Overview
Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to exhibit a selection of new works by British sculptor Holly Hendry. Initially intended for Frieze London, the gallery presents Hendry’s solo project in a specially designed space at 30 Old Burlington Street.
Hendry’s site-responsive sculptures and installations are concerned with what lies beneath the surface and the idiosyncrasies of the human body in all its material and messy forms. Casting is central to the artist’s process, using an array of materials including steel, jesmonite, silicone, ash, charcoal, lipstick, soap, foam, marble, aluminium and grit.
In this new group of sculptures, Hendry incorporates sections of disembodied portraits that reveal their interior workings, taking formal inspiration from defunct machinery and diagrammatic depictions of anatomy. The works on view, several of which have kinetic elements, explore the blurred relationship between our bodies, emotions and mechanisation – stuck on repeat or requiring continual maintenance.
Hendry’s site-responsive sculptures and installations are concerned with what lies beneath the surface and the idiosyncrasies of the human body in all its material and messy forms. Casting is central to the artist’s process, using an array of materials including steel, jesmonite, silicone, ash, charcoal, lipstick, soap, foam, marble, aluminium and grit.
In this new group of sculptures, Hendry incorporates sections of disembodied portraits that reveal their interior workings, taking formal inspiration from defunct machinery and diagrammatic depictions of anatomy. The works on view, several of which have kinetic elements, explore the blurred relationship between our bodies, emotions and mechanisation – stuck on repeat or requiring continual maintenance.
A solo show of new works and a large-scale outdoor commission by Hendry will be unveiled at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, in 2021.
Holly Hendry (b. 1990, London) works and lives in London. She had a solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park titled ‘The Dump is Full of Images’ earlier this year. Her installation Deep Soil Thrombosis was included in the Biennale de Lyon 2019. In 2018, Hendry was chosen by Helen Pheby, Head of Curatorial Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Selfridges, as the inaugural artist for the co-curated Art Block in Selfridges’ flagship store in London. The artist created the monumental sculpture Cenotaph for the Liverpool Biennial in the same year. The work was included in the Biennial’s touring programme and shown at The Tetley, Leeds, in June 2019.
Hendry’s work can be found in the UK’s Arts Council Collection, Government Art Collection and British Council Collection.
Stephen Friedman Gallery is open through observation of physical distancing measures. We welcome you and ask that you please adhere to the following:
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There is no need to book your visit in advance. However, we will be operating with a limit of six persons in the gallery at any one time and implementing physical distancing measures throughout. Should there be six people in the gallery when you arrive, we will politely ask you to queue outside the gallery using the distanced markers, or return a little later.
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Gallery staff will be on hand to assist you and answer any queries but we please ask you to maintain the 2 metre distance when conversing. Markings on the floor will provide guidance. Please note there will be no physical contact between staff and visitors, such as handshakes.
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You will be asked to wear a face mask for the duration of your visit and to sanitise with antibacterial gel immediately upon entering the gallery.
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Upon arrival, we will ask you to complete the NHS Track & Trace procedure via a QR code. This will only take a moment and means that you can be contacted should a member of staff or recent visitor with whom you might have come into contact contract COVID-19.
Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to exhibit a selection of new works by British sculptor Holly Hendry. Initially intended for Frieze London, the gallery presents Hendry’s solo project in a specially designed space at 30 Old Burlington Street.
Opening hours
30 Old Burlington Street, W1S 3AR; Tuesday–Saturday, 11am–5pm (click 'Read more' to view Covid-19 measures)Virtual Tour
"For me the cartoon world is a place where life exists in objects, and bodies are freed of real life rules… Unreal things can do the things we can’t as humans… in their world pain is fleeting and death is reversible."
- Holly Hendry (2019).
HOLLY HENDRY, b. 1990, Britain
Holly Hendry’s allusion to the skin as the visible ‘container’ of the body is combined with cartoon-like illustrations of anatomy, food and detritus. The artist’s projects often directly reference scientific research. Through collaboration with scientists and by conducting her own experimentation, Hendry engages with subjects such as material re-use and how the skin functions as both a barrier and a material that facilitates connection.
Hendry had a solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park titled ‘The Dump is Full of Images’ in September 2019. Her installation ‘Deep Soil Thrombosis’ was included in the Biennale de Lyon 2019. In 2018, Hendry was chosen by Helen Pheby, Head of Curatorial Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Selfridges, as the inaugural artist for the co-curated Art Block in Selfridges’ flagship store in London. The artist created the monumental sculpture ‘Cenotaph’ for the Liverpool Biennial in the same year. The work was included in the Biennial’s touring programme and shown at The Tetley, Leeds, in June 2019.
Other notable solo exhibitions and projects include ‘GUM SOULS’, Frutta Rome (2018-2019); ‘For a Skeleton to Hang Soft Tissue On’, Arratia Beer, Berlin (2017); ‘The Box’, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2017); ‘Wrot’, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2017) and Sharjah Art Foundation (2014).
