Known UnknownsTeacher Resource
- Introduction
- Overview: Known Unknowns
- Exhibition floorplan
- Room by room guide
- Talking Points
- Artists by Theme
- Practical Activities
- Glossary of terms
Introduction to the Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a contemporary art gallery.
These artworks are at the cutting edge of contemporary art.
Many of the exhibited artists have never previously shown in the UK. They may be unknown when first exhibited, not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world.
These artists are subsequently offered shows by galleries and museums internationally. To this effect, the gallery operates as a springboard for young artists to launch their careers.
The Gallery presents 3-4 new exhibitions per year.
Overview of the Exhibition: Known UnknownsKnown Unknowns features work from avariety of different artists. Whilst someare well known, and others relativelyunknown, the overarching themebinding all artists in this exhibitiontogether, is their exploration ofconcepts about modern life and ourexistence.
Known Unknowns features the workof: Tom Anholt, Alida Cervantes,Francesca DiMattio, Theo Ellison,Maria Farrar, Stefanie Heinze, ChrisHood, Rannva Kunoy, Jill McKnight,Stuart Middleton, Mona Osman,Kirstine Roepstorff, Ben Schumacher,Tamuna Sirbiladze, Isobel Smith,Bedwyr Williams, and Saskia OldeWolbers.
Tom Anholt Francesca DiMattio Maria Farrar Bedwyr Williams Saskia Olde Wolbers
From a display of topsy-turvy intermingled body parts, to aboat wrapped in vinyl, the exhibition offers a range ofalternative approaches to exploring materials andoutcomes. This likewise applies to many of the paintings inthe exhibition, where artists use unusual materials andexploratory techniques. This exhibition offers an insight intothe common and the uncommon, through looking at theknown and unknown. It will likewise offer students from alldisciplines of Art and Design an opportunity to engage witha variety of different processes relevant to their ownmethods of making.
Known Unknowns will feature the following themes:
• Habitat home, location, place, house, feeling, furniture, setting, manmade, nature
• Advertising press, information, words, type, font, images, commercials, promotion, glossy, financial, papers and magazines, television, products, appearances
• Consumerism & Propaganda money, wealth, poverty, shopping, adding, image, messages, political, ideas, falsities, posters, slogans
• Celebrity & the Mass Media famous, icon, popular, promotion, public domain, privacy issues, publicity, image, mutually beneficial
• Art History genres, theory, learning
• Ideology & Religion ideas, ideals, thought process, perception, worship, faith, conflict, connections, comfort
• Sex & the Body procreation, gender, rights
Overview of the Exhibition: Known Unknowns
GROUND FLOOR
G1 : MONA OSMANG2*: TAMUNA SIRBILADZEG3: BEN SCHUMACHER & RANNVA KUNOYG4: TOM ANHOLT & MARIA FARRAR & ISOBEL SMITHG5 : STEFANIE HEINZE & FRANCESCA DIMATTIO
FIRST FLOOR
G6: CHRIS HOOD & BEDWYR WILLIAMS & JILL MCKNIGHT &STUART MIDDLETON G7: KIRSTINE ROEPSTORFFG8*: ALIDA CERVANTES*G10: SASKIA OLDE WOLBERS & THEO ELLISON
* These galleries contain artwork that may not be appropriate to under 16’s, please check on website prior to your visit.
Gallery 1- Mona Osman
• Osman spent her childhood in Budapest before moving to Nice, inFrance and graduating from Goldsmiths University in London with aBA in Fine Art.
• Her current work focuses on themes of individual perception,existentiality, and relationship dynamics.
• Her work features not only the human figure but the juxtapositionbetween them and the space they find themselves within.
• A lot of her inspiration comes from philosophers such as MartinHeidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Friedrich Hegel, from whom sheexplores what it means to be a human being.
• There is a strong sense of narrative in Osman’s paintings, which oftencomes with a sense of anxiety due to the tightly packed surfaces.
• The witty titles also offer a clue to her state of mind and how sheviews 21st century life in general.
Mona Osman Lying Down, Eyes Shut, 2017
Born 1992, in Budapest, Hungary
“My paintings often explore the
different stages of an emotional
outburst, the moment when anger has
dissipated but the damage of the rage
has been done, or the tension of
holding back under intense pressure”.
Mona Osman(top image):Thin or Fat, Meat or Veg we are all going to end up together, dead, 2017(bottom image): Storyboard of emotional stages, 2017
Gallery 2 -Tamuna Sirbiladze
• Sirbiladze’s paintings are large in scale and covered in a variety of marks and tones. Shetook inspiration from Viennese Actionism (a movement characterised by frenzied, violentand explicit performances).
• There is a speed to her paintings, giving each canvas a fast, expressionistic style.
• Each painting depicts naked female figures in the midst of bodily functions. Sirbiladzeuses abstract shapes to portray these figures, helping the imagery to become moreaccessible, and though while still graphic, in many cases not obscenely gratuitous.
• There is always something ordinary, something humorous, something melancholy andsomething sinister in her paintings.
• The exact meaning in each of Sirbiladze’s paintings is open to interpretation, blurred andmade even more ambiguous by their often poetic titles.
• Sirbiladze was also the widow of artist Franz West, and the two often collaborated onprojects.
Tamuna Sirbiladze (left to right):‘Map 1 (Four parts)’, 2005/8
‘The Husband Is No Wall’, 2007
Born in 1971, in Georgia
“Searching for light and colour is my main engagement” Sirbiladze for Forbes magazine
Gallery 3- Ben Schumacher & Rannva KunoyBen Schumacher
• Schumacher was originally a student of architecture in Ontario, Canada.However after working in a corporate firm he realised he was moresuited to be an artist.
• The lines and forms in his installation pieces are clearly influenced by hisarchitectural background.
• Schumacher’s incorporation of multimedia spans from a chair, cables,leather, bronze cable brackets, shrink-wrap, to a boat. Schumacher usesthese materials to explore ideas about technology, the Internet, and theenvironment.
Rannva Kunoy
• Kunoy was born in 1975 in the Faroe Islands, an archipelago midwaybetween Norway and Iceland. "If I was not from there," she says. "Iwould not know where it was”.
• One of Kunoy’s influences is Lucio Fontana and his cut paintings; anotheris the Minimalist Dan Flavin.
• The paintings push against the space they find themselves in,questioning the presumed order between art and its spatialenvironment.
Rannva Kunoy (left to right): ‘Flash Crash’, ‘We Are The World’, ‘Do Re Mi’, 2014
Ben SchumacherUndersea Cables, Reflected
Ceiling Plans. With John Keenen2013
Boat, Shrinkwrap, chair, Ikea light in original packaging, cable
management unit, cables, leather, bronze cable
management brackets and vinyl
Gallery 4- Tom Anholt & Maria Farrar & Isobel SmithTom Anholt
• His rich background (Irish and Persian Jewish)inspired a lot of his work and pushed him toexplore Christian and Islamic art history.
• He enjoys walking the line of controversy andhas said in the past that, “Nothing should bethought of as off limits”. He has a passion forGerman Expressionism and Neo-Expressionism.
• Anholt uses colour concepts to influence theviewer. He may use subtle colours to showharmony or intense colours to create conflict.
Isobel SmithBunny (Crying the Neck)
2017Bronze
Maria FarrarWave2017
Oil on canvas
Tom AnholtThe Lion's Second Dream
2017Oil on Collaged Linen
Maria Farrar
• Whilst made up of loose gestural marks, Farrar’s workmaintains a strong sense of figuration, which cementsa feeling of reality, albeit an abstract version of one.
• The surfaces of the works are personal orautobiographical, evidenced through her use of learnttechniques.
• Singular objects are extracted from her everydayreality and used in isolation in the paintings to refer tothemes such as luxury, loneliness and secrecy.
Isobel Smith
• Smith is a young performance artist from York, Englandwho has been exhibiting since 2016.
• She refers to her work as a combination of “themiraculous and the monstrous”, and with regards toherself she says she “might be a witch”.
• Some of her previous work has included covering herselfwith bird feathers, and hanging rubber sacks filled withwater from between her legs. This constant push againsttradition gives her work a sense of fearlessness.
Gallery 5 - Stefanie Heinze & Francesca DiMattioStefanie Heinze
• Heinze currently lives and works in Berlin.
• She creates large scale paintings depicting fleshy, distorted forms that stretch and twist aroundthe canvas.
• Upon first glance, her work appears to be no more than abstraction. On closer inspectionhowever, one can spot intermingled figures caught mid-action while eating, sleeping, and moving.This gives her work a sense of narrative.
Francesca DiMattio
• DiMattio’s busily layered work is an embodiment of Horror Vacui or Kenophobia – the fear ofempty spaces. Both her 2D and 3D work depicts a need to fill up every space.
• Drawing inspiration from forms found in Dutch Tulip Vases, DiMattio’s ceramic sculpturesreference stereotypes of femininity.
• DiMattio’s work draws inspiration from Pop, Art Nouveau, and Op Art.
• There is both a delicacy and brashness to DiMattio’s work, which helps to create a sense of playfulcharacterisation within the pieces.
Francesca DiMattio Confection, 2015
Underglaze, glaze, goldand silver luster on porcelain
and stoneware, epoxy, enamel
Stefanie Heinze Hunger (Suspicious Blinds), 2015Acrylic and oil on canvas
Gallery 6- Chris Hood, Bedwyr Williams, Jill McKnight & Stuart Middleton
Chris Hood• Hood is an American artist who currently lives in New York City.• He creates his paintings using a distinctive technique, wherein he applies the paint to the reverse of
an immense canvas and allows it to bleed through.• His “inside-out” paintings feature a sense of freedom and softness, which he controls by adding bold
cartoon characters and bitmojis, who represent elements of contemporary imagery.• Hood is inspired by a wide range of artists from Carroll Dunham to Goethe.
Bedwyr Williams• Williams frequently uses his own autobiographic existence to develop his sculptures and
performances.• His work merges art and life with a comedic twist. This makes his work relatable and personally
insightful for audience members engaging with the work.• ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’ celebrates diversity, inclusion, and community. By using objects which are
universal, Williams showcases the values of tolerance and individualism.• ‘Prudence’ (pictured right) is a 3D portrait parodying “Gallerinas” with its square head and square wig.
The harsh corners allude to the power of these figures, who are perceived as intimidating, yet thestyle of the work is tongue in cheek.
Jill McKnight• The use of colour is very important in her work as it ranges from fluorescent to plain white, giving
each alternative piece an alternative feeling and look.• A lot of her works are plaster and bandage sculptures inspired by her family and memories.
Stuart Middleton• Middleton was born in Crewe in the North of England.• Middleton works primarily in new media, which is often sculptural, installation, or video.• In his 3D work, Middleton uses a range of materials to build up structures, showcasing a range of
techniques and texture.• Recurring themes in his work include gender, power play, technology, societal hierarchies, money,
and emotion.• His exploration of the human figure is used to represent fiction meeting popular culture.
Bedwyr Williams Prudence, 2012Mixed media
“If you stretch your own canvas,versus buying it pre-stretched, youstart to see paintings in a certainway. It dawned on me: it’s amaterial with which to transmit.”(Chris Hood)
Chris Hood Untitled (Sad Mascot), 2015Oil on canvas
Jill McKnight Bob, 2013Plaster bandage, chicken wire
Stuart Middleton Sad Sketches 1, 2014Paper mâché, cardboard, watercolour, coloured pencil, polymer clay, aluminium foil and laminated chipboard
Gallery 7 - Kirstine Roepstorff• Roepstorff works primarily in collage. She incorporates images from
popular culture and the media, in order to illustrate existing powerrelations. By editing and fragmenting the original material, the imagesinvent new contexts for story telling.
• The collages are often large and use a variety of different materials likefabrics, photocopies, cuttings, foils, brass, wood and paper. Using a broadrange of materials adds to the layered richness of Roepstorff’s newlandscapes. The large scale makes them engulfing.
• Each artwork is a cultural probe. She regularly makes reference to variousstandard cultural icons and plays with the format of them, in order toquestion and mock them.
• In Roepstorff’s Hidden Truth (pictured) the huge scale of the piece mocksthe idea of advertising and imagery. Produced in the style of a billboard-sized postcard-collage, the work depicts an estate agent’s dream of arustic sci-fi paradise, with building blocks precariously slotted in andaround the sprawling landscape.
Kirstine Roepstorff Hidden Truth, 2002Paper, glitter, pearls, sequins, paint, on wallpaper, collage, mounted on 4 aluminium panels
Born 1972, in Denmark
“The paradox of working with art, from my point of view, lies in the process of using the resources and inspiration of the formless and in trying to find a properform for it in order to transmit the sensibility. This reduction from the formless is to me one of the challenging and exciting conditions of art making.”
Gallery 8- Alida CervantesAlida Cervantes
• Cervantes uses painting to explore various social themes including:gender, sexuality, violence, race, economy, and political history.
• Cervantes was raised in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico. Her paintingsare directly influenced by her upbringing and where she grew up.
• The use of colour is very important in Cervantes’ paintings as they reflectthe warmth of Mexico and add a sense of brightness to the images,making the sometimes violent subject matter easier to view.
• Her work also uses humour to tackle more intense narratives within thework, including scenes of male castration and bloody revenge in HorizonteEn Calma, 2011, where the artist showcases her tongue-in-cheekapproach to painting.
• Each painting is set up within its own environment, with its ownfragmentary characters.
Horizonte En Cálma,2011Oil on wood panel
Desde que te conoci, 2016 Oil, acrylic, acrylic spray paint on cardboard
“My work is tied to my personal story which I would say Ipresent as a combination somewhere between an opera andstand-up comedy.”
Gallery 10- Saskia Olde Wolbers & Theo EllisonSaskia Olde Wolbers• Olde Wolbers often takes inspiration from news articles, television
documentaries, and urban legends. Each of Olde Wolbers films narrate fictionalbiographies, which explore global politics, neuroses, and contemporarymythology.
• Olde Wolbers uses traditional methods to explore contemporary themes.Working with film rather than digital media, she painstakingly builds each set inminiature – a process which can take years.
• Whilst her videos are often presented in the format of documentaries, they alsoattain a science-fiction aesthetic, giving them a dreamlike quality.
• Olde Wolbers’ work explores rich and topical themes including the dynamic ofrelationships, identity construction, and co-dependence.
Theo Ellison• Ellison is interested in seductive imagery and how it affects the psyche of the
viewer.
• Acutely sharp, his photographs explore themes of attraction, seduction andcharisma.
• The idea of consent is also central to Ellison’s work, both on the part of the viewerand the subject, with one who is objectified and one who cannot look away.
Theo Ellison Entombment, 2017. C-type Lambda print
Saskia Olde Wolbers Interloper, 2003. DVD
Known Unknowns Talking Points
What classes as being ‘known’?
How contemporary is contemporary?
Have artists adopted any historical images/ideas in this exhibition?
In what ways have these images and ideas been altered by the artists?
Have any past genres in art been appropriated or explored in this exhibition?
Do you think this opens up a dialogue with artists of the past?
What concepts are provoked by the work?
Has anything been added or taken away?
What is the effect of these alterations?
Are there common cultural or social factors that the works were borne out of?
Does all contemporary art need to be concept driven?
Is it important to see a range of different methods and materials from a range of different artists in any one
exhibition?
Artists by Theme
ConnectionsStuart MiddletonSaskia Olde Wolbers
Light and DarkAlida CervantesFrancesca DiMattioTom AnholtMaria FarrarChris HoodKirstine RoepstorffMona OsmanSaskia Olde WolbersTheo Ellison
Fragments Francesca DiMattioTom AnholtKirstine RoepstorffSaskia Olde Wolbers
Sculpture / installationStuart MiddletonBen SchumacherIsobel SmithJill McKinght
ColourAlida CervantesKirstine RoepstorffStefanie HeinzeTom AnholtChris HoodMona OsmanRannva Kunoy
These themes have been selected with the curriculum in mind, following topics chosen by various exam boards.
MaterialsStuart MiddletonFrancesca DiMattioBen SchumacherIsobel SmithBedwyr WilliamsSaskia Olde WolbersKirstine RoepstorffJill McKinght
Telling StoriesAlida CervantesTom AnholtMaria FarrarChris HoodKirstine RoepstorffMona OsmanSaskia Olde Wolbers
The Human FigureAlida CervantesStuart MiddletonMona Osman
ContrastIsobel SmithKirstine RoepstorffSaskia Olde Wolbers
Secrets, Codes and ConventionsKirstine RoepstorffTom AnholtFrancesca DiMattioMaria Farrar
ActivitiesThe activities on the following pages have been designed in line with curriculum aims. Activities can be adapted to suit different age groups and learning abilities. It is indicated if the activity is to be used in the gallery or in school.
Meeting the artistIn-gallery
A useful activity when visiting anyexhibition is to split the group intosmaller groups and ask them to devise aset of questions that they would like toask the artist. After a given time, ask thegroups to swap questions and worktogether to come up with the answers.
Art & Curation In-gallery
Ask students to tour the entire exhibition , paying particular attention to the layout and structure of the work.
In their sketchbooks, students should draw a floor plan of the gallery and draw in where each piece of work is on display. Ask students to explain why they think each piece is where it is and if they would change the placement of any work, explaining why.
Students should consider:
- Scale- Medium- Context
This task should then be extended for students to consider and plan an exhibition/ the presentation of their own work back in school.
Listen & learn In-gallery
Ask students to choose an artwork and then use the voice recorder on their phones to answer the following questions (without saying the name of the artist or the title):
- How does this artwork make you feel? - What do you think it is about?- Is it a popular artwork? How are other people interacting
with it?
Students should then swap phones and listen to the recording, to guess which artwork their friend is talking about.
Compare and ContrastIn-gallery
Ask students to select three artists who work with different scales. They should then select one piece of work from each artist and compare and contrast focusing on….
Material EffectColourSubject
Feedback to the rest of the group, detailing how scale effects the impact and meaning of work.
Descriptive TaskIn-gallery
In pairs, sit back to back with one person facing an artwork of their choice. The other person should not be able to see the artwork. The person facing the artwork should describe it in as much detail as possible to the other person, who will be drawing what they hear in their sketchbook.
Allow 10 minutes and then swap. Feedback as a group on how they found the exercise.
- Was it easier or harder than they thought it would be?
- What were more important- drawing skills or communication skills?
- Did it allow students to look at the artwork in more detail? Would they have normally spent this long studying it?
Making linksIn-gallery
Ask students to choose an artwork. Does the work relate to any other areas of knowledge, such as Science, Geography or History? Can they link it to any other arts, such as film, music or literature?
Discussion of termsIn-gallery / in-school
Discuss the meaning of the following terms:
multimedia / contemporary / appropriation
The activities on the following pages have been designed in line with curriculum aims. Activities can be adapted to suit different age groups and learningabilities. It is indicated if the activity is to be used in the gallery or in school.
Activities
Glossary of termsKnown: Recognized, familiar, or within the scope of knowledge.
Unknown: An unknown person or thing. Someone or something that isunfamiliar.
Appropriation: The deliberate reworking of images and styles from earlier,well-known works of art or artistic genres.
Expressionism and neo-expressionism: Expressionism was a Modernistmovement, initially in poetry and painting, which originated in Germany atthe start of the 20th century. Its objective is to radically distort subjectiveperspective, in order to evoke moods or ideas. Neo-expressionism is a stylepainting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s.
Art Nouveau: Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture andapplied art, especially evident in the decorative arts, that was most popularbetween 1890 and 1910.
Kanji: Japanese writing using Chinese characters.
Guernica: A highly charged political piece. Probably Picasso's most famouswork.
Autobiographic: Work which is marked by or dealing with one's ownexperiences or life history.
Hybridized: cross-breed (individuals of two different species or varieties).
Abstraction: Art that does not attempt to represent reality, insteadusing shapes, forms, colours, and textures.
Figuration: Art that is clearly derived from real object sources.
Viennese Actionism: Characterised by frenzied, violent and explicitperformances
Minimalism: An extreme form of abstract art developed in the 1960s.It is usually made up of simple geometric shapes.
Society: A body of people living together in a more or less orderedcommunity.
Requiem: An act or token of remembrance.
Reminiscent: Tending to remind one of something.
Parody: An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genrewith deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
Aesthetics: The appearance of something or someone or a piece ofart.
Multi-media: Art which uses a range of materials in the production ofone or more pieces.
Source: The Oxford English Dictionary
