Elephant West launch with a solo project by Maisie Cousins

07.11.2018

Metro was delighted to work with Maisie Cousins to produce archival C-Type Prints ahead her solo show selected to launch Elephant Magazine’s first physical art space, Elephant West.

Known for her bright, colourful and playful style, this newly commissioned series will explore the joy and ceremony of eating.

“Dipping Sauce” will reveal large scale, hyper-saturated macro imagery of food, plants and nostalgic objects related to eating, to create a truly immersive environment. Her work carries complex layers of messages, often placing the audience uncomfortably up-close to her work and treading a carefully balanced line between the beautiful and the disgusting.

“I’m interested in our current obsession with food in the western world. Everyone takes pictures, whether their food is delicious or naughty, horrible or bleak. I spend a lot of time on Instagram looking a people’s depressing dinners – I find something honest and funny about them. This project is an amalgamation of all the things that I find charming and funny about food.” says Cousins of the work that will be exhibited.

This will be the first time that Maisie’s work has been shown at such a grand scale. With some images enlarged to create wallpaper-style backdrops for smaller images on lightboxes, and some displayed at five times their usual size, the installation immerses the audience into the sticky, sweet and gunky world of Maisie’s visual playground. At a time when consumers are beginning to question the provenance of the food they buy, and at the same time are able to procure almost anything they want via enormous global supply chain networks, Maisie confronts us with the reality of our gluttony and desire. At once seductive and repulsive, these heavily charged images both celebrate and question the human relationship to food, bringing in elements of childhood nostalgia and sensorial references to emphasise the link between memory and eating. It’s not always clear what the elements of the images are, and Maisie uses this ambiguity to seduce the viewer, creating moments of surprise, delight and horror in equal measure.

Becca Pelly-Fry, Head Curator at Elephant West, believes Cousins to be the perfect collaborator for the opening of Elephant West, commenting:

“Maisie was brought up in West London, and it felt important for our first project to be connected to the local area, showcasing the inherent creativity of West London. Maisie is at a critical point in her career; this opening commission for Elephant West captures her on the point of really blossoming as an artist. “

‘Dipping Sauce’ will be interspersed with talks, workshops and other special events and will run from 10 November to 2 December 2018.

Maisie Cousins: Dipping Sauce runs at Elephant West from 10 November – 2 December 2018

ALL IMAGES © MAISE COUSINS

Metro was delighted to work with Maisie Cousins to produce archival C-Type Prints ahead her solo show selected to launch Elephant Magazine’s first physical art space, Elephant West. Known for her bright, colourful and playful style, this newly commissioned series will explore the joy and ceremony of eating. “Dipping Sauce” will reveal large scale, hyper-saturated macro imagery of […]
Metro was delighted to work with Maisie Cousins to produce archival C-Type Prints ahead her solo show selected to launch Elephant Magazine’s first physical art space, Elephant West. Known for her bright, colourful and playful style, this newly commissioned series will explore the joy and ceremony of eating. “Dipping Sauce” will reveal large scale, hyper-saturated macro imagery of […]