Copper wire, flora and a boundless imagination are the tools of London-based Rebecca Louise Law’s artistic practice. With them, she cultivates extraordinary installations, verdant portraits and even sculptures that explore the dynamic between man and nature. ‘I want to share and preserve the beauty of the Earth,’ says Law. ‘I want people to really feel nature and cherish it. That’s what motivates me.’
This month, Law is lending her green-fingered talents to Now Gallery on London’s Greenwich Peninsula for an immersive spring installation titled The Iris. ‘My aim was to create a seasonal work, which opposed but also complimented its environment – which is essentially a concrete metropolis,’ she reveals. In order to do this, she examined the history of the land in which the Now Gallery was built upon and discovered it was ‘a wetland of tidal marshes’ where ‘all sorts of unsavoury things took place, involving the storage of gunpowder and even dodgy dealings with pirates.’
Installation view of ‘The Iris’ at Now Gallery
A detailed analysis into marshland plants that thrived in the area was her next port of call. ‘I discovered that the iris grew there,’ she says. ‘I was immediately drawn to it, I love its symbolic properties and the fact that it’s one of the most commonly cultivated flowers in our modern society,’ she adds.
Admittedly, buying a bunch of irises from your local supermarket will never be quite the same after experiencing Law’s spectacular artwork, which sees 10,000 fresh styles hand-threaded with copper wire and suspended from the gallery’s modernist atrium. ‘I wanted to create this ebb and flow of irises from floor to ceiling,’ she reveals. ‘There will be natural pathways, but the idea is that the viewer will feel completely consumed by the design.’
The fresh, peppery aroma emitted throughout adds yet another sensory dimension, as she explains. ‘Initially the scent will be quite powerful, as will the humidity inside the building, but this will fade as the irises dry out.’ While the blooms will decompose over the display’s two-month run, Law’s intention remains unchanged. ‘I hope the exhibition prompts people to revisit the beauty of the incredible iris – and appreciate it.’
10,000 fresh styles hand-threaded with copper wire are suspended from the gallery’s modernist atrium
The artist says: ‘I wanted to create this ebb and flow of irises’
Law’s aim was to create a seasonal work
INFORMATION
‘The Iris’ is on view until 7 May. For more information, visit the Now Gallery website
ADDRESS
Now Gallery
The Gateway Pavilions
Peninsula Square
Greenwich Peninsula
London SE1 0SQ
-
Year in review: top 10 furniture launches of 2024, as selected by Wallpaper* global design director Hugo MacdonaldThe furniture launches that wowed global design director Hugo Macdonald this year
-
Unboxing beauty products from 2024, as seen on the pages of Wallpaper*Wallpaper's 2024 beauty picks included Chanel lipstick, Bottega Veneta perfume and solid soap from the likes of Aesop, Celine, Diptyque, Hermès and Sisley
-
The cosiest alpine retreats to book in EuropeBrowse the Wallpaper* edit of European alpine retreats where to fully embrace the ski season
-
Inside the distorted world of artist George RouyFrequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form
-
‘I'm endlessly fascinated by the nude’: Somaya Critchlow’s intimate and confident drawings are on show in London‘Triple Threat’ at Maximillian William gallery in London is British artist Somaya Critchlow’s first show dedicated solely to drawing
-
Surrealism as feminist resistance: artists against fascism in Leeds‘The Traumatic Surreal’ at the Henry Moore Institute, unpacks the generational trauma left by Nazism for postwar women
-
Looking forward to Tate Modern’s 25th anniversary partyFrom 9-12 May 2025, Tate Modern, one of London’s most adored art museums, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a lively weekend of festivities
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA week in the world of Wallpaper*. Here's how our editors have been entertaining themselves in the run up to Christmas
-
Love, melancholy and domesticity: Anna Calleja is a painter to watchAnna Calleja explores everyday themes in her exhibition, ‘One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night’, at Sim Smith, London
-
Ndayé Kouagou speaks the language of the chaotic social media influencer in LondonNdayé Kouagou celebrates meandering incoherence with an exhibition, ‘A Message for Everybody’, at Gathering in London
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA snowy Swiss Alpine sleepover, a design book fest in Milan, and a night with Steve Coogan in London – our editors' out-of-hours adventures this week
