Galleries 2 & 3 see our second major presentation of works by Sanne Maloe Slecht. The sense of the sculptural is never far from Slecht’s work, nor the sense of the uncanny – and in the subject matter of her most recent body of work she has found a perfect combination of these notions. Working from imagery from online sources, books and documentaries, Slecht presents elegant glimpses of the reproductive cycle of coral – a fascinating and strange process of budding and fragmentation. The otherworldly quality of the imagery is intentionally employed, producing a sense of wonder, as well as a reminder that these fragile and seemingly alien forms are of our world.
This series has, too, an autobiographical and deeply personal dimension, as it began during the pregnancy leading to the birth of her first child. The dual sense of wonderment and vulnerability refer to both the sense of self and life of the artist and her daughter, and to the increasingly threatened environment of the world’s coral reefs.
Slecht writes: My view has turned more inward over the past six months and a shift has taken place. Instead of looking at space in the largest sense of the word... I have paid more attention to the space in my head and my inner state. I find this an imaginative space, an intimate place that only I have access to. Visualising, for example, the fertilization of coral. This gigantic annual phenomenon feels otherworldly and has the same visual keys as my practice: holes, colors, blobs and patterns, but the origin is different, it is earthly, something realistic, something of which we undeniably acknowledge it's existence.
Becoming a mother has sparked this new path; a new fascination has arisen for fertilization and fertility, being a woman, and motherhood. Everything that's big and outside seems to matter less. Depicting an inner and intimate sensitivity feels like a logical continuation of my previous work - the speculative landscapes are faded, more in the background, sweeter, less contrasted, and they have soft edges. The image has become more silent, the perspective has changed.
Notes on the artist
Sanne Maloe Slecht was born in 1987 in Heemskerk, Netherlands. She lives and works in Krommenie, NL. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL, and the Royal College Of Art, UK – completing her MA there in 2019 (incorporating an exchange semester at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf). Her work has been featured in many gallery exhibitions, including Galerie Bart, &FOAM and W139, Amsterdam; Gallery Bipolar and artist residency Pilotenkueche, Leipzig; Galerie der HFBK, Hamburg; Parallel Art Fair, Vienna; Hockney Gallery, UK and The Herrick Gallery, London.
Slecht has been awarded several grants / prizes and scholarships, including the Mondriaan Fund 2021, Stroom Pro Onderzoek Research Grant, Hendrik Muller Fonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the Netherlands; Royal College of Art Continuation Fund & A-N Time Space Money from London. She has been a visiting lecturer in fine art at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague; Northampton School of Arts & the Ruskin School, University of Oxford.
For further information on the exhibitions and the artists please contact gallery@frestoniangallery.com
