THE SENSES is the inspiration behind two new artist commissions at Compton Verney Art Gallery.
DYSPLA, a neuro-divergent led award-winning arts studio, and Aaron McPeake, who makes work that deals with his own experience of sight loss, will be adding their art to the South Warwickshire-based art gallery’s The Naples Collection.
The art work will form part of ‘Sensing Naples’, a new display of works for the historic collection that will go on display in April 2023.
Compton Verney has one of the richest collections of Neapolitan art in the world outside Naples. The Naples collection includes over fifty pieces of fine art and decorative objects, and was amassed by Compton Verney’s founder, the businessman and philanthropist Sir Peter Moores.
Aaron said “This is a fascinating opportunity which will allow me to expand my practice and ways of working. It is an exciting challenge to balance all the considerations when making work that will sit within a world leading collection of artworks that spans more than two centuries. My hope is that my work, a multi-sensory sculptural piece incorporating lava rock from Vesuvius, will function in a way that beholders will feel has a relevance and fits harmoniously within the collection”.
DYSPLA added “The opportunity to pitch for Sensing Naples was a major turning point for us as Visual Artist. We felt a sense of being championed. That made a massive difference for us as disabled artists. Our recent work experimenting with time-based technology, sensory experiences such as touch and narrative poetics, all influenced the work we pitched for Sensing Naples. Inspired by Lorenzo Vaccaro’s ‘The Four Continents’ this has the working title ‘The Four Females’ and is a series of poetic holograms that instruct the audience to self touch their way through the four continents”.
While Sensing Naples curator Dr Amy Orrock said: “We are delighted to be working with the commissioned artists to bring the stories of Naples to life today. Naples has long been perceived as a ‘city of the senses’. By 1600 it was one of largest city in Europe, with visitors struck by the rich and at times chaotic local culture of food, drink, music and dance. The city is also full of geographical wonders, including expansive views of the sea and the smouldering spectacle of Vesuvius, which erupted six times during the 18th century.
“We hope that the new commissions will bring a different dimension to the display, by helping to unlock aspects of the historic artworks and also encouraging visitors to find new ways to engage with their senses and artistic practice within a gallery environment”.
