Shelf
14.02.26 – 28.03.26
opens: saturday 14 february, noon to six
Shelf
domobaal is delighted to present 'Shelf': Alice Wilson, Dominic Beattie, Fabian Peake, Karolina Albricht, Maud Cotter, Mhairi Vari, Neil Zakiewicz, Nicky Hirst, Phyllida Barlow and Richard Woods, in an exhibition curated by Neil Zakiewicz. 'Shelf' follows on directly from 'Big Names', Neil Zakiewicz's fourth solo exhibition in the gallery, drawing attention to his ongoing curatorial practice alongside his artistic practice.
The selected artists span a range of ages and career stages, yet they all question the traditional hierarchies of painting, sculpture, and design, moving fluidly among these media. Working with ceramics, found objects, plaster, paint, and wood, they incorporate the shelf directly into their works. Rather than treating the shelf as a peripheral support (a mere afterthought), it is integral to the work from the outset; the shelf, therefore, is the subject.
One could also say that the artists are solving the eternal problem that faces sculptors of how to present sculpture sympathetically with the environment. Their concern is not only with the shelf, but the gallery itself – the building that is outside their control. This approach aligns with installation art's awareness that the gallery is a non–neutral space, echoing Brian O'Doherty's scepticism toward the notion of a homogeneous, sacral white cube (Inside the White Cube, 1976). Instead of allowing objects to passively rest for easy consumption within the gallery, they are placed in tension with its ambiguously defined environment. One could argue that the shelves presented in this exhibition both protect and absorb the works, like anchored ships in a harbour.
Neil Zakiewicz has curated thirteen exhibitions to date, including '2019' (Campbell Works, 2023), 'Boot' (Terrace, 2022; touring Platform A, 2023), 'Washing Line' (Thames Side Studios, 2020), 'Mechanical Abstract' (Turps Gallery, 2016), and 'If I Was a Sculptor (But Then Again, No)' (Bearspace, 2007, funded by Arts Council England). All these exhibitions have investigated the material conditions of display and the formal constraints that shape contemporary art.