Swedish artist Nina Canell has explained that sculpture is ‘an encounter,’ meaning that the atmosphere created by a piece and its materials will drive interest. In the artist’s first solo show at 303 Gallery in Chelsea, unusual works involving fossils and conveyors achieve this goal, prompting curiosity via strange juxtapositions. In this piece titled ‘Mother of Dust,’ a moving conveyor belt dominates the gallery; positioned just above the belt, a broom pushes along a handful of pearls. As large as the sculpture is, the interest is in the point at which broom and pearls meet and the constantly moving, changing pattern of pearls generated by the device. Canell’s interest is in geology, time and the interventions of humans in nature; although humans are absent here, their presence is indicated by the broom’s work – a process that has been set in motion and left to play out as it will. (On view through Oct 28th).
