'This is an exhibition of survival spells, of alchemical accumulations where the mind and body meet.'

Maureen Paley is pleased to present the sixth solo exhibition by Anne Hardy. A new group of floor and wall sculptures will be presented across both the gallery and Studio M. The exhibition will also be accompanied by an artist’s publication co-published by Dent–De–Leone, designed by Kåjsa of Åbäke with a commissioned text by Lisa Le Feuvre. 

The works in the exhibition, begun during Anne Hardy’s residency at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, display the earthy, weather-worn tones of a desert or an archaeological site. The materials found there, in the street outside her London studio and while foraging within the inbetween spaces of cities, are incorporated throughout the sculptures. Rocks, metal, fly screens, shoes, ring pulls, atmospheres, beans cast in pewter, ‘things that were once useful’, suggest a layered sense of time and process. 

Survival Spell marks a shift towards figuration in Anne Hardy’s work and expands the sentient qualities of her large–scale FIELDwork installations into individual works. Life casts of hands and shoes, articles of the artists’ clothing, or stones arranged in the shape of hands cumulatively suggest living presence. In Being (Immaterial) and Being (Interloper), these elements resolve into fragmented but recognisable bodies that are seated or kneeling directly on the floor, rooted in earth. In Energy Locator the stone hands on the surface of a table are lit by a fluctuating light source controlled by meteorological data from Marfa. She makes a personal connection between emotional states and the weather, maintaining a temporal connection to a particular location. 

'The works in Survival Spell are made from materials gathered in the unstable and shifting terrains at the edges of our attention. The ‘pockets of wild space’ in the city, the overlooked land between roads, the edges of built space I found in the remote landscapes of west Texas on my residency at the Chinati Foundation; the small touches of human presence, ready to be swept away. There is a certain freedom in these places to me. There are no expectations; everything is possible. I see a transformative potential in these sites and materials.’ 

Anne Hardy, March 2024