LONDON.- The 2025 edition of Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s now traditional summer exhibition gathers four artists who are based in different European cities, who will present either solo or duo shows at the gallery in the second semester. Shadi Al-Atallah and Amanda Kyritsopoulou are based in London; Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien lives in Paris; and Petra Feriancová resides in Bratislava, where she was born. Presenting two works by each artist, the aim is to offer a soft immersion into the extraordinary aesthetics that will shape the programme of our Deptford space in the coming months.

This also means a homecoming for Petra Feriancová, an artist who has been involved ad hoc with EXB’s programme since its inception ten years ago and is now formally represented by the gallery. Feriancová’s relentless body of work – or rather, bodies of work – spans a variety of media while encompassing an equally vast variety of interests. Chief among these is motherhood, both in biological and figurative senses, whereupon the planet Earth, with its limited resources, is placed as the primordial mother. In this summer show, she will exhibit two handmade embroideries sewn over fabrics that were once part of her intimate universe. These works display sentences that translate the artist’s thoughts and feelings, continuing an ongoing investigation into language that has taken many shapes over the years, such as silk curtains and marble lápidas. The sentences were written in 2017, one whilst the artist navigated the intricacies of a divorce and were embroidered this year by Feriancová’s friend and collaborator Zuzana Duchová.

Language is also central to the work of Amanda Kyritsopoulou, who, through a rather different perspective, offers input into the joys and perils of our daily lives. Kyritsopoulou’s gaze is both matter-of-fact and humorous, as if everyone’s favourite hero, Mr Hulot, by Jacques Tati, was tasked with doing something ordinary, like teaching one how to drive. Here she shows two works from a series originally displayed in her degree show at the Royal Academy in 2020, capturing the anxieties we each inevitably carry within. They are photographs showing people lying comfortably in massage chairs, their faces concealed but their thoughts revealed in titles: ‘Marian is wondering if she’s ever seen clearly ’, reads one, ‘Margo wants to know how much is too much ’, the other. The photographs are treated to look hazy, as if out of focus, mimicking the very lack of focus the character portray. Later this year, Kyritsopoulou will have a duo show with Feriancová where they deepen their investigations into the mysteries and banalities of life.

Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien is a French artist of Guadeloupe and Ivory Coast heritage, a syncretism that she brings to the forefront of her work. She does so by applying vernacular knowledge and techniques that are ancestral to these cultures to her practice, whilst visiting their many mythologies to build an imagery that reflects and expands this heritage. A multidisciplinary practitioner with a special taste for threads, Messouma Manlanbien employs an amalgam of materials to compose her intricate works – from precious to mundane, found to fabricated – resulting in vibrant compositions. There is a striking femininity embedded in her work, possibly due to the fact that weaving is a task mostly associated with women, and that she herself grew up surrounded by female artisans. In this summer show, the artist shows two tapestries that somehow complete one another – like yin and yang, ‘Night ’ and ‘Day ’ – made with the rich variety of substances that characterise her production.

Although rather diverse in form, Messouma Manlanbien’s artistic universe resonates with that of Shadi Al-Atallah, a Saudi artist who grew up partly in Bahrain and has been based in London for many years. Al-Atallah’s preferred media are painting and drawing, surfaces which he masterfully uses to craft a visual vocabulary that draws on mythologies and religious tropes. The artist’s aesthetic is a contemporary take on chiaroscuro, as he contrasts shades of white with darker tones for powerful visual effects. Noteworthy, the human body is ever present in his works: distorted in form, often androgynous and bearing facial expressions that switch between agony and ecstasy. Lately, the hole – as a metaphor, a portal and as a physical occurrence – has been pivotal to his practice; indeed, the two paintings that he shows in this context are examples of this interest. Both he and Messouma Manlanbien will have exhibitions at the gallery later this year, which, albeit solos, are nevertheless in dialogue through their mutual interests.

This exhibition will run from 1st August to 30th August 2025, Wednesday to Saturday, 12-6 pm or by appointment.

Curated by Maria do Carmo M. P. de Pontes