South African artist Igshaan Adams’s first solo exhibition in the UK takes the form of a single immersive environment. Using simple materials such as wire, textile fibres and glass beads, Adam creates complex, works that, together with the exhibition as a whole, are composed of multiple patterns.

Clouds of fine wires suspended in the air or seemingly floating just above the ground, form shimmering, intertwined helixes infused with cosmic grace.

On the walls and floor, Adams places huge tightly woven textiles which counterpoint the light and airy clouds. The fibres are interwoven with beads, forming lush surfaces that cry out to be stroked and caressed.

Perhaps it is possible to read meanings in the work, references to Adam’s a sense of identity within the multicultural South African reality. But I don’t know enough about that to say.

As I wandered through the exhibition I was moved to reflect on the human condition, our need to be tightly connected to one another as a survival mechanism. With all our apparent difference, we are one species. Yet we also need freedom for our imaginations to wander among the stars and the clouds.

More about the artist:

https://www.galeriemagazine.com/next-big-things-igshaan-adams/

Insta @igshaan.adams