‘Dissonance’ brings together the work of London-based artists Kelly Frank and Laura Porter, whose work focuses on identity through the figurative and the non-figurative; the absent and the unknown. The exhibition gets its name from the psychological theory of cognitive dissonance - the mental toll of contradictory information and an unsettling state of mind.
Kelly’s vivid figurative paintings explore the themes of identity, memory, and subjectivity. These large abstract artworks are created by overlapping seemingly unrelated imagery. The paintings explore the fragility of human perspective, and how our minds have the capacity to hold conflicting thoughts, beliefs, and values. The paintings have no true orientation and are rotated to offer an alternative view.
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Kelly tells honest and vulnerable stories and her play with scale breaks the boundary between the figurative form and landscape. Her work uses red pigment in varying shades to reveal hidden fragments of the narrative. She is fascinated by the malleability of memories and the way it threatens the idea of the absolute truth.
