8 chairs. Gallery libby sellers.
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Please don’t miss your chance to visit the stunning exhibition ‘8 Chairs‘ by Clarke & Reilly at Gallery Libby Sellers, closing on Friday, April 26th. The poetic travelogue details the plight and fate of eight specially sourced chairs as they made their way from the designers’ studio, to Peckham then California, and back to London again.
Describing their style as ‘unashamedly romantic and tirelessly imaginative’, Clarke & Reilly are known for applying an original persepctive to ‘lost’ pieces of furniture using narrative, historical knowledge, craftsmanship and a rarified sense of colour to redefine the work. ‘8 Chairs’ exemplifies this reverent attitude towards design as each of the chairs, selected to represent a specific character in the artists’ minds, has been reinvented, often using period and bespoke fabrics. The redefined forms were then installed on the rooftop of a Peckham building to weather the icy winter before being transported to the scorching Californian desert of 99 Palms. The consequences of such extremes, all documented through film and photography, are displayed in the Gallery. On their return, each chair underwent their own final process, informed by their individual response to the whole experience.
Clarke & Reilly – otherwise known as David Grocott and Bridget Dwyer (b. 1964, 1967) – have been collaborating as an artist duo since 2005. Bringing together their backgrounds in fashion (Dwyer) and antique furniture (Grocott), they create unique objects that convey their nostalgic and slightly eccentric aesthetic. Their works are in collections worldwide, and they recently exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time. They currently live between London and Los Angeles.
To complement the experiential nature of the exhibition, and to try to capture the extreme conditions endured by the chairs, Clarke & Reilly have worked with leading perfumer Azzi Glasser to create a signature scent for the exhibition. In researching the base notes for her scent, Glasser drew heavily on the project information given to her by the designers but she also spent time with the chairs on their return to London – getting an understanding of the environments in which they had been placed and the consequences these locations had on the fabric, smell and structure of each chair. Such partnerships and emphasis on the sensorial side of our built environment are essential to Clarke & Reilly. All works are available for sale through Gallery Libby Sellers.
Scent in collaboration with Azzi Glasser
Polaroid images by Laurence Passera
Film by Billy Boyd Cape
Hours: Tuesday > Friday 11 > 6 | Saturday 11 > 4

Gallery Libby Sellers
41-42 berners street | london WlT 3NB
+44 (0)20 3384 8785 | gallery@libbysellers.com