The Five is a group of artist-makers who work independently of each other, in studios geographically apart, and exhibit collectively.
Although The Five have all spent time as traditional printmakers, they use ceramics, fabric, plaster, and metal as well as more conventional paper and ink. Their work is process-led, allowing curiosity and an experimental approach to dictate the direction. The Five celebrate the unplanned and share a passion to innovate, constantly asking themselves the question ‘What if?’.
Each artist adopts this experimental approach in their chosen discipline, combining their own, often unique, methods with unexpected techniques and materials. The Five speak of bodies of work within their practice as being within a state of flux, where even if the materials and approach have been decided, the nature of the final form is uncertain or even temporary. By revisiting, re-working and refining their work, there is potential for infinite change, where perfection is neither intended nor sought. Traces of enquiry become part of the narrative, reflecting the emotions and tensions of both makers and materials. This quest for abstraction, for finding the essence of the piece, allows the maker the licence to play. The work explores the notion that making is a dialogue with material, in which both artist and art are active participants. Within each practice, defined stages in the making process may legitimately become an outcome of equal value to the final piece.
There are references to time, stories, seasons, hidden layers and imagined futures where the end point is unknown; there are emotional responses and periods of reflection. Through exploration with colour, line, and texture, as well as form, the work pushes boundaries and expectations of each chosen medium. The resulting work, curated by the artists themselves, is both two and three dimensional, in and outside of the traditional picture frame.
