A new exhibition on London’s Greenwich Peninsula explores the power of objects, with Now Gallery’s 2023 Design Commission ‘The Shape of Things’ exploring the linguistics of design through furniture, painting, jewellery and sculpture.
At the helm is designer Simone Brewster, whose multidisciplinary output goes under the spotlight here. ‘I have the opportunity to show the full cross section of my creative outputs so I’ll be showing furniture, jewellery and paintings,’ Brewster says. ‘I also designed the elements that bring all of these pieces together and stage the space. One of the works I’m most excited about showing is a piece acquired by the Smithsonian Museum called The Negress. Functionally, she is a chaise lounge whose supporting elements are made up of the legs, head and breasts of the black female form, but thematically she touches on subjects like the hidden work of women, black female objectification and of plantation slavery. Themes within this piece link to many of the other items in the show. I’ll be displaying a collection of turned wood sculptural vessels from my collection Tropical Noire alongside large scale paintings and a selection of jewellery.’
