A collaborative exhibiton between
The Sunday Painter & Matt’s Gallery
Opening Reception & Performance: Thursday 23 May, 6 – 9 pm across both spaces
Harminder Judge’s A Ghost Dance is a single exhibition of new work across both Matt’s Gallery and The Sunday Painter in South London. Located just 10 minutes walk from each other, the two spaces are pleased to present an exhibition in two parts. The galleries have worked collaboratively to help Judge realise a new body of work that brings the artist’s wall-based plaster pieces into dialogue with new developments with free standing and floor-based sculptures.
A Ghost Dance references funeral rites, processions and the presence of ghosts and spirits. It draws on persistent themes in Judge’s work: life, death, ritual and rebirth, creating parallels between the deconstructed body and the cosmos. Judge is preoccupied with physical and spiritual transformation - a body becoming ash, material becoming immaterial, the physical becoming metaphysical. The show revisits early elements of his practice, extends recent developments in his work, and opens up new areas of exploration. His work sets into motion dialogues between Western Modernism, Indian Neo Tantric painting, American Transcendental painting and familial funeral traditions drawn from rural Punjab.
The 'Ghost Dance' of the title refers to a Native American ceremony. This type of circle dance was practised to raise the spirits of the dead in order for them to fight alongside the living to reclaim land from colonial settlers. Over recent years, Judge has developed a distinctive and innovative practice grounded in an extended exploration of pigmented plaster as an artistic medium. The plaster sets – freezing a record of its creation in time – the surface is worked, polished and slowly worn away to reveal layers of colour, texture and movement beneath. This process embraces chance, and over time he has pushed it further with each new work. The results are sensual and seductive, with surfaces appearing sleek and shimmering. They have an illusory quality, seeming to hover in front of the wall, suggesting depth, evoking the idea of a portal or doorway and inviting the viewer to stay with them in contemplation.
For Matt’s Gallery, Judge will work at scale, developing a monumental, enveloping expanse of material, pigment and colour for the space and setting this into dialogue with new discreet, floor-based semi-figurative works redolent of funereal urns or totems. For The Sunday Painter, Judge will combine new works on a smaller scale with a like new cadaver-like sculpture devised for their space. A processional performance between the two spaces will take place on the opening night, recalling early performance works by the artist.
The exhibition is accompanied by a new essay by writer and curator Susanna Davies-Crook, building on her previous text 'Spectres and Portals: The Work of Harminder Judge', produced for the artist’s debut solo show in India at Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai in 2023. As part of London Gallery Weekend, Judge will be in conversation with Davies-Crook on Saturday June 1st at Matt's Gallery to discuss the two-part exhibition. The talk will cover a spectrum of topics including belief, ritual, consciousness, material process, matter, and abstraction. Booking required via London Gallery Weekend here.
