Anya Gallaccio

Thomas Dane Gallery presents an off-site project by Anya Gallaccio, set within the landscape of the historic 1,000-acre deer park at Gunton, Norfolk. Following her acclaimed museum presentation at Turner Contemporary, Margate in 2024, the exhibition shifts focus on to Gallaccio's work in nature, presenting monumental and ephemeral works only possible outside the confines of a typical museum or gallery setting, alongside intimate works made with temporal and decaying materials. It is installed indoors and outdoors in the park.

Gallaccio has always been most at home making work for and in the landscape, with permanent outdoor works at Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh; Crystal Bridges, Bentonville; The Contemporary Austin; The Whitworth, Manchester; and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, among others. At Gunton she presents three rarely seen historical works.

forest floor (1995) is a rectangle of floral wool carpet installed on the ground in a wooded landscape. It reflects on the tradition of predominantly Persian rug and carpet patterns that inspired the arrangement of western formal gardens. Originally a way of bringing the outdoors inside, the gesture is inverted, placing the floral motifs back into nature.

begin again to the summoning birds (2005), first shown at the Mount Stuart Trust on the Isle of Bute, consists of silver leaf applied to the entire height of a mature conifer, temporarily monumentalising it in a moment of time.

as long as there were any roads to amnesia and anaesthesia still to be explored (2002) is a group of oak tree trunks, towering overhead like organic architectural pillars with their branches and leaves removed. Originally shown in the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain, it is re-presented here with the same original trunks.

Alongside these, Gallaccio presents a new life-size bronze apple tree strung with an abundance of real decaying fruit, and a series of glass flower press works in frames. The exhibition as a whole challenges the idea of permanence and the stability of artworks, exploring the life cycles of decay, ecology and time.

Gunton Park is an historic estate near Cromer, established in the 18th century and known for its landscaped parkland, its deer herd and The Gunton Arms, a pub and restaurant that also offers rooms and is home to works by other artists, inside and in the grounds. The exhibition is a short walk from the Gunton Arms. Visits are by appointment, booked through Thomas Dane Gallery at info@thomasdanegallery.com or on +44 20 7925 2505.

Anya Gallaccio was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1963 and lives and works in London and San Diego. Her institutional solo shows include Turner Contemporary, Margate (2024); National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh (2019); The Contemporary Austin (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2015); Camden Arts Centre, London (2008); Sculpture Center, New York (2006); and the Duveen Sculpture Commission at Tate Britain (2002). She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2003 and is Professor Emerita in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego.