FOLLEREE & FOLLEROO

Ful of the Moon Ful of the Moon
Ful of the Moon nor don’t look back Folleree Folleroo follering you
Oo hoo hoo Yoop yaroo
If they catch you in the darga
Arga warga

The title of the show Folleree & Folleroo is borrowed from Russell Hoban’s science fiction novel Riddley Walker which takes place in a post-apocalyptic future reconstructing itself on the basis of polytheistic superstition and which is notable for its broken and reconstructed language. The themes of the book resonate strongly in works by Caroline Achaintre, Chiara Camoni and John Finneran, whose practic- es are linked through an interest in the origins and transformations of mythologies through the manipulation of visual forms. Through very different styles and processes each artist creates new hybrid personal languages at the same time logographic and symbolic, and a com- mitment to the reality of the artwork – made with the same substance, temperature and light as ourselves.

Caroline Achaintre uses ‘applied’ art techniques and mines a range of influences including Primitivism, German Expressionism, and the Carnivalesque; constantly recycling and cross-pollinating the iconic and symbolic forms to create her own lexicon of masks and arche- types.

Chiara Camoni’s figurative works also have a strong archetypal dimension and seem to be a cast of characters that could be endlessly re- configured into different myths and narratives. The works’ move towards an idea of “simulacrum” which does not represent another subject but demands to be taken as real itself.

John Finneran considers his canvases as externalized mental territories, referencing the capacity of symbolism and iconography to contain psychological and emotional information. Each recalls familiar symbols such as ancient Egyptian figures, eyes, sun, moon or mountains, which he claims and incorporates into his own strong aesthetic language.