Contemporary and Country’s (C&C) latest exhibition Rock, Paper, Scissors encompasses art and handmade objects fashioned with the process of their making in mind.

Skills made evident in bringing about their innovative ideas through a diverse range of art and handmade objects have been a recurring point of interest for the artists and makers that work with C&C. Rock, Paper, Scissors refers to the childhood game of chance where material properties prescribe the outcome of each playful exchange between two players, with the material choice made by one player winning the point. The artists and makers contributing to C&C’s latest exhibition at Houghton Hall Stables show how they exploit material qualities during the production process to create an original and unique work of art.

Technical ability has played a subsidiary role in the production and appreciation of art in recent decades. More conceptual work has proved dominant in contemporary museums and galleries around the world. Rock, Paper, Scissors celebrates creatives who have developed what they do against the grain, despite this prevailing direction. They’ve accumulated a wellspring of personal experience coaxing their creative ideas into being. Carved stone bowls, single sheet paper cuts, clever collages, poured paintings, hand built porcelain vessels, hand woven baskets, welded and sand-cast sculptures, hand blown glass, tactile turned wooden bowls and hand-hewn wooden platters acknowledge their material origins. Each piece reveals the alchemy that occurs between creative intent, material choice and dexterous fabrication.

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