Overview
The exhibition takes its name from an ongoing series of oil paintings ‘After news before bed’ started in 2022 and includes sculptures from the series ‘Repaired objects’ started in 2017. The title originates from a time slot which in certain countries was designed for short cartoons or other childrens’ programs. Oddly enough, after the evening news where parents would gather rather distressed information about politics and different state affairs, children would get their turn to watch some short entertainment before going to sleep. It is not clear if the aim is for children to be ‘‘encouraged’’ to watch the news waiting for their cartoons, or if parents are meant to get some gratifying relaxation with their children after all the more ‘‘serious affairs’’. An interesting space opens up to be explored through imagery in between the two extremes, where serious business can get cartoonishly distorted, and cartoons just after the abundance of facts can produce some serious implications.
The series of Repaired objects explores the functionality of everyday objects through a slow metamorphosis of their anatomy, taking the repair beyond itself as a dubious process that never returns pristine conditions to submitted objects. This series takes us away from usual assumptions, expanding possibilities of an individual evolution within each object, exploiting its symbolical and physical properties through a naive sci-fi scenario where the outcome is always unsure.
Paintings are restricted to the approximate measures of the TV set from the artist’s childhood. Their taking space in a university charged with serious knowledge developing programs makes a peculiar match that could open up a fun dispute about the seriousness of knowledge itself. The dialogue between two series and the space can present an intertwining mix of realities between facts and fictions, knowledge and ignorance, seriousness and triviality through thought and matter that keep questioning one another until exhausted after all the news and entertainment we can finally go to bed.
About the artist
Enej Gala lives and works between London, Venice and Nova Gorica. In 2014 he was in an exchange at the William De Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. In 2013 he accomplishes his B.A. and in 2015 his M.A. in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Graduated from Royal Academy Schools Postgraduate Programme in London 2019-2023. Last solo shows: The invention of footsteps at Almanac, Turin (IT) 2023, Saving chewing gums from mammoth’s hair at TJ Boulting, London (UK) 2023 and Nevereverevereverevereverever learn at Aplusa gallery, Venice (IT) 2022. Winner of Xenia residency award, Bow Arts Alcamantar RAW studio award, Wolfson College Cambridge RAS Graduate Prize andGilbert Bayes Scholarship Award – for sculpture 2023.
His practice is based on an acute awareness of thinking through making as an attempt to grasp the experience of otherness. As a device that reveals its tricks while counter-intuitively enhancing their magic, puppetry is used as a lense to focus on materials as entities, expanding their potential by exposing and building on their intrinsic qualities. This process questions traditional perspectives on art, craftsmanship, installation, performance and different forms of production also through frequent collaborations and free improvisation. Stretching the limits of imagination by feeding on flaws of perception, his works ruminate metaphors, like an anomaly manifested through constant frustration over what is proposed to us in any form of convention. Gently probing fragile belongings to particular identities and persistently subverting conflictual rethorics, cryptic interweaves with mundane forming genuine dialogues through site responsive installations as welcoming traps for viewers to stumble upon.
Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize
Now in its fifth year, the Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize and its associated exhibition was established by Dr Meredith Hale (then Speelman Fellow) and Dr Owen Edwards (Fellow), with two representatives of the Royal Academy, Eileen Cooper RA (the first female Keeper of the Royal Academy, with responsibility for the Schools) and Brian Griffiths RA.
Wolfson College has exhibited the work of some outstanding Royal Academicians over the years, from sculptors Henry Moore and Richard Deacon to painters Anthony Green, Eileen Cooper and Christopher Lebrun. The Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize enables engagement with young graduates of the Royal Academy Schools, students who have just completed the three-year postgraduate course: they are of a similar age to many of our own students. The winner of the competition each year receives an honorarium and the opportunity to exhibit their exciting work in the college’s Combination Room.
Previous winners are: Mark Corfield-Moore, Débora Delmar, Irini Bachlitzanaki and Hannah Lister. We now congratulate Enej Gala, our newest winner, whose work is currently on show in the Combination Room.
All our exhibitions aim to establish fascinating new connections between the arts and other disciplines and to initiate dialogue within and outside the university. With this programme, we are engaging with an exciting new generation of rising young artists.
Viewing the exhibition
The exhibition will be open to the public from Sunday 28 January.
Opening Times: Saturdays and Sundays 10.00-17.00, until Sunday 21 April.
Please note that the exhibition is occasionally unavailable, for instance during graduations.
It is advisable to contact the Porters' Lodge in advance of your visit (01223 335900).
Access
This exhibition is on display in the Combination Room on the first floor of our main building. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located on the first floor of the building.
About Wolfson exhibitions
Wolfson has an established programme of exhibitions and artistic events which take place throughout the year and are framed by its modernist architecture, beautiful landscaped gardens and embedded into academic life.
The art on show is enjoyed by both the academic and wider community. Exhibitions are open to the general public, for students and Fellowship and visited by scholars, guests and visitors from around the world.
Wolfson has an established art exhibitions programme which has showcased the work of both renowned international artists and innovative emerging artists with the aim of stimulating reflection, discussion and debate.
You can find out more about exhibitions at Wolfson on the Arts page.
