About 10 months in the making, Joana Vasconcelos' show ‘I Will Survive’ reads like a well curated and cleverly installed exhibition. And the artist wears the honor of this gigantic show easily and well. Major themes tying the show together are gender, nation identity and industrialisation. She also draws from the 1960s Nouveau Reálisme art movement as well as Marcel Duchamp's notion of ready-mades. Vasconcelos seems to gravitate to either hard (ceramic/porcelain) or soft (fabrics and crochet) materials as well as often combining the two.

Key works in this survey exhibition start with the gargantuan site-specific work titled, Mary Poppins, 2010. Hanging above the grand stairwell, this handmade knit, fabric and crocheted work hangs where one would expect to find an opulent chandelier. As mentioned earlier Vasconcelos draws in issues of nationalism and this can easily be identified in the title as well as the inclusion of Liberty prints in the piece. Mary Poppins is then flanked on the top landing by five mass produced statues made of concrete, garishly painted and then covered in a second skin of handmade crochet. Here we can see the question of gender, fetishism, industry and combinations of hard and soft materials being explored.

Turning to the left after the landing, Passerelle (Catwalk), 2005 confronts you either as a site where major damage has occurred or is currently happening. With the toe tap of a pedal on the floor, the mechanical carousel comes to motion spinning the ceramic dogs around by their leather collars. Crashing around in an unending loop, bits of these poor, Portuguese made, ceramic purebred dogs get knocked off and flung around the room. This assemblage not only comments on factory farming, the human perception of controlling nature, a nod to the fashion industry but also is a violent continual evolution that will last the length of the exhibition.

There are a lot of great works leading up to Esposas (Wife/Handcuffs), 2005 that I am not mentioning, but this work – though aesthetically may look the most different – encompasses most of the major themes. Six foam mannequins (half male and half female) are bound physically by plastic handcuffs and allude to the binding nature of matrimony, resulting in a work that could be misread as a weapon at first glance. The photograph of the large woman on the wall offers the juxtaposition of hard and soft. The foam woman on the floor seem torn in wanting to escape while simultaneously spreading their legs and offering themselves to the men. This ambiguity is also reflected in the wordplay of the title where esposa means both wife and handcuffs in Spanish.

Lastly the Garden of Eden (Labyrinth), 2010 was created specifically for this exhibition. It is an eerie stroll though a dark electric garden. The
fiber-optic flowers (appropriately sourced from China) are organized in a maze like that of a traditional European garden. However, this multi-sensory, completely artificial garden stimulates the viewer's sight and sound senses (the humming from the artificial plants is dull and constant) but not smell and is presented in complete darkness unlike familiar garden experiences.

Vasconcelos' themes are strong and dominant yet aesthetics are not compromised or her meticulous craftsmanship — the notion of artifice and ambiguity reign strong. Though in the end it is difficult to know if the artist mourns the loss of simplicity and natural beauty (substitutions for ‘the real thing’ abound) or rather do her enchanting works celebrate what contemporary culture can provide? Judge for yourself.

For information visit www.haunchofvenison.com

Joana Vasconcelos: I Will Survive

21 July to 25 September 2010

Haunch of Venison, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET