West, London
Group Exhibition
Balancing Acts
Holtermann Fine ArtOlivia Bax Neil Gall Michel Pérez Pollo Balancing Acts is an in-focus exhibition - comprising two sculptures and one painting - that showcases the work of three contemporary artists: Neil Gall (b. 1967), Michel Pérez Pollo (b. 1981) and Olivia Bax (b. 1988). Balancing Acts is an invitation to consider the ways in which three different artists brilliantly juggle abstract form and colour to create bold, well-balanced imbalances that tap into our fascination with asymmetry and counterpose. Each work offers a portal into a way of seeing the world in which things might just about hang together, somehow or other, with one thing supportively placed against or awkwardly holding another in balance and perhaps in check. Each of these three dynamic, off-kilter arrangements toy with these ideas in different ways. Gall's work is a cast jesmonite assemblage which combines three elements that each sit carefully on top of the other in an almost contrapposto way. The title refers to the myth of Sisyphus, a man trapped within a futile labour that sees him endlessly pushing a boulder up a mountain. Gall's precarious-looking, rock ‘n roll sculpture does not move, but it looks like it could. Bax's sculpture is made with her now characteristic blend of revealed and concealed metal armature and colour-imbued paper pulp. It shares the compositional tipsiness and ballsy top-heaviness Gall's sculpture, but is on wheels which gives the sculpture a potential mobility. The sculpture's metal railings are also equipped with hooks that recall candy canes that invite us in and pull it in all directions. Pérez Pollo paints paintings of clusters of brightly coloured modelled forms that each sit on top or beside one another, with a fascinating mix of poise and clumsiness. Here, we find four seemingly incongruous forms that have been wedged together between two walls, creating a mutually supportive arrangement in which one object holds up another. They look like temporary placements, but Pollo's painting fixes them in oil on canvas, celebrating their sculptural team work and their special, idiosyncratic togetherness. —Jon Wood Olivia Bax (b. 1988, Singapore) lives and works in London. She acquired a BA Fine Art at Byam Shaw School of Art, London (2007-2010) and an MFA Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art, London (2014-2016). She is the recipient of The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award (2019/20); Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize (2016), Additional Award, Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix (2017) and Public Choice Winner, UK/Raine, Saatchi Gallery, London (2015). She has recently been exhibited at Holtermann Fine Art, London (2024); New Art Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire (2024); L21, Mallorca (2022); Off Grid, her Mark Tanner Sculpture Award Exhibition at Standpoint Gallery London (2020) toured to Cross Lane Projects, Kendal (2020/21) and Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens (2021); HS Projects, London (2021); Ribot Gallery, Milan (2019/20) and VO Curations, London (2018). Bax’s work was acquired by the 2020-21 UK Arts Council Collection. Neil Gall (b. 1967 in Aberdeen, Scotland) lives and works in London. He studied at the Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen and the Slade School of Art in London. Neil Gall was recently exhibited at Aurel Scheibler, Berlin (2024), New Art Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire (2018), The Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast (2018) and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (2018). His works are in renowned collections such as the Denver Art Museum,The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, The British Museum, London, Zabludowicz Art Trust, London, Aberdeen City Art Gallery, David Roberts Arts Foundation, London, Christen Sveaas Art Collection, Oslo, and Sammlung Schürmann, Herzogenrath. Michel Pérez Pollo (b. 1981, Manzanillo, Cuba) studied at the Escuela Profesional de Artes Plásticas de Holguín and graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), Havana in 2007. He lives and works in Madrid, Spain. He has exhibited widely across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Institutional solo exhibitions have been held at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2018); Tomás y Valiente Contemporary Art Center, Madrid (2010); and the Brownstone Foundation, Paris (2021). His work was also presented in a two- person exhibition at Factoria, Havana (2022). Pérez Pollo has participated in numerous international group exhibitions including Forum Ludwig, Aachen (2017); Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2014); Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Gran Canaria (2013); Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana; and the Ron Museum, Havana. Forthcoming solo exhibitions include Yoosun Gallery, Daegu (2025) and Galerie Mai 36, Zürich (2026).