Zilverster (Goodwin & Hanenbergh): Patrino-patrino

Patrino-patrino, the second exhibition at the gallery by Zilverster, the collaborative practice of artists Sharon Goodwin and Irene Hanenbergh, comprised a series of glass objects and furniture, together with a suite of twenty-one new intricate drawings; a number with carved and engraved custom frames and glass.

The starting point for the exhibition was The Table of Moresnet, an iconic work Zilverster created in 2016, and which first extended the duo's collaborative drawing practice into the spatial/sculptural realm. The Table of Moresnet engaged the notion of utopian ideals manifest through actual and fictional European histories, and expressed through the Esperanto language, becoming something of a diary of its own making. The table comprised particular historical moments and excerpts of Esperanto text as well as snippets of conversation between the artists, a record of visitors to the studio and numerous pop-cultural references. As a functional object, it highlighted and repurposed its own historical context and as a conceptual art work, bringing the past and present into focus, as well as playfully disturbing the traditional distinctions between high and low art forms.

Patrino-patrino-which variously translates from Esperanto as mother-mother, mother-father or, more colloquially, mother-fucker-continues these explorations, engaging text more explicitly through the processes of drawing and carving/engraving across a diverse range of traditional and found materials.