Kartini Thomas : Rotten Island
Galerie Revel is thrilled to present "Rotten Island," the first major solo exhibition by the artist Kartini Thomas, unveiling a collection of unique sculptures from October 25th to December 17th, 2023.
From October 25th to December 17th, 2023, Galerie Revel invites collectors and art enthusiasts to discover the unique world of American artist Kartini Thomas in what marks her first major solo exhibition. Inspired by "Rotten Island," a children's fable penned by William Steig in 1984, the exhibition aims to celebrate the transformative power of beauty and reflect on the construction of myths throughout ages and cultures.
Drawing inspiration from William Steig’s fantastical world, where island monsters are troubled by the sudden appearance of a flower and the uncontrollable chaos it causes, Kartini Thomas transforms the gallery to immerse us in her own interpretation of Rotten Island. Composing an ode to the beauty that troubles and emerges unexpectedly, even in the darkest recesses of the world, Thomas sculpts large-scale clay creatures that proliferate through eccentric flora, with some even daring to climb the gallery's walls. When asked about her fascination with the bizarre and monstrous, Thomas sheds light: "I think the idea of monstrosity is important to me. Otherness, the idea that we can imagine ourselves differently, step out of our human state, be freer and reinvent ourselves – that’s what the monster allows us to do. There are fewer expectations, and it allows us to have fun and be different." Through her sculptures, the artist seems to remind us that there is pleasure in contemplating the strange and deformed; in the end, the beautiful and the polished may lack mystery, that "uncanny" feel, which both obsesses and captivates in an ambivalent interplay of attraction and repulsion.
"Rotten Island" also delves into the artist's reflections on the construction of myths across different eras and cultures. How do myths come into being? What needs do they fulfill, and why do they emerge? Whether in ancient Mesopotamia, millennia-old India, Abrahamic narratives or Steig's writing, the same observation can be made: the enduring need to create cosmogonies, in other words, to imagine the beginnings of the terrestrial world – or those of an imaginary world – as if it were an intrinsic aspect of the chemistry of the mind. Inventing one's own mythology, narrating it, crystallizing it, and bringing it to life : this was William Steig’s quest in 1984, and the very same quest that illuminates Thomas's reflections as she reimagines the contours of a sculpted Rotten Island.
