Following her residency with Hauser & Wirth in 2017 
The solo exhibition, Kher’s first at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, presents a body of work, comprising sculpture, installation and painting, which was created by the artist during the residency. Until December Kher will remain at Hauser & Wirth to continue her residency; she will be the first artist at the gallery to extend a residency in this way, and has done so to extend her practice of interweaving drawing, sculpture and installation..
The largest work on display in A Wonderful Anarchy is The fallow, a 3.5 metre sculpture cast in bronze. Following on from the 2019 series of small sculptures The Intermediaries and the 2018 sculpture The Intermediary Family (shown at Frieze Sculpture Park), The fallow explores the multiplicity of female identity and how femininity is both connected to and disconnected from the female form. The fallow presents a hollowed and mutated goddess; an intricate half-circle suddenly punctuates and breaks up the female form while extending it to new depths.
The circle is a recurring shape throughout the exhibition, appearing in drawings and paintings (The Whole is Greater series, Algorithm for Time Travel) installations and sculptures. Also recurring in the sculptural works is the interruption of bodies - recognisable anatomical forms spliced, rearranged and interspersed with other body parts and other creatures.
Installation view
Talisman for September, 2019. Bharti Kher
The Whole Is Greater 6, 2017, Bharti Kher
The exhibition also continues Kher’s practice of combining found objects to form dynamic, connective sculptural installations. A Wonderful Anarchy, as well as being the exhibition title, is also the name of one such work - a sculpture intended by the artist to act as a counterpoint to the stillness and negative space of The fallow. The work is a cacophony of interwoven found objects which hint at movement, both chaotic and ordered. This suggested movement is held in permanent suspense by the stillness of the objects, creating an intriguing tension. “Dysfunctional staircases, yarns of wool, rusted urns, and the remnants of ominous black lace are pushed up against chains, scales, horns and hooks, even the most pristine of miniature figurines – suspending the domestic and the captive, in perfect stillness. The anchor of this supposed serenity is not just the ropes and pulleys, but also the pillar that stands at a distance from the entropy it holds together, representing a state of resilience and counterbalance in a world constantly in flux.” - Hauser & Wirth
---
A Wonderful Anarchy by Bharti Kher is at Hauser & Wirth, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL, UK from 28 September 2019 to 5 January 2020.
