David Mabb: A Factory As It Might Be or The Hall of Flowers

Over the past few years, David Mabb has produced paintings based on the work of designer, poet, and essayist William Morris (1834-96). A committed socialist, Morris believed that new manufacturing technologies alienated people from nature and from one another, and that industrialization removed workers from the creatiive aspects of craftsmanship. In this exhibition, six Morris wallpaper designs and nine paint colours provide the background for Mabb’s paintings and videos. He examines Morris’s designs and ideas relative to narious utopian visions of the future. The title of the exhibition suggests Morris’s desire to transform industrial societies into a paradise.