Cleo Mussi: All Consuming, Park Gallery, Falkirk until January 8, 2017
www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org
CLEO Mussi creates elaborate mosaics out of ceramic tiles made from old pieces of china cut down to size. Full of vitality, humour and quirky detail, certain pieces take on a more sinister aspect, highlighting the darker sides of contemporary life. Her work, which is on show at Falkirk's Park Gallery inside Callendar House today, will both entertain and confuse. In a good way.
Mussi acknowledges the skill involved in her work, while at the same time describing herself as a folk artist. "My work is naïve," she says. "But it's also figurative and all about story telling.
"All Consuming is an installation of life-size figurative elements made from ceramic discard. Over a number of years I have been researching genetics to create a new mosaic installation with accompanying notes or poems. The resulting exhibition is a story – in the traditional sense of folk art, reflecting the world that we live in while connecting to bygone days."
Mussi trained at Goldsmiths in London in the late 1980s, graduating from a textile department run by a team of practising artists and technicians whom she says were knowledgeable and passionate about materials techniques and process. Her interest in recycled fabrics, knowledge of pattern, print, weave and stitch translates easily into reclaimed ceramic.
This is thoughtful and beautiful work, which is also a comment and observation on man’s evolution within our environment and our impact on the environment and each other.
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