Time is Always New: Megan Baker & Eleanor Johnson

In the show, the two artists explore Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'  through distinct approaches. And yet, both examine the deep connection between nature and transformation. While Johnson's work delves into duality and change, merging bodies with flora and fauna in dreamlike forms, Baker focuses on the cyclical nature of time, using paint to capture moments of transformation and renewal. Together, these artists offer a compelling meditation on the ever-shifting essence of existence, inviting viewers to engage with transformation not only as a mythic concept, but as a fundamental and continuous force that shapes both the natural world and the human experience.

Johnson draws inspiration from Ovid's myths rather than retelling them, using the theme of metamorphosis as an expedient to explore timeless and enduring dichotomies - sex and death, shadows and light, dark humour. Johnson captures a beautiful darkness, a magical otherworldliness, emanating a sense of wonder and enchantment. In doing so, the artist looks at the idea of discomfort - sometimes even absurdity - embedded in the distortion of the body, constantly reshaped through movement and evolution. Johnson depicts bodies merging and emerging, transforming into the nature - flowers, feathers, animals - that surrounds them. In this body of work, and in her practice as a whole, Johnson evokes the feeling of a lingering, elusive dream, a sensation that is inherent to the poem itself and one that has always captivated the artist due to her fascination with the dreamworld.

Still with a focus on change and the close tie between humans and nature, Baker explores such a concept through a temporal lens, a trademark of the artist's production. "Through this body of work I am considering the cyclical processes of time mirrored through nature, the transformative landscape and the impermanence of being. Taking inspiration from the myths presented in Ovid's poem, I aim to stretch out these moments of transformation through the temporal qualities of paint; where painting allows me to linger, and the paint slips into its own form of renewal." (Megan Baker). For Baker, in a world shaped by the immediate overconsumption of imagery, painting offers a means to transform and elongate the act of seeing. Rather than compressing moments into static forms, painting allows them to evolve.