miłość, London
Douglas Cantor, Sophie Vallance Cantor
‘It’s you and me baby’ is a duo booth show of works by London-based artists Sophie Vallance Cantor (b. 1993, Scotland) and Douglas Cantor (b. 1989, Colombia), looking at domesticity, tenderness and solace, through the lens of a marriage of two artists, their frustrations with the realities of life in Britain. The presentation, arranged to transform the booth into a living room offering comfort and privacy, features new works made especially for Art-o-rama – painted room dividers by Sophie, large-scale paintings by Douglas, and a collaborative film.
Both practices are transformations of intimism. In Douglas Cantor’s practice, which ranges painting, film and poetry, the domestic is an expression of personal significance and identity, while also highlighting transition and migration – longing for a sense of belonging, stability and safety. For Sophie Vallance Cantor, the intimism is authenticity with the home being a place of freedom and comfort. The film plays on the TV, Douglas’s paintings hang on the walls, while Sophie’s room dividers offer a little privacy, a comfortable place to hide and take a breath. The Cantors’ studio is their living room, and it is in constant motion – they paint, they exchange references, the cats walk around and play, coffee is being drunk, paintings are being moved around. The booth is rearranged throughout the fair in a curatorial activation reminiscent of a reorganising a room during or after a crisis, in search of inspiration, a refreshing and rediscovery, a new beginning. It acts as a grounding to the domestic nature of the booth, and its theme of consolation and healing, while further immersing the viewer, even in a fair’s short-term engagement, into the painters’ living room.
