The International 3

WANDERLUST | Simon Faithfull, Mishka Henner, Ma Qiusha

Exhibition Preview Thursday 27^th April 6pm – 8pm **

Exhibition Continues: Friday 28th April – Friday 14th July

Exhibition Open: Weds-Fri / 12pm – 5pm

Taking the University of Salford’s Art Collection as its point of departure and specifically focusing on newly acquired works from both British and international artists, WANDERLUST explores the practice of three artists whose work is bound up with ideas of voyeurism, omitted context, ambiguous journeys and seeing the world from a veiled or altered perspective. Blurring genres, and straddling the space between reality and fantasy – WANDERLUST reveals our inherent desire to let our imagination ‘fill in the gaps’ whilst exposing the allure of obscurity.

WANDERLUST is a group exhibition guest curated by University of Salford alumna Amy Stevenson. It is co-commissioned by The International 3 and University of Salford Art Collection and is presented as part of University of Salford’s Graduate Scholarship Programme and its Commission to Collect Programme.

Simon Faithfull’s practice attempts to ‘understand the world as a sculptural object’ and examines how the ordinary relates to the far away and unknown. In Going Nowhere 2, 2011 Faithfull takes a cryptic walk through the landscape of the Adriatic Sea. As we watch the dreamlike journey unfold, we are left  wondering where he is going and if he will ever get there. Mishka Henner’s immersive photograph weaves together satellite imagery to create detailed tapestries of America’s oil and surveillance industries, whilst revealing an unlikely painterly beauty that is perhaps contradictory to the topic. Working across media, Ma Qiusha’s minimalist works reflect upon her personal memories and life as a young female in contemporary Beijing. In Take a Walk, 2016, Ma Qiusha takes the mundane act of walking, and creates a mysterious visual riddle that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. With narrative severed from the image; a set of legs walking towards an unknown destination remains in an infinite loop of repetition. The notion of a journey or pathway is also echoed in her piece, The Fog Series, a triptych of works on paper.

Amy Stevenson is an artist and curator based in the north of England with an interest in collection management and modern and contemporary art. Upon graduating from The University of Salford’s Visual Art programme in 2015, Amy was awarded a Jerwood Creative Bursary and a University of Salford Graduate Scholarship. In August 2015 Amy joined the Collections and Exhibitions team at The Hepworth Wakefield.

**On the same evening as the preview, a solo exhibition by Andrew McDonald (represented by The International 3), will open at Castlefield Gallery 6pm – 8pm. Throughout the previews a free coach service will operate between The International 3 and Castlefield Gallery on a first come first served basis.

For more information / images, please contact Paulette Terry Brien: ptb@international3.com