Lila de Magalhaes, Synching, 2024, Dyed bedsheets/fabric, thread, chalk paste, 45.7 x 55.9 cm
Jessie Makinson | Lila de Magalhaes | Lili Ren
Private View: Wednesday 27 November, 6-9pm
Cob presents Oddkin: Beast, Body, Biome, a group exhibition featuring paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works by Lila de Magalhaes, Jessie Makinson, and Lili Ren.
Across their practices, these artists delve into worlds where the human and non-human intertwine, exploring hybridity in form, figure, and material. The exhibition itself is conceived as a living organism, symbolising the interconnectedness of its themes and creators. It merges the speculative, scientific, and surreal, inviting audiences to reconsider the boundaries between reality, imagination, and the ecological web of existence. From Mackinson’s vibrant explorations of social and psychological instincts to Magalhaes’ tactile renderings of earthly and celestial realms, and Ren’s microbiotic, seemingly oceanic visions, Oddkin embodies a dynamic interplay of materiality, imagination, and ecological inquiry. Together, the artists craft an exquisite corpse of interconnected ideas—a living organism that invites us to reimagine our place in an evolving, entangled world.
Drawing inspiration from feminist scholar Donna Haraway’s concept of Oddkin—the formation of nontraditional, unexpected relationships that transcend biological ties—the exhibition explores connections that span people, animals, ecosystems, and machines. These artworks amplify Haraway's vision, fostering dialogue about the mutual transformations of humans and the natural world. Magalhaes, Makinson, and Ren navigate a terrain that is at once primordial and futuristic, human and alien. Their works suggest a world where bodies morph and adapt, bridging the spiritual and the speculative. Each artist examines the intersection of human, animal, machine, and plant life, creating an uncanny space where the natural and the synthetic coexist. As such, Oddkin resonates with the ideas of Deleuze and Guattari, illustrating a networked reality where entities merge and redefine their forms. We are similarly reminded of Strangers by Rebecca Tamás - a deeply reflective and poetic essay that explores themes of connection, alienation, and ecological belonging. In Strangers, Tamás discusses how humans often perceive nonhuman life forms—plants, animals, landscapes—as "other" or alien. This distance, she argues, stems from a worldview rooted in dominance and exploitation. Tamás proposes that by embracing the "strangeness" of these nonhuman entities and accepting their autonomy, humans can foster a sense of connection that transcends the hierarchical frameworks that separate us.
Mackinson’s vibrant paintings teem with energy, populating imagined landscapes with alien creatures, and forests on the brink of collapse. Her work interrogates power dynamics, reinterpreting historical narratives of heroism and domination to subvert cultural metaphors that equate women, animals, and nature with conquest. Through a love of speculative fiction, Mackinson creates hybrid societies where instinct and social norms are renegotiated. Oddkin features a new large scale painting ‘Our Garden is Dizzy’ - unusual in its composition for its singular figure who is set against a vast, leafy nebulas. The work is inspired by Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad and her poem I Feel Sorry for the Garden which reflects on environmental and cultural decay and the garden as a withering symbol of lost vitality.
Los Angeles-based artist Lila de Magalhaes crafts intricate narratives through embroidered textiles, ceramics, and video. Her works collapse the boundaries between the terrestrial and the fantastical, exploring intersections of spirituality, mythology, and ecology.The substrate to her embroidered works are first created from the dying of found bed linen with her imagery merging personal histories with universal themes of transformation and renewals. Magalhaes’ hand sewn and pastel embellishments are created intuitively - leading from the dye marks or the patterns found on the pre existing linen. The resultant ethereal, fluid forms—human, animal, insect, and angelic—conjure a Brueghelian vibrancy, blending loam and ether, worms and angels. Drawing on her Waldorf school education and children’s book illustrations, her works evoke both earthly intimacy and celestial wonder.
Lili Ren’s practice negotiates shifting relationships between objects, biology, and the Anthropocene. Her built environments juxtapose the plausible with the fantastical, using materials in unconventional ways—such as hard glass mimicking soft jelly—to challenge human-centric perspectives. Inspired by microbiology and oceanic ecosystems, Ren destabilises traditional hierarchies, embracing the strangeness and interconnectedness of all life forms. Her sculptures and installations suggest underwater worlds where cellular networks and aquatic organisms intertwine, creating an uncanny, speculative vision of life beyond human dominance.
The exhibition is a meditation on the transformative potential of the human body and its relationship to its environment. It bridges ancient folklore with futuristic speculation, biomechanics with abstraction, and organic matter with artificial constructs. United by a shared aesthetic of hybridity, the works in Oddkin evoke the interconnectedness of life, challenging audiences to envision a world where humans, machines, and nature coexist in a seamless web of relationships.