Place Holder is a multidisciplinary collaboration between visual artists Jill Tate and Matt Denham, evolving out of a shared interest in the visual, behavioural and psychological qualities of architecture. Working in painting, sculpture and video installation, our collaborative work explores what we think of as domestic, and how our experience of ‘home’ is shaped across time and at different scales: from mind, to house, to planet.
Our ongoing body of work, Degrees of Freedom, reconsiders home, domesticity and labour: from the external environments we inhabit to the psychological structures that shape our experiences. The physical spaces we create are affected by our state of mind, and our state of mind is, in turn, affected by the environments we encounter. These internal and external worlds can fluctuate between comfort and fear; calmness and isolation, influenced by perceptible and imperceptible forces beyond our control.
RECENT PROJECTS
IN THE ROUND - A Brass Tacks Exhibition, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, 9th September - 14th October 2023
"In The Round is a group exhibition exploring ideas of home, emptiness, and the spaces in-between.
Curated by Jed Buttress, this open call exhibition showcases four local artists in the newly-refurbished Gallery at the Arts Centre, combining film, painting, collage and sculpture. Collaboratively, the artists tell shared stories of strange spaces, neglected nostalgia and abandoned nautical nightclubs. Featuring artworks by Iris Ollier, Kitty L M McKay, Nat Loftus and Place Holder: Jill Tate and Matt Denham, this is the first of two exhibitions from the ‘Brass Tacks’ project; a six-month programme of events, exhibitions and skills development opportunities for emerging and established artists in Newcastle upon Tyne."
Supported by the Creative Central: NCL programme, funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.
Degrees of Freedom, The NewBridge Project: Project Space, Newcastle upon Tyne, 7 - 23 April 2022
This body of painting and video installation work was the first collaboration between visual artists Jill Tate and Matt Denham. Developed over 16 months and supported by Arts Council England. The work manifested in a dramatically illuminated, stark and minimal installation structure born of terracotta and concrete: materials with mixed connotations of earth and architecture, wellness and work. Through the manipulation of scale and a feedback of forms, the work explores the different psychological dimensions of our environments.
Artists' Reflection
Degrees of Freedom evolved out of a shared interest in the visual, behavioural and psychological qualities of architecture in a broad sense, and more specifically, the reflexive relationship between the external world and our internal psychological spaces....[read more]
Tender Light Holds Something Raw by Jillian Knipe
To see the collaborative work of Jill Tate and Matt Denham is to bear witness. Whether that is to the preparation or aftermath of an event is not able to be known... [read more]
With thanks to project supporter: