Luca Sutton, 'Thin Places' at The Apple Core, Stockport

About a week ago, I sat in The Apple Core, a shabbily instagrammable café in Stockport, admiring Luca Sutton’s work from a distance having just spent fifteen minutes inspecting it up close. Looking at it all, I couldn't help but take notes:

“red proliferates”, 

“fabric adds lightness to drawings”, 

“artefacts, not images”, and  

“sculptural elements add weight to the work, juxtaposing with the idea of ethereal thin places”. 

So I’m now writing this text because my mind keeps wandering back to that day and the work on display - it was just very special. 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that in café exhibitions, curation is secondary to the very opportunity to showcase artwork, which often happens to be prints behind glass, displayed politely in neat rows. The space is made available, the artist gratefully accepts, and the arrangement makes perfect sense - after all, most of an artist's life is spent chasing walls to show their work, I would know. The art sits quietly in neutral frames, in the hope that somebody will look up from their phone and decide to spend £270, there and then.

Luca Sutton’s show Thin Places does not fall into a typical café show category. It stretches across the three rooms in a very intentional manner - a lot of thought went into the curation, utilising the nooks and crannies of the space. Even the accompanying information leaflet hangs on a custom-made papier-mâché hook, while the flyer itself is far from an A4 printout in Arial.

Figures, symbols and domesticity combine to create the artist’s own visual vocabulary in opulent papier-mâché frames, not unlike a book of spells.

The works are gathered under the concept of thin places - a term for locations where the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds becomes permeable. Luca’s semi-abstract, flowing imagery seems to be rooted in interiors, domestic objects and places that are likely important to her and perhaps allow for communion with something outside of our visible realm. Figures, symbols and domesticity combine to create the artist’s own visual vocabulary in opulent papier-mâché frames, not unlike a book of spells.

Then there is the absolute dedication to the colour palette. Red is the ultimate starting point here, while the pastel yellows, sage greens, and delicate blues that surround it are forced to stay just one step behind. 

This body of work could best be described as a collection of artefacts, ones that include painting, drawing, sculpture, monotype and textiles, yet move seamlessly between all of them and evade easy categorisation. The first thing that comes to mind is that they were made by someone who really enjoyed the process of bringing them to life. Then there is the absolute dedication to the colour palette. Red is the ultimate starting point here, while the pastel yellows, sage greens, and delicate blues that surround it are forced to stay just one step behind. 

I couldn’t choose a favourite piece but I can think of one that really illustrates the artist’s approach, flowing freely between disciplines (although unfortunately I do not have its title, I should’ve taken one of those elegant flyers away with me). A charcoal drawing on fabric is attached to a little red shelf - the image seems to capture the warmth of a fireplace in a room heavy with memories, shadows and spirits all resting on the ceiling beams. 

There’s a strong altar-esque quality to these pieces that seems to spill into the space surrounding them - are they themselves portals or facilitators of the thinning of the veil?

Attaching the fabric to a little red shelf imbues the drawing with a lightness, allowing it to move gently with the smallest breeze while also becoming a physical veil for the space underneath. There is something about the shelf itself that anchors the piece and makes you imagine it in your own space too. Art should ideally fit into our lives and homes whenever possible - you could put your own trinkets on this literal work of art and it would probably feel like completing the spell that it’s weaving.

There’s a strong altar-esque quality to these pieces that seems to spill into the space surrounding them - are they themselves portals or facilitators of the thinning of the veil? I can’t be sure but I’d gladly cross over into whatever world they might be uncovering.