OCTOBER 2016

NOTHING TO SEE HEREJULIE BURLEIGH

CURATED BY SOPHIA CAI

The exhibition addresses the domestic environment and how it reflects and extends feelings of chaos and disorder, peace and stability. Burleigh works with both representational and abstract forms, and the scale of her works lend themselves to the Dolls House gallery.
Previous works by Burleigh have seen her create freestanding dioramas that are concentrated scenes, stills or frames. These dioramas are always filled with objects but devoid of inhabitants, who appear to have just stepped out of the scene. The rooms and their objects are portraits of their owners, and invite speculation on how our personal possessions tell our stories.
‘Nothing to See Here’ comprises four related scenes, divided amongst the four distinct ‘rooms’ of the Dolls House. The two abstract rooms are a pure unmediated expression of the artist’s states of mind, which is subsequently given a more readily accessible form in the more representational rooms.
Burleigh is a lover of comics and this body of work references the dense messy interiors of Julie Doucet’s ‘Dirty Plotte’ and ‘My New York Diary’, Frank Miller’s and Geof Darrow’s ‘Hard Boiled’, and the intense personal ramblings of Dan Clowes. Her practice is also influenced by an interest in science fiction and the attendant theme of ‘world making’ or ‘other worlds’.