Brooke Benington are thrilled to be participating in the first edition of Depot. Set to take place in Oxford from Thursday 26 September to Saturday 28 September. Depot is a new concept exhibition-meets-art fair aimed at collectors and art lovers to enable access to exceptional contemporary art outside of the capital, in a city with a rich cultural heritage.
Brooke Benington presents The Fall at Depot Oxford, featuring works by Victor Lim Seaward, Vilte Fuller, Yeni Mao, Alexi Marshall & Alan Stanners.
Through a diverse collection of artworks, The Fall reimagines humanity’s descent and expulsion from Eden. Each artist offers a distinct interpretation of temptation, loss, and awakening, drawing connections between ancient mythology and contemporary experiences.
Victor Lim Seaward’s Peach with Lips (after Lalanne) (2023), a copper apple with lips emerging from its surface, serves as an emblem of the temptations of the flesh and the forbidden fruit. This piece anchors the exhibition in the moment of desire and indulgence, marking the onset of the fall.
Viltė Fuller presents two works that prelude the fall: Study for Diseased Fruit (2024), a richly red painting of cherries, hints at the coming downfall, while its voyeuristic depiction of an exposed breast suggests a burgeoning sexual awakening. Fuller’s Study for Diseased NSFW (2023) further pushes boundaries by incorporating imagery of corporate censorship, interwoven with themes of control and objectification in the contemporary landscape.
Yeni Mao’s fig 38.5 the body of the king is an illusory production machine (2023) explores the aftermath of the fall. His wall-floor sculpture juxtaposes a clinical steel framework with a dangling ceramic worm, symbolizing the tension between the organic and industrial. It represents humanity's corrupted awakening, where newfound agency leads to the manipulation of both tools and the natural world.
Alan Stanners’ Umweltengap (clitarchushookeri) (2022) delves into themes of adaptation and concealment. The painting shows a woman’s face obscured by a stick insect, set against a darkened woodland. The insect, perhaps a symbol of camouflage, mirrors humanity’s attempt to blend into and survive in a hostile, post-Edenic world.
Alexi Marshall’s England Eating Itself (2024) closes the exhibition with a mosaic depiction of an eel devouring its tail, a reimagining of the ouroboros. Marshall’s mosaic reflects on cyclical themes of death, rebirth, and the desire to return to an origin, drawing a full circle back to the primal moments before and after the fall.
In The Fall, these artists chart humanity’s journey from innocence to experience, offering both a lament and a reflection on the nature of desire, corruption, and survival.
