Double Take is a colourful new exhibition of 20 new and recent sculptures by Olivia Bax.

Her work uses found objects, metal mesh and brightly coloured paper pulp to create dynamic sculptures and viewpoints.

In The Weston Gallery, one wall will house series of newly constructed hinged screens to divide, enclose or define spaces around them. These objects are removed from their practical purpose and instead become devices for seeing, framing and connecting. 

A centrepiece in the gallery is a ramp structure, inspired by the artist’s own bus-top views of a London BMX park. Together with two smaller ramps placed against the walls, this functions as a plinth whilst also being integrated into the architecture of the building. 

Colour is key to Bax’s practice and is an essential part of her making process. Recycled paint, diverted from landfill, is added to the dense paper pulp which forms many of Bax's sculptures . Chosen from available colours, the bright palette exaggerates the playfulness of the forms.

Salvaging and reusing materials is another important part of her practice, with discarded objects including musical instruments, wheels, kitchenware and shopping trollies used in her work. She often reimagines and rebuilds previous pieces by dismantling and reworking them, transforming them into something new. This process is partly driven by a need save studio space and materials but also subverts longstanding ideals of sculpture permanence.

In Poche – the French word for pocket – a dismantled shopping trolley holds pulp tubes and hybrid found objects in Bax’s signature vivid colours. She considers pockets as in-between spaces that cross the boundary of our public and private worlds. 

Read the press release to find out more.