Up Next
Please assume that Private Views are held on Fridays at 6-9pm.
23rd May-7th June Fringe Arts Bath 'Lusus Naturae'
at The Old Post Office, Bath
Fringe Arts Bath Festival (FaB), brings curiosity and visual arts to the heart of the City of Bath, from occupying empty shops and unusual spaces for our exhibitions, to performances and interventions spilling out onto the streets of the city.
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Since 2007 FaB has offered a platform & test-bed for emerging curators, artists and creative communities to experiment & explore new ideas. FaB engages with creatives from diverse backgrounds and locations; in Bath, across our region, and from all around the world.
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​Lusus Naturae, an exhibition examining the complex intersections of empathy, individuality, and the inherent beauty of the unusual. The exhibition takes its name from the Latin phrase meaning “freak of nature,” inviting both positive and negative interpretations of this evocative concept.
30th May-1st June Thanet Experimental 'Cabinet of Curiosities'
at Hold Creative Spaces, Ramsgate
Thanet Experimental presents an art fair for the weirder and more wonderful works produced on the Isle. Artists need to make a living, and this means they sometimes can’t experiment in the way they would like. Many want to see and buy more interesting pieces but can’t afford to, or just don’t get to see them.
We are bringing together local artists and a curious art-loving public for a moving, dissonant and question-provoking meeting of minds; making experimental work available and affordable.
17th June 40 Minutes Retrospective (Solo)
at École supérieure d'art, Dunkerque
A summative exhibition spanning two years of Saint's time as a European Masters student at TMS Margate and ESA Dunkerque.
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This exhibition showcases Saint's seminal works of the period including all forty photogram and frottage relics of the 40 Hours Devotion (Cave Christ) performance and a collection of Rat-o-grams from The Darkroom performances. These will be accompanied by new film The Last Supper, punctuated with old and new paintings.
The RAT ART minister themselves will be giving a performance lecture in the second room before being interviewed by a jury concluding the 40 minute service.
15th-21st July Graduate Show
at The Margate Gallery, Margate
A group show from Art Society Nature MA Graduates, Dañila Kostil, Iain James Purves, Grace Saint and Mary-Ann Stuart.
12th-17th September 40 Hours Devotion (Solo)
at Salon, Cliftonville
The first full and dedicated exhibition of the forty works Saint made under their residence in The Cave at 41a Hawley Square over the forty hours Jesus was entombed over Easter.
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40 Hours Devotion (Cave Christ) was Saint's first foray into alternative darkrooms, the dark and solitary performance transformed the underground chalk smugglers cave into a functioning darkroom, studio and austere hermetic living space. The Cave, accessed via a trapdoor in their kitchen, had no red lighting system and only a tealight was used to expose the photographic paper. The charcoal frottages were taken from the chalky cave walls revealing heavenly figures, cryptic symbols and praying hands. The sacred performance took its inspiration from the Catholic liturgical action Quarantorre, and manifested as a durational prayer begging for the resulting forty apparitions.
Jump to About
About
Grace Saint is a Queer Christian Rat leading a deconstructed and inclusive RAT ART ministry.
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Avant garde contemporary Christian, Saint navigates their own faith deconstruction and the exploration of universal mysticism as a non-binary and non-denominational artist. Their practice is aimed at queer people or those who have otherwise felt ostracised by The Church aiming to impart a sense of peace and enlightenment through intimate encounters with divine Truth, rather than fostering the fear of God perpetuated by The Institution. Saint often documents their performative works with photograms made during the ceremonial and meditative rituals whilst also engaging with obscured venerable figurative outcomes.
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Saint’s relationship with the domesticated rat is a central aspect of their work and in particular their performances. On a mostly unconscious level Saint has worked alongside and with their pet rats to reflect on the major underlying themes of their work including the idea of the mother, grief and mourning. Saint has had the pleasure of caring for nine rats in the past four years, three of which have also happened to be transgender. In many ways the works created with The Rats are collaborations and revelations, collaborations that are as inherent to the practice as divine interventions at the hands of God.
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Grace Saint's practice includes performance, sculptural installation, painting, photography, experimental video, and curatorial projects. Their work frequently explores the archetypal and symbolic accounts of ritual in Judeo-Christian religion with a particular interest in ways these echo with traditional cultures and spiritual practices throughout the world. Stylistically their work is influenced by and draws on the powerful iconography of their Catholic upbringing that include heightened sensibility in the use of light and use of iconography associated with the Catholic faith. The artists intention is to use their art to contribute to on-going critique of what constitutes an archetypal, transformative, religious experience within dominant Western religion.
- Kathleen Rogers
Grace’s curiosity is extremely endearing. While the core themes of their work have a consistency, each iteration of their ideas are developed through research and continuous questioning. We want to congratulate Grace’s honesty with grappling with the difficult area of contemporary religion and divinity.
- The Margate School
Grace is a multi skilled artist, curator and writer, who consistently organises and facilitates arts events while also developing their own practice. Religion, iconography and spirituality is the thematic undercurrent to the artworks which manifest as anything from paintings and sculptures to performances and installations. Grace's works are considered, asking the viewer to reflect on themselves in the context of religious or spiritual structures that may surround us. Drawing on art history as well as contemporary works, their knowledge and eye for curation is broad, which is proven in their delivery of several successful curatorial projects.
- Ellen Ball