artist website
Associated events:
public opening event
Friday 30th June 2023, 6:30-9:30pm
Location:
Aire Place Studios
Unit 2c
Aire Place Mills
Kirkstall Road
Leeds
LS3 1JL
Agency of Realised Worlds
by Clem Archibald
Exhibition Dates: 23 June – 25 August 2023
APS Gallery in partnership with Ort Gallery and ICF presents the Agency of Realised Worlds.
Kicking off the first in a series of upcoming offsite projects, we are pleased to introduce Agency of Realised Worlds, an exhibition that celebrates the life work of the Artist Clem Archibald.
We invite you to take a first look at Clem’s vibrant and bold paintings that span over 60 years.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Artist Clem Archibald and Curator Sarah Francis which explores and showcases Archibald’s unseen painting over six decades. Two different creatives, two different socio-cultural perspectives, with a shared sense of the different worlds realised through art and making. The project has spanned 12 months, curating the stories and paintings that represent different stages of Clem's life and experiences. This is an autobiographical journey of an artist almost left behind by barriers in the cultural world, showcasing his unprecedented talent.
“Art has the power to transport an artist from a world they feel a sense of unbelonging into a world of their own imagination, of safety and where they can share their stories. A world where they can be their authentic selves without the fear of prejudice, and harm from others. A world that is unashamedly the WE we seek. These worlds we create carry transformative powers to be able to translate these stories into the real world, so that we can connect, relate, and be moved with exploration. Agency of Realised worlds explores the talented work of Clem, a proud Leeds artist we should all be celebrating. His art is saturated in Leeds history and an untold personal connection which he explores in his paintings. I have been a privileged guest inside Clem’s world and I am so thrilled to be permitted to showcase his paintings in this exhibition. His artwork should be in collections, and I hope that after 60 years this exhibition can form the start of his legacy and a shift in finding and platforming our hidden voices within Leeds.” Sarah Francis, Curator.
This exhibition stems from Ort Gallery and ICF’s Emergence(y) project for emerging curators, which Sarah Francis was selected to participate in in 2021. As part of the project, Francis undertook a period of research and development towards this exhibition with Clem Archibald. Emergence(y) was funded by Arts Council England.
