Subsidiary Projects is proud to present Mere Monads, Millie Layton's first solo show in which she debuts a collection of experimental moving Monads encroaching around the gallery space.

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Monads are simple substances that are made up of one element but can be part of something composite. Leibniz posited the existence of an infinite number of these spiritual substances, each different, each a percipient of the universe around it, and each mirroring that universe from its own point of view. 

 

The essential characteristic of monads is that they are irreducible; in this way they resemble (philosophical) atoms, which are similarly irreducible to simpler components. Where atoms and monads differ is that atoms are viewed as purely physical, and are therefore tiny. Monads, on the other hand, are immaterial, and are units of "force"; physical attributes (such as matter or motion) are merely phenomenal.

 

Millie’s practice is based on an investigation into our relationship with animate and inanimate objects. Her practise aims to create new freedoms working with sickly structures, colours and movement to make unrecognisable biomorphic compositions. Millie is interested in the balance between objects being purely 'object' and the process of anthropomorphising it. Through the creation of playful, colourful and almost childish invasive sculptures, she invites the viewer to wander among them and be part (merely as  passing visitors) of their parallel reality. 

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Millie Layton graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in Sculpture and Environmental Art in 2017. In September 2018 she will start the postgraduate course at the Royal Academy Schools.

Selected group exhibitions include Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries (March 2018), Rhino collectives 'Th th th that's all folks’, Castlefield Gallery, (February 2018), AAF New Graduates, Battersea Power Station’s Village Hall, (October 2017), Woon Foundation Prize 2017, Baltic 39, (June 2017) and Not Heavy Just Awkward, New Glasgow Society, (March 2017). Residencies and awards: Oli Epp Studio Residency (November 2017) and The Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop Graduate Residency 2018. Forthcoming shows include: Bits and Blobs, Las Palmas, (September 2018, solo), Let Your Hands Do The Talking, The Royal Standard, (October 2018).