Antidote presents an extension of two previous exhibitions, From Nature (2021) and Regeneration (2022) which is the core of Informality’s programme of discussing art and our environment, contributing to the galleries mission of developing a critically engaged programme, bridging conversations about the scientific benefits of the outdoors and how it impacts us as living systems.
The new iteration is inspired by Shinrin Yoku, also known as forest bathing, a term coined in Japan in the 80s whereby patients suffering from anxiety or other forms of depression from mild to severe are prescribed to walk on ‘Shinrin Yoku’ forest trials. This theory extends back from the middle ages when terpenoids and oleoresins particularly those found in conifers in the atmospheres of forests, which are also the chemical defences for plants against herbivores, were used to treat disease, as anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and have a relaxing effect on our body stimulated through our nervous system. However, the exhibition also explores the blues, a counterpart to our greens.
In Regeneration, the exhibition looked at Prof Richard Taylor’s theory on Fractals in his 1999 journal ‘Nature’, but in art, referencing a body of work by abstract painter, Jackson Pollock, he found that the visual of Pollocks works were scientifically relaxing its viewers as the paintings marks sat in within the golden ratio and created similar effect to if we were to look at leaves on a tree, plants, clouds in the sky or waves on the oceans. Furthermore, In ‘Antidote’ we are encouraged to view the surface of the artwork where materials enhance the process of slowing down, the environment is partially incorporated in harmony in the works of Li Li Ren, Jamie North, Forest + Found and Rain Wu. There is something special about being idle in nature, slowing down to pay attention to the minutiae that surrounds us.
Informality hopes that Antidote will encourage a way of thinking about art and our environment. Often the representation of art and culture is celebrated in heavy populated urban areas where our levels of anxiety, depression and chronic illness increase but community thrives, many of us eventually choose a more peaceful life in rural idylls rich in relaxation, stunning visuals but perhaps slower in community and richness in contemporary arts and culture. Antidote presents meaningful works of art by recognised artists, but it is not activism, both nature and the arts are fundamental medicines in a rapidly increasing digital world.
Image: (detail) Jamie North, 'Inflection', courtensy of Informality.
