Format, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-sea (2015), Endogenous II, Maria Stenfors, London (2013), Lonely and Friend, L'est, London (2005), Arrivals (Selected by Emma Dexter), Pump House Gallery, London (2004), Space Concepts, Austin/Desmond Fine Arts, London (2003).