Apothecary
Stephen Bambury
Joyce Campbell
Murray Green
Noel Ivanoff
Julia Morison
Fiona Pardington
Cornelia Parker
4 - 24 February 2011
The Apothecary, probably first appeared in the 15thCentury, as the keeper of the medicines, and the brewer and dispenser of healing herbs. He was both healer and magician. The role evolved from the alchemist who, desirous to achieve metaphysical transformations, had acquired a knowledge of organic salts, gun powders, paints, potions and poisons and the all important skills of the chemical processes that might have turned base metal to gold.
This combination of knowledge, superstition and magic somehow propelled us into the age of modern medicine but left behind a rich inheritance for the artist; full of symbolism, instructive in process, a source of materials, and a potent pot of allegory and mysticism.
The artists, delving into the apothecary’s chest have found poisons, gun powder, pigments and the techniques of metallurgy to create works that capture the elusive, ephemeral, and the mysterious qualities of this legacy.
Poison and Antidote Drawing 1-5 2010
Rattlesnake venom and black ink. Anti-venom and white ink.
37 x 37 cm
Ghost (LXXVII)
Chemical action and 12k white gold on two aluminium panels
900 x 1800mm
Myriorama : UU 2008
gesso, acrylic and ink on aluminium/polyurethane laminate
1200 x 1200 mm (2 panels)
Heading #3 2011
residue resulting from the combustion of FFg black powder on Fabriano cotton rag
510 x 1400 mm
Heading #3 2011 detail
Myriorama :EIBIEIXIO 2008
ink, gesso, acrylic and lacquer on aluminium/polyurethane laminate
600 x 3600 mm (9 panels)
Levigation - orange VII 2011 Raw pigment and acrylic binder on dacron
900 x 900mm