Sophie Eleanor Turner

Before we introduce a new artist to the swan circle, we wish to tell you about the work of Sophie Eleanor Turner.

An avid vintage collector, she has sold her treasures at Liberty of London, the thursday Antique Markets at Spitalfields ( one of my most favourite yet most dangerous shopping destinations ) and some of her hair entwined lockets and jewels can be found in the most curious of shops, The Last Tuesday Society in East London. Also art directing at Curious Science, she has a healthy obsession with macabre yet beautiful things and her victorian sensibility is evident in the work she created to show at Swanfield on Tour.

Tying in with the entangled hair drawings by Conny Prantera at our Hoxton Street space, Sophie crafted a birds nest and built it into the red locks of her model with other preserved flights of fancy; butterflies and dragonflies. The nest was then safely kept in an antique glass dome and displayed by her photograph. We tip our hat to her... x

IN THE PLACE OF SHADOWS AND LIGHT

Drawings on paper
by Conny Prantera

Today we are white washing walls in preparation for Conny's spookily detailed pencil drawings of tangled braids and crumpled cotton dresses to be hung instore at Swanfield on Tour, on Hoxton Street.

Conny Prantera is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in London. Her work uses an illustrative language that narrates a melancholic and sometimes dangerous rite of passage. Her images of discarded everyday items such as shoes and undergarments are interwoven with landscapes of apocalyptic scenes.

The drawing is intimate yet somehow purposely absent of emotion. All the images are hauntingly still: some are postcard-like reproductions of places, frozen in time, others show personal objects casually positioned as if the character had just stepped away from
them. Yet there appears to be no return. An eerie feeling grips the spectator as it becomes evident that a decisive turn of events has taken place and nothing will be the same ever again.

I wish to thank Mark & Marco of MK11 for first introducing us to Conny's work. You can view some amazing pieces at their Studio & Gallery Space in Claptonia in a group show called 'Death, Love & Cock N' Balls'. Appointment only, so best to drop them a line first.