Joseph Black’s forthcoming exhibition opens this December, bringing together five years of work exploring form, movement, and the delicate balance between endurance and fragility.
"In this exhibition I wanted to collect together a comprehensive body of work which explored form and composition, embodying nature's repetitions, its fragility, and its resilience. The majority of pieces in the exhibition focus on the equestrian form, something which has been a central focus of my practice. It is a subject which I have been repeatedly drawn to for its endless potential to evoke movement, light, and balance. The work also explores the profound contradiction between the living animal and its enduring, and recurring presence in art history.
The exhibition features my other primary interest in the textures and forms of dried flowers. In these works I seek to shift away from botanical illustration and allow the plants to become more archetypal voices of matter and memory, as witnesses of order and decay. The plant motif allows me to explore ideas of fragmentation, destruction and the possibility of renewal.
These two motifs come together to create a body of work which is unified by a central exploration of endurance amidst fragility. The collection is likewise unified by a consistent interest in the light and colour associated with times of day suggestive of transition. Soft purples and warm reds accompanied by diffuse lighting evoke a feeling of immanent change.
This presentation reflects my collaboration with the gallery as well as my broader artistic journey. By unifying works created over the last five years with brand-new pieces, the exhibition offers a compelling visual narrative, illuminating my sustained exploration of equestrian and botanical form’s."
Joseph Black, Autumn 2025
