In Dispersed Caroline Rothwell’s bronze Tygers roam the plaza against a backdrop of silhouetted PVC drawings based on hybrid flora. The Tygers are imagined animals influenced by historical drawings and current explorations into genetic recreations of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger — one of the many strange and unknown creatures from our colonial past.
The exhibition explores our ever-evolving relationship with the natural world, into territories both real and imagined. For centuries, London has been the site of embarkation for countless explorations to unknown parts of the world. The specimens, drawings and knowledge that have returned have led to significant and often unintended consequences. The sculptures are cast in fabric moulds so that the creatures themselves sit uneasily between stuffed museum pieces and die-cast toy animals. Dispersed is a surreal world of uncanny flora and fauna, familiar yet displaced — a disconcerting wonderland that is toxic and unsettling in its new surrounds.
Caroline Rothwell studied at Wimbledon School of Art and Camberwell College of Art. In 2004 she was artist in residence at Nottingham University, for which she produced a travelling show. She has had solo shows at Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, and Artspace, Sydney, in 2008 and at Grantpirrie Gallery, Sydney in 2009, and has recently made a large-scale inflatable installation for the Hong Kong Art Fair.
Caroline Rothwell is concurrently showing Slamina at Maddox Arts, 52 Brook’s Mews, London, W1K 4ED, from 11 September to 17 October 2009.