Brochure relating to an exhibition, 2016
Published by: University of Hertfordshire Galleries
Year published: 2016
Unpaginated.

Folded brochure (opening out into a mini poster) for Permindar Kaur: Interlopers, an exhibition held at Art and Design Gallery, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield. The exhibition took place 18 March - 7 May 2016. The brochure featured several colour reproductions of work from the exhibition. From the brochure’s text: “UH Galleries are delighted to present a new body of work by highly regarded British artist Permindar Kaur. Over three decades, Permindar’s work has consistently explored the human condition, who we are and where we belong. Her signature polar-fleece sculptures combine the innocence of cuddly toys with an underlying threat or vulnerability. These creatures ‘stand in’ for us replicating the behavious, emotions, fears, thrills and instincts with which we negotiate our lives.

Permindar’s last major exhibition, Hiding Out (Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottinghjam, 2014), introduced us to a cast of reticent, withdrawn individuals, hiding and camouflaged in their environment, clearly nervous and protecting themselves with copper claws and spears.

Now, in Interlopers, a single species has evolved to inhabit the gallery space, with an increasing and unrestrained self-confidence. A sleuth of black, faceless, fleece-teddies has been released. They are climbing, travelling, exploring and infesting, perhaps considering escape. Where copper elements were once possibly weapons of defence, they now aid the teddies’ movement and have become the tools of control and even invasion. Over the seven-week exhibition, Permindar proposes a dynamic environment where the creatures move around, others are introduced and some escape.

The emerging themes of travel, migration and the threshold between one world and another chime with the disrupted global experience of the refugee, migration, helplessness and empowerment. Her population of faceless teddies are trying to take control of their lives and redeem individuals and collective destinies.

The new work has been developed during an intense residency at the University of Hertfordshire, based within the School of Creative Arts. Access to research, critical thinking, new techniques and materials has informed this confident new series.”