Sleight of Hand at Ramp Gallery, Wintec, Collingwood Street, Hamilton from 12 -22 June, 2018

Sleight of Hand

Essay written by Wendy Richdale, Curator, Ramp Gallery, Wintec, Hamilton

Jen Bowmast, Leafa Wilson, Natasha Matila-Smith, Lynda Wilson, Barbara Smith

Ramp Gallery

12 – 22 June, 2018 Opening preview: Mon 11 June, 4:30 – 6:30pm

Sleight of Hand is a term commonly associated with magic, trickery and the art of misdirection.  A skill of cunning where dexterity, combined with showmanship, produces illusions that make an audience gasp with wonder.  But trickery to one is the display of skill to another – years of repetition, learning and development culminating in a precise moment.

When bringing this exhibition Sleight of Hand together, I found myself thinking of the magical moment of collision during the act of making art.  The artist’s magic occurs in the production of something new, (hopefully) something larger than the sum of its parts:  a culmination of an artist's skill at manipulating materials and ideas combined with the exploitation of a material’s potentiality. The alchemy of the artist’s sense of play is what enables the viewer to see (in part) what the artist does.   Sleight of Hand provides an opportunity to experience these moments, bringing together makers that explore their chosen medium with playfulness and rigour in equal measure; suggesting an alternative way of experiencing and looking at the world around us.

The five artists in Sleight of Hand work in different media but all explore potentiality and moments of transformation in their practices.  The exchange between materials, ideas and intuition are played out by each of them.   This urge to make and transform arguably speaks to larger needs we all face; the need to find a sense of place and of belonging.  In this fast-paced digital and global world of ours, moments of quiet where transformation is observed and experienced, can create this feeling.  Organising perceived disorder can make one feel at home and part-of, rather than adrift in space.  The gallery in Sleight of Hand is a utility room for presenting art, but equally, it becomes a site for enacting exchange and thereby cultivating a sense of place and belonging. 

The artists’ have connections between each other, some new, some long-standing.  The process of developing an exhibition and of having their work presented together also develops new threads of belonging.  As a viewer, your part in this process is important too.  The way you walk through and pause in the ether generated, the connections you make, the impressions you feel, all embody and enable a new moment of belonging.