Liberty Realm (corner dent) – Cathy Ward
Liberty Realm by Cathy Ward / ISBN 9781907222733 / 240-page paperback , about 11 x 8.5 inches / published by Strange Attractor Press (UK) / sealed copy with corner dent from inbound shipping
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“Cathy Ward is an incredibly unique artist, unveiling cosmologies and angelic and demonic hierarchies within the confines of London. She is in line with the likes of William Blake, Osman Spare, and Madge Gill, a line of mystical english artists without compare. No matter what medium she works with, her output is nothing short of amazing. Ensorcelling and transcendent are the only way i can come close to describing her body of work.”–Dylan Carlson from Earth
The fascinating phantasmal worlds in the work of the artist Cathy Ward.
Pulsing and surging with dark energies, Cathy Ward’s mesmerising drawings capture a restlessly inquiring spirit through the meticulous rendering of organic forms. Their mystery, emotional depth, and enveloping sensuality recall an occluded art-historical canon of weird psychedelia, hermetic alchemical illustrations and outsider horror vacui. Liberty Realm presents a broad survey of works ranging from the acclaimed drawings exhibited recently in “Phantasmata” at The Good Luck Gallery (Los Angeles), “Talespinning” at the Drawing Center (New York), “Romantic detachment” at PS1 MOMA (New York), and “Utopia” at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), to new explorations and insightful glimpses of her earlier output and formative practice. Substantial essays by Doug Harvey and Robert Wallis further untangle these fascinating phantasmal worlds.
“It’s so obsessive, so sexual, so serene, so disturbing, all at once.”–Vaughn Oliver 4AD
Cathy Ward was born in Kent, England. In a career spanning more than thirty years, she has exhibited in such major venues as PS1/MoMA, the Drawing Center, the Walker Art Gallery, and the Whitechapel Gallery. She was appointed artist-in-residence for the “Madge Gill: Medium & Visionary” retrospective at Orleans House Gallery in London and her work has been featured in many underground and cultural spaces, including the Horse Hospital (London), and Maggs Counterculture (London). Her work is in the permanent collection of the College of Psychic Studies (London).
