The Dartmouth Arms

7, Dartmouth Rd, Forest Hill, London, SE23 3HN - Tel: 020 8488 3117

Ilinca Cantacuzino

Working in a garret high above the bars is local artist in residence iIlinca Cantacuzino.

From the artist
"As our linear lives proceed along some invisible course, there is nevertheless underneath, where time moves differently.

At moments, an urgency comes to the surface, demanding concrete form. It finds this form through a collision with the objects and activities of day to day existence. It defies explanation. The connections are made at that different level.

The process of making the work needs to be repetitive, in order to mimic the routine of a hundred daily tasks. Likewise, the medium varies but needs to be commonplace and as a result I tend to find it by stumbling upon it, eg vegetable printing, painting with fire and smoke, a piece of text extracted from a stack of shopping lists.

When I use domestic objects to make images, I alter their designated function, and thereby deny them their ability to control me – I turn the tables. Inevitably, because often the medium I use is fire, the process involves a degree of surprise and danger. So although I start with a plan at the outset and continue to orchestrate the work as it evolves, it has a life (and death) of its own. However, fiery destruction can lead to transformation, as the phoenix has proven."

The Dartmouth Arms
7 Dartmouth Road, London, SE23 3HN
Telephone 020 8488 3117