Space Studios, Hackney, London

Ben Cove presented 3 new paintings, all acrylic on canvas, titled Freeloader (2014), Interloper (2014/15) and a third unfinished with the working title Homunculus (2015). The conversation began with a discussion of the tromp-l'oeil effect employed in the paintings, to give the effect of architectural mouldings or reliefs. The use of this perspective device, but the absence of depth inside the frames was pointed out with reference to modernist and surrealist paintings - DeChirico, Moore and Picasso. The neon colour scheme reminded some participants of 80s sci-fi influences, and of some kind of alchemy in the sense of painterly transformation.

Rowena Harris showed an A4-sized concrete work titled Once run through our hands, and made a performance of new work in progress titled And so we gape, which featured a text projection, and a reading performed by the artist. The conversation began with a discussion of the poetic presentation of the text work, with the artist lit in ghostly light by the accompanying words, and how this related well to ideas raised by the text, such as images in the ether and phantom limbs.

Ben Cove
www.bencove.com

Rowena Harris
rowenaharris.com