The exhibition ‘Squaring the Circle’ by Loane Bobillier comes at a point where we can look back at National and International events of recent years and question our place within the framework of a rapidly changing society.

I am going to take this opportunity to talk about the work in the show in terms of a wider picture, but based on my discussions with Loane about the more personal aspects of contemplation that lead her to make the work that she does.

The project intends to raise questions on belonging and self identity.

In recent weeks I have trailed this exhibition by stating that we are moving from the figurative, ‘Crazy Eddie’s Bargain Basement’, into the abstract, Loane’s ‘Squaring The Circle’. This is in fact talking superficially in very specific art terms rather than anything about content. Beneath the surface the work is very much about what it means to be human, even if seemingly confined within the realms of geometric abstraction. 

As an international student, much of whose life thus far has been spent roaming the world, ‘Squaring the Circle’ looks at the subject of identity and belonging; how the artists own experience of not fitting in with an ever changing set of expectations around societal conformity impacts on the view she holds of herself in relation to the world.

Environment is important in both life and practice for this artist and is central to the themes of this exhibition. The floor in the front space is divided up into three distinct surfaces on which the works are displayed. A rectangular stretch of sand holds a trio of terracotta cubes, some of their surfaces treated with gold leaf. On the wall behind, an echo of the gold leaf in three circular forms. Up in the top corner of the room another large gold leaf disc that shines under a spotlight like the sun. It also seems to echo another circle of gold leaf elsewhere in the room, a remnant left behind by Alistair Woods in 2014. Elsewhere, a cracked and barren ceramic landscape holds masses of cannonball shaped ceramic objects with shiny metallic glazes.

Through my work I often use the cube as a representation of myself as I create cubes photographed in a natural landscape to show their inability to fit into the background even if they have an organic element. 

A rolling stone, so the saying goes, gathers no moss, and here the many variations of the cuboidal form depict changes occurring from one environment to another. A number of photographs refer to the cubes in natural surroundings, others in artificial, man made environments that strip them of context and present them as purely surface.

The cubes themselves are also present in the room but here their form is altered. The pure concrete cube of the natural environment is now indoors, yet covered in patches of moss. The addition of the third dimension adds depth and substance to the flat, surface only, images.

Elsewhere the cubes seem to be crumbling, warping, decaying, disintegrating. One in particular, made of wax, is so delicate that travel for this object becomes a danger, its structural integrity challenged by the slightest breeze. The strength of the large steel cube depicted throughout the exhibition is instead  supplanted by a fragile and delicate shell.

Born in Switzerland and having lived in three different countries including China and Singapore, I find it difficult to know where I belong. When I return to Switzerland I have different mannerisms physically and in language compared to those who have lived their whole lives in Switzerland and as a white individual I would never fully fit into countries like China and Singapore. In Singapore I am seen as a foreigner even though I have lived there for over 15 years.

Whilst the cubes do indeed alter throughout the exhibition some seem to gain strength from their travels, patches of moss binding the elements together. In one environment two largeish cubes with ink bleeding into their surfaces rest on a bed of ashes; ashes created in the garden on the day before the exhibition opened through the burning of personal documents. Loane’s first solo exhibition, pre-graduation, and yet also a moment of woodshedding; the relative privacy of educational practice being replaced by the very public practice of exhibition.

Spheres are also a recurring motif throughout the exhibition. On one plinth stands a sphere cast in bronze, heavy yet delicately balanced and covered in a blue/grey dusty patina. In my mind's eye, I see the earth perched precariously in its orbit around the gold leaf sun, a warning, do not upset the balance or we could all tip off into oblivion.   

Using fired and glazed terracotta clay to create a series of metallic spheres, I wanted the viewer to think about their own connection to the natural world and how even though the objects are in their final forms man made, they started off as raw organic material.

The cannonball shapes of one work have altered between the front and rear exhibition space where a similar series of spherical objects also appear, only here they are warped and distorted resting on and around the cubes on the ash surface. The main thing that comes across in this exhibition, beyond the conceptual remit, is Loane’s love of making, such is the dedication to materials, skills and experimentation

No doubt we are shaped by the world in which we live, but we must also strive to shape the future of that world for the better. There are many who do not have such agency over their own outcomes and it is essential that we act on their behalf, in this way the elements that shape the lives of those without the means to nurture themselves will hopefully become positive ones. It is this reasoning that drives BasementArtsProject forward and which, I believe, this artist's work speaks of. I look forward to seeing where life takes this artist beyond graduation.

Bruce Davies | March 2023