Exhibition Details

On 16 September, Simon Stewart, founder of Charles Burnand Gallery in Fitzrovia, London unveiled a new exhibition inspired by Studio Furthermore’s upcoming excursion to the moon. ‘Planet Rock’ is a celebration of artists and designers exploring a futuristic reinterpretation of everyday found, recycled or sustainable materials. The exhibition presents new works by Dawn Bendick, Labaye/Sumi, DenHolm, Matthew Nunn, Reynold Rodriguez, Noa Chernichovsky, Caroline Chouler-Tissier, Fredrik Nielsen, Jonathan Bocca, Heechan Kim, Giles Watkins, Roisin O’Connor, Esther Palmer, Stella Arion, Juliet Ferguson-Rose, and Yaerin Puyn alongside Studio Furthermore.
Each of these artists is exploring new and unique ways of working with and elevating commonly found materials, and encouraging a conversation about sustainability in design. Living in a time where people no longer look to plastics, human-made resins and polymers, ‘Planet Rock’ explores the wonders of what the design landscape would look like in a time where the society is forced to be creative through re-appropriation and re-cycling, and how artists and designers create works that will live for a lifetime.
“Through Charles Burnand Gallery, I strive to showcase both established and emerging artists and makers who are pushing the boundaries through their practice,” says Stewart on the show. “‘Planet Rock’ presents new work from artists who are using their creative process to explore futurism and sustainability," he adds. 
On display will be a series of space lava vases by Marina Dragomirova and Iain Howlett, the artists behind Studio Furthermore, imagined as if exotic lava stone was sourced from distant galaxies. Made from 100% recycled aluminium and sourced from discarded car wheels, vases are available in numerous finishes such as White Magma and Crimson Night. The Studio also shows a Sinop centre and side table which takes its shape from natural jagged rock strata formations blended with clean-cut geometry as if carved from Lunar Rock, also sourced from car wheels. Labaye/Sumi’s work with recycled glass fibre is coated using a unique paint system resulting in a new body of work that feels ancient in form and construction but futuristic at the same time.
DenHolm, led by designers Lars Stoten & Steven John Clar, will be showcasing their debut piece with the gallery, with many more to come, derived from an individually selected limestone block, which preserves the innate textural qualities of the material while being adorned with an assortment of unique techniques. Each of these embellishments undergoes a process of intimate sculpting before being interwoven to shape a bespoke form and structure. The creative process entails the use of hand-drawn sketches, with elaborate details shaped and chiselled by hand, using an in-house method of adding limestone dust to pigment to paint and dye the pieces.
Also on display will be paper mache, wood and recycled polystyrene that has been reimagined by Jonathan Bocca whose dramatic and exaggerated forms appear to be both prehistoric and from a far-off future. Reynold Rodriguez’s use of plaster to create exceptionally sturdy and durable works encourages a discussion around materials able to be repurposed. Fredrik Nielsen, Loewe Craft Prize finalist, will be featuring a blown, melted and metalized glass sculpture. In addition, Royal College of Art Masters student graduates Giles Watkins, Roisin O’Connor, Esther Palmer, Stella Arion, Juliet Ferguson-Rose, and Yaerin Puyn will be displaying works hand-selected by Stewart for the first time with the gallery. Charles Burnand Gallery includes graduates in the gallery program as an annual tradition created by Simon to give a platform to recent RCA Masters graduates, allowing the works to be showcased alongside internationally renowned artists.