Ruup & Form: In Company of The Unexpected

A chair that resists balance. A vessel carrying memory across oceans. A map drawn in salt and silk. In Company of The Unexpected brings together sixteen artists who embrace disruption as a beginning rather than an interruption. The exhibition unfolds like a visit from an uninvited guest—unpredictable yet unforgettable—taking its cue from Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, where an unexpected arrival empties cupboards but leaves behind a sense of possibility. Here, the “tiger” is a state of mind: playful, transformative, mischievous. The works gathered slip between art, craft, and design. Christopher Kelly and Daniel Hayden’s overGrown chairs unseat expectations of furniture, while Jihyun Kim reimagines ritual as sculpture. Poppy Lennox maps unseen energies in thread, and Studio EAST x EAST suggest adaptive ways of living with reclaimed forms. Gwyneth Melling’s embroidered landscapes draw us closer, Katie Smith’s vessels trace fate and transformation in clay, and Ambre Cardinal’s kinetic sculptures hold delicate equilibrium. Further works by Carla Wright, Julia Clarke, Juli Bolaños Durman, Henrietta MacPhee, Marlou Breuls, Woo Jin Joo, Ana Bridgewater, and Katie Boccaccini Meadows extend the theme of play, care, resilience, and reinvention. In a time when unpredictability often feels exhausting, In Company of The Unexpected reminds us that wonder is not a luxury but a necessity, and that the unfamiliar can be the very force that remakes us. Participating Artists Ambre Cardinal, Ana Bridgewater, Barbara Long, Carla Wright, Christopher Kelly and Daniel Hayden, Gwyneth Melling, Henrietta MacPhee, Jihyun Kim, Juli Bolaños Durman, Julia Clarke, Katie Boccaccini Meadows, Katie Smith, Marlou Breuls, Poppy Lennox, Studio EAST x EAST, Woo Jin Joo Events • Private View - 11 September, 6–9 pm • Thread Counts: The Power of Textiles in Contemporary Art - 19 September, 6:30–8:30 pm · Tickets via Selvedge Website A conversation with writer Isabella Smith and artists Woo Jin Joo and Christopher Kelly on the transformative role of textiles in contemporary art. • Curators’ Talk 10 October, 6–7 pm · Free · RSVP: hello@ruupandform.com Follow @ruup.and.form for updates and further events.