Samantha Bryan at Gallery Oldham
Left, 'I spy with my little eye', right, 'Introducing... Brain's Bottom Warming Garments for Fairies
Fairy queen Samantha Bryan is showing a selection of new work at Gallery Oldham in Manchester this summer (6 June – 5 September)
Samantha Bryan is best known for her miniature, zany sculptures of flying fairies made out of wire, found objects, hand-dyed, stitched leather, clay, paper and anything else she can lay her hands on. The new work continues this theme, but on a much bigger scale, with the largest piece a wall-hung piece over one metre square. ‘The Gallery Oldham space is the largest I’ve ever shown in which is very daunting, but it’s encouraged me to expand which is something I’m really interested in doing,’ says Bryan. The star of the show is Nose Dive Simulation, a relief wall piece depicting a fairy strapped on to a skateboard-like contraption hurtling down a roller coaster. It’s made
using Bryan’s usual materials, but the scale and emphasis is very different to her previous work. ‘I’m working in a different format, painting a scene of what’s going on in my brain and linking the different images together rather than focusing on separate images,’ she explains.
Bryan has also recently become interested in pattern, and some of her newer pieces incorporate beautifully detailed wallpapers. They’re based on the idea that fairies live alongside us and spy on humans from hidey holes in the wallpaper – it’s a typically quirky way of combining 2D patterning with her trademark figures.
www.galleryoldham.org.uk
