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"I recently had a lengthy phone conversation with Nicholas Logsdail, the founder of Lisson Gallery. He was telling me about an interesting artist that I should investigate called Terry Bond. Yet, as I often gravitate towards women artists for their unique perspectives, I was immediately drawn towards a link on Terry's website, to that of his partner Karen Densham, who is also an artist.
Karen's twee, kitsch ceramics, and her subtle, delicate watercolours with undertones of sexuality and frustration, speak to the experience of many women, like several of our gallery artists. Her work needs to be shown. I hope you enjoy this new discovery…"
- Richard Saltoun
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Karen DENSHAM
Pussy in the Well, 2020Ceramic30 x 24 x 15cm -
'When Armegeddon strikes and invention and resourcefulness are a requirement for survival, I will be seen clinging to her, offering myself up as her assistant.'
- TERRY BOND
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Karen DENSHAM
Cart before the Horse, 2020
Ceramic30 x 35 cm -
With a practice spanning ceramics, works on paper, photography and video, Karen DENSHAM combines kitsch with satire. Her work aims to challenge assumptions about the world around us. Seemingly innocent, ornamental objects destined for the mantel soon reveal hidden meanings and greater complexity, confronting issues around sexual desire, military campaign planning, the refugee crisis and capitalism. Using items found on eBay, charity shops or car boot sales, Denham recreates these in clay or watercolour, transforming them into objects with double meaning. Always with a touch of humour, her work forces closer inspection, uncovering light-hearted and mischievous subversion at play.
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Karen DENSHAM
Social Climber, 2020Ceramic with found ceramic cat33 x 25 x 16 cm -
‘Much of Karen’s work challenges our assumptions and presumptions about the world around us. Our tendency to anthropomorphise, our inclination towards the ‘cute’ and ‘pretty’, our desire for the bucolic, and the way in which we seek the ‘cosy’ or sentimental side of life, are useful departure points for some of Karen’s works to react against, turning expectations around in a way that can surprise or shock, and encouraging us to re-examine our value systems and judgements.’
- Kaavous Clayton
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Densham’s watercolours are more explicitly sexual, often appropriating and subverting illustrations from English children’s book writer Beatrix Potter. In Bunny (2014), Densham presents Mr. Bouncer in a ‘gimp’ mask smacking his nephew Peter Rabbit with a whip, undermining the original innocence of the childhood tale while calling into question the outdated mode of corporal punishment and its association with sexual gratification. Sex Kitten (both 2015) takes Potter’s Miss Moppet, a playful story of cat and mouse, and places her in crotchless knickers, spotlighting society’s sexualisation of children and the complicated question of erotica.
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Based in Ipswich, Karen Densham (b. 1960) studied ceramics at the Royal College of Art, London, as well as The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton and Harlow Technical College, Essex. She has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in prominent institutions, including the V&A, Serpentine, Whitworth Art Gallery, ICA London, Jugg Art Foundation Gallery, The Minories Gallery, and the Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art (Japan), amongst others. Her work is included in public and private collections in the United Kingdom and around the world. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Eastern Open’s Experimental Media Award, European Prize of Contemporary Art and Design and the London Arts Board Award.
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Karen DENSHAM
Hop, Skip, Jump, 2020Ceramic and gold lustre18 x 30 x 15 cm -
Karen DENSHAM
Heard Mentality, 2020Ceramic11 x 29 x 21 cm£ 1,500.00
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‘Densham’s works cannot be regarded as whimsical or as flights of fancy. On the contrary, they are rooted in everyday life, sometimes in its accidently comical tawdriness, sometimes in its tragicomedy of human relations, and sometimes in its routine horrors.’
- Matthew Bowman
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Karen DENSHAM
Killjoy, 2015Archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle Cotton Rag80 x 60 cm
Karen DENSHAM: Waiting for Something Better to Come Along
Past viewing_room
