WALALA X PLAY by Camille Walala. Photography by Charles Emerson.
WALALA X PLAY by Camille Walala. Photography by Charles Emerson.

Graphic artist Camille Walala is building a labyrinth of shapes and colors on Greenwich Peninsula. Selected as NOW Gallery’s 2017 Design Collaborator, Camille presents WALALA X PLAY for the gallery’s summer program – an immersive, interactive installation exploring ideas of art, well-being and human scale.

Occupying NOW Gallery’s main exhibition area from July 14 to September 24, 2017, the installation invites visitors of all ages to explore the space – and themselves – via a maze of geometric patterns, unpredictable corridors and Walala’s distinctive bold colors.

Shaped by the Surroundings

The waterways of the Greenwich Peninsula, the curve of the Thames, and the internal shapes and angles of the buildings themselves are referenced and represented in the internal flow and reflections contained within WALALA X PLAY. The layout of the installation playfully mirrors the shape of the building and its components are positioned in response to the mapping of the building and the peninsula around it. Seen from above, there is a clear, fluid relationship between the walls of the installation and the aerial view of the wider area, making the piece a structural extension of its immediate environment.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

At the heart of the installation is a puzzle – a giant three-dimensional game of Spot the Difference. Walala has woven inconsistencies and asymmetries throughout the maze – peppering it with broken geometries and subtly distorted patterns. Stepping into the installation, visitors will be confronted with a challenge: enter the space and explore its colors, patterns, shapes and scales to locate all the differences.

Players will also be invited to share their findings on Instagram, tagged with @nowgalleryse10 and the hashtag #WALALAXPLAY, creating a digital archive that will evolve over the duration of the exhibition.

The anomalies and asymmetries will generally be discreetly positioned, requiring visitors to engage their bodies and investigate the space from all angles to complete the puzzle. Secret spots will be found when looking down from the balcony or looking up at the suspended elements. This element of physicality encourages individuals to become more aware of their bodies, engage their minds and give themselves over to play. The “flaws” will be refreshed each month, ensuring that the installation evolves and that returning visitors will have always have something new to discover.

About Graphic Artist Camille Walala

Camille Walala is a purveyor of positivity, expressed through vibrant color and bold pattern. Camille’s career has taken her all over the world to transform homes and workspaces with her signature tribal-pop style. Drawing on influences including the Memphis Movement, the Ndebele tribe and op-art master Victor Vasarely, she has an irrepressible enthusiasm for playful, graphic patterns that invoke a smile in all who view them. Recent years have seen her progress from her textile-based work to encompass art direction and interior design. Finding that her style translates powerfully to larger surfaces and installations, she is now working with greater scope and at greater scale than ever before, with an overriding ambition to imbue the world’s urban landscapes with eye-popping colour and soul-stirring energy.

Clients include Harrods, Sarenza, Armani, The Other Art Fair, Natuzzi, Better Bankside, Naked Heart Foundation, Topshop, Swatch, Nike, Ted Baker, Art Fund, Selfridges, ES Magazine, Marie Claire, Converse, Facebook, Nintendo, XOYO, Koppaberg, Bompas & Parr, Darkroom, Barbican Festival, Land of King, Urban Outfitters, Caterpillar, Sydney Koskela, Facebook, Splice TV, Converse and ARIA London.

 

By Andrea Hammer

Andrea Karen Hammer is the founder, director and owner of Artsphoria Publishing, Media Group & Shop (https://www.artsphoria.org): Artsphoria International Magazine (https://www.artsphoria.com); Artsphoria Movie Reviews & Film Forum (https://www.artsphoria.us); Artsphoria: Arts, Business & Technology Center (https://www.artsphoria.biz); Artsphoria Event Advertising & Reporting (https://www.artsphoria.info); Artsphoria: Food for the Soul (https://artsphoria.live); Artsphoria Animation & Imagination World (https://www.artsphoria.net) and Artsphoria Shop (https://www.artsphoriashop.com). She is a freelance writer who has published articles in international publications.

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