29 January - 15 March 2025

Crossroads & Alliances

Azadeh Ghotbi, Emily Buck & Victoire d’Harcourt

Marie José Gallery and Victoria Law Projects are pleased to present Crossroads and Alliances, an exhibition that brings together three contemporary women artists from distinct cultural backgrounds, each with a unique artistic practice. The exhibition takes its cue from Azadeh Ghotbi’s Crossroads painting series, which serves as the starting point for the thematic exploration of the complex threads that connect us, both spatially and temporally.

While each artist's work speaks individually to the theme of connection, together they create a dynamic dialogue - one that transforms the gallery space into a crossroads where these threads converge, intertwining across time, place, and identity.

For English artist Emily Buck, the act of looking back is central to her practice. She reimagines figures from ancient history, particularly goddesses, embedding them in the  context of the Classical World while reinterpreting their significance with a modern sensibility. Her hand-built ceramics bridge the gap between past and present, elevating ancient forms into sculptural pieces where only the poetic fractures suggest their inherent fragility.

French artist Victoire d’Harcourt works with bronze to express a delicate balance between strength and vulnerability. Her sculptural circles, suspended by fine threads, invite contemplation on the nature of their union - whether it is their connection that imbues them with power or their precariousness that exposes their fragility. The material's solidity contrasts with the delicate balance of form, creating a meditation on equilibrium and tension.

In her paintings, Iranian-American artist Azadeh Ghotbi captures the invisible threads that weave individuals together. Her work unfolds as intricate webs of paths, choices, encounters, and separations - interwoven landscapes where lives cross, diverge, and intersect in ways that are both subtle and profound. Each piece becomes a visual manifestation of how our connections shape our journeys.

The works in Crossroads and Alliances echo the sentiment of French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, who once wrote, “We do not receive the world; we make it. We are the sum of our connections”. De Beauvoir’s reflections on the interconnectedness of human experience resonate wot the exhibition’s exploration of how relationships, histories, and identities coalesce to form the fabric of our lives.

Crossroads and Alliances explores the dualities of human connection: past and present, strength and fragility. As these three artists' works come together, they form a tangible metaphor for the intricate ways in which our lives are bound to one another, offering a reflection on the intersections of history, identity, and human experience.

 

AZADEH GHOTBI

Azadeh Ghotbi is a London-based artist. She was born in Iran but has lived mostly between Europe and the United States; Brown University alumina.

Her abstract paintings contains a personal narrative shaped by the experiences of being uprooted and exiled as well as nuanced understanding of resilience and history. Her creative process involves painting on the floor, allowing movement and perspective. Whether through painting or photography, Azadeh is encouraging a deeper appreciation of the unseen.

Her work has been exhibited in Europe (Basel, London, Frankfurt, Paris), the Middle East (Amman, Cairo, Dubai) and the United States (Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC).

 

EMILY BUCK

Based in London, British artist Emily Buck studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She majored in the ancient world which influenced her desire to rethink and create classical forms with a contemporary, sensual, and feminine aesthetic.

Emily creates elegant and unique hand-built ceramic stoneware sculptures, embodying the Female. The works in this series are named and inspired by the Greek goddesses. 

VICTOIRE D’HARCOURT

Victoire d'Harcourt is a French artist born in 1966 in Bordeaux. Her childhood in France, Tahiti, and Madagascar instilled in her a love for vast  outdoor spaces. She trained at the Paul Fleury workshop, the School of Decorative Arts, and the Ecole du Louvre. As a painter, photographer, and sculptor, she seeks to alter reality, blending figuration and abstraction.

 

 

SELECTED WORKS

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