LONDON.- Elephant announced a new collaboration between painter, Anna Liber Lewis, and musician, Kieran Hebden, AKA Four Tet.

The pair have known each other almost all their lives; they grew up together in London and ran in overlapping social circles.

Both became part of the music scene as they and their friends came of age.

For the first time, Elephant West presents a newly commissioned body of work by Liber Lewis and Hebden in the form of painting and music, created in tandem and responding to each other.

In line with the ambition of Elephant West to be known as a space for experimentation and interdisciplinary practice, these two artists have created a new experiential installation that activates the senses of sight and sound.

Muscle Memory runs from 18 January to 17 March 2019 at Elephant West, the innovative new art space launched in the autumn of last year.

Talking about their shared creative impulses, Anna Liber Lewis explains, “We were both influenced by how we move through the world and the people and things close to us…”

The installation, is a multi-sensory experience, where the audience should feel able to move freely, and dance if they want to, it aims to disrupt the idea of the “white cube space” exhibition, ubiquitous across the contemporary art scene.

Liber Lewis’s paintings are expressive and full of emotional content. Talking about her work, she observes, “ Each painting comes from an encounter.

I am interested in this moment when something shifts: a metamorphosis that happens sometimes physically; sometimes emotionally, manifested in behaviour, body language and visual signs, a shape shifting.”

Liber Lewis frequently begins her work with a strong central symbol or gesture, working from it and around it, adding layers upon layers, painting out and painting over until she senses the piece is finished.

Her painting practice is both intuitive and instinctive, informed by movement of the body and tuning in to the internal landscape.

Bold symbolic images become tethering points for the emotional register of the moment, as painter Ansel Krut says, “They are challenging images, often confrontational, often comic, often sensual…

There are complex narratives in the paintings, and veiled and unveiled allusions, erudition and reference.”

Musician and solo artist, Hebden, has created three new tracks for the collaboration, each made in response to the images Liber Lewis was sending to him over a period of approximately 6 months.

The tracks range from ambient and twinkly, to bass-heavy and danceable, echoing the emotional journey across Liber Lewis’s work.

These particular tracks are only available to listen to as part of the project at Elephant West.

Both artists lost their fathers in the past year; a strange and tragic coincidence that ultimately took them through another shared experience together.

The resulting collaborative show is heavy with grief in parts, but also full of hope and celebrates the joy of life with all its emotional highs and lows.

“We both work from a space of not knowing”, observes Liber Lewis drawing on the essays of the American writer, Donald Barthelme, “the not knowing is crucial to art, it is what permits art to be made”.

Anna was born and grew up in London.

She attended Wimbledon School of Art for her Foundation course and went on to do a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Central St Martins followed by an MA in Fine Art Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2015.

Anna has been the recipient of a number of awards and residencies and has exhibited in numerous group shows across the UK.

She was the winner of the Griffin Art Prize in 2017.

Kieran was born and grew up in London. He is best known for his stage name Four Tet.

Hebden is a musician and solo artist and first came to prominence as a member of the band, Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist.

He now travels the world with his music.