Four Tet & Anna Liber Lewis Evoke an Emotional Journey in the New Exhibit ‘Muscle Memory’

At the new exhibit Muscle Memory at London’s Elephant West, an abstraction of audio and visuals come together to reflect on deep, visceral emotions. The paintings come from Anna Liber Lewis, and feature an abstraction of colors and shapes, that sometimes loosely resemble parts of the body, but are more often obscure collections of shapes that are born out of a cathartic release of emotion. The paintings are joined by three audio tracks produced by renowned producer Kieran Hebden—aka Four Tet—who has known Lewis for most of his life. The audio bears Hebden’s singular ability to blent experimental electronic sounds into something deeply emotive, whether that’s through bass-laden beats or sullen ambient synths. Lewis and Hebden created their pieces concurrently, with Hebden producing based on images Lewis would send him; the thread that ended up connecting the show together is the loss of both of their fathers to sudden illness in the last year, manifesting in both sadness and joy of life channelled throughout the work. For two artists who have known each other for so long, the collaboration became an intimate expression of their shared experiences—experiences which have now been extended to everyone through Muscle Memory.

Muscle Memory is on view at Elephant West  through March 17

[Photos via Elephant]