Rather Cuddly Things brings to life a symbolic object which reincarnates an ancient thatching technique. The language of straw relates to the artists’ experience of rural soviet upbringing: her memory of creating DIY toys, often out of natural materials such as matches and conkers, and presence of animal folk costumes, which used to play an integral role to the local festive seasons and rituals.

Rather Cuddly Things presents a wheat reed installation with a selection of intimate scale paintings, placing rural origins in the city. It proposes to use the window space as an opportunity to implement  the spirit of tales and fables into the London street routine, and create a form of unexpected encounter.  

The project responds to a cluster of toys and objects from the RYA collection which feature animal motifs, such as the Engaging Folk Art Toy Model of Noah’s Ark or the toy like Spectacular Pair of Primitive Folk Lions. 

Historically, the handmade toys, as well as animal folk costumes held a significant role in many societies serving as more than just playthings. Many of these would  transmit the spiritual significance of local stories and myths. They nurture human connection with nature and are still believed to ward off the bad spirits and attract prosperity and good luck.

 

----

'A Book of Almost Nothing' is now available in limited edition, hand-bound half-clamshell boxes as well as handmade envelopes, the contents explore Magda's thinking and inspiration as an artist.

 

 Limited edition hand-bound half-clamshell boxes (only 10 copies): £60

Handmade Envelopes: £24 

'Sometimes the images haunt us. Sometimes the absence of something can haunt us too. ‘a book of almost nothing' holds a compilation of the artist’s personal record of the everyday, and a selection of images circulating in the collective consciousness. These, deliberately framed in various formats become objects that point back to the source.'

 

Please contact us via Instagram for any enquiries @contemporary_collaborations

 

---

 

OTHER WORKS BY MAGDA BLASINSKA

 

ABOUT MADGDA

Magda Blasinska is a Polish born internationally exhibiting artist. Predominantly a painter, Blasinska works guided by sensory experience, memory and intuition. In parallel to her  humble use of earthy colours and marginal materials, her work  often draws on folk heritage.

Her most recent work oscillates between painting and installation, which utilises wheat reed forms constructed with use of endangered craft of thatch. This back and forth, labour intensive activity results in a humble yet distinct visual language, networking the two widely understood as distant disciplines (thatch and painting). 

Blasinska holds an MA Painting Degree from Royal College of Art (2018) and BA(Hons) Degree in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College or Art (2009). 

Selected shows include: Owl Mountain, Castor Gallery (solo) London (2024), Bread OHSH Projects, London 2024;  Cinnamon Shops Govan Project Space, Glasgow 2023 (solo); Summer Exhibition Royal Academy, London (2023); Generator Bobinska Brown Lee New River Gallery, London (2023); Close Corners Hilbertraum, Berlin (2023); Stand with Ukraine Hales Gallery, London (2022); Young Talent Contemporary Ingram Prize, London (2019), Traverse Smith Award, London (2019); A Century of Polish Artists in Britain Ben Uri Museum, London, 2017; Here/Now. Polish Contemporary Art in Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2012) 

She is a recent recipient of DYCP Arts Council England Award (2023), and a winner of Lynda Clarke Nolan RSA:NC Painting Prize at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2010). She lives and works in London.