Thresh and Hold
28 November 2024 - 31 January 2025
Opening on Thursday 28th November from 6 pm to 9 pm
The artist will be present.
RIBOT is pleased to present Thresh and Hold, Olivia Bax's second solo exhibition at the gallery. Born in Singapore in 1988 and currently based in London, Bax showcases a selection of sculptures created over the past three years. These works highlight the artist's distinctive style and approach while introducing new directions in her research, revealed through a thoughtfully emblematic exhibition layout.
The title of the new exhibition in Milan references Dee Morris's poem Gertrude Stein Sets a Table, which recounts and describes a series of gestures associated with setting the table, sitting down, and eating. These actions serve as both the narrative inspiration and conceptual framework for the exhibition. Morris uses the phrase “a thresh and a hold” to describe the action and interaction between movements and objects. This expression, though difficult to translate literally, refers to contrasting forces that are essential to the dynamics of the situation. A “thresh” that divides and a “hold” that restrains come together in the term “threshold,” which translates to “soglia” in Italian. Bax embraces this dual meaning as a reflection of her sculptural process: crossing boundaries to discover new forms, separating sections and then uniting them, and holding diverse elements together. Her work poetically engages contrasts, balancing concave and convex shapes, solidity and softness, straight and curved lines.
The table, referenced in the poem and seen as an everyday microcosm or interface with reality, is transformed into a central formal and compositional element in the works on display. Each sculpture is placed in relation to a table that does not have the sole function of supporting, rather it becomes an integral part of the composition, a threshold to allow interaction and passage. In the exhibition, some works are generated by elements from previous unresolved pieces, broken down and then re-covered with a hand-generated paper pulp. Bax is drawn to objects in her surrounding environment, fabricating armatures and structures with suggest: windows, pockets, railings, and grates. These are all articulated and complex creations that also incorporate elements from everyday life—components that fascinate the sculptress for their symbolic qualities: containers, strainers, funnels, instruments, hooks, and handles. The works thus become hybrids of made and collected objects; their metal core is both concealed and revealed alongside their expressive and plastic form.
For Thresh and Hold, the artist has created a series of different wall sculptures, all titled Guston's View. This special project is a tribute to Philip Guston (1913–1980), reflecting a shared fascination with the topos of the window—a physical and metaphorical threshold between two worlds.
Olivia Bax (Singapore, 1988, lives and works in London). She studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, London (2010) and Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, (2016). Her works have been shown in solo and group shows at: New Art Centre, Salisbury, 2024; Holtermann Fine Art, London, 2024-2022; BoLee and Workman, Bruton, 2024; The Lightbox Museum, Surrey, 2024-2023; Royal Western Academy, Bristol, 2024; Cittadella degli Archivi di Milano, Milan, 2024; HATCH, Paris, 2023; Standpoint Gallery, London, 2023-2020; Platform for Contemporary Sculpture, Tilburg, 2023; Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Norwich, 2023; Saatchi Gallery, London, 2022-2018-2015; Larsen Warner Gallery, Stockholm, 2022-2017; RIBOT gallery, Milan, 2019. Prizes include: Artist Research Fellow, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 2023; Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, London, 2019; Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize, London, 2016. Her works today are part of private and public collections such as: The Arts Council Collection, UK; The Ingram Collection, Tremenheere Sculpture Garden and Lukowa Art Collection.