Nicola Ellis
10 December 2015 - 14 January 2016

 It seems pertinent that at this time in the history of iron and steel production in Teesside, Platform A should be presenting the artist Nicola Ellis in the solo exhibition, It’ll Hold Until It Breaks. Her works challenge rules and traditions surrounding the use of welding and fabrication within the steel industry.
Following her successful touring exhibition, ‘More room for error’, earlier this year and her ongoing research at key steel manufacturing sites around the country, the new work at Platform A Gallery focuses on the function of welds and evidence of the process required to produce them.
One work in particular, ‘Dealing with length’, is a seminal work that has grown during the last 18-months. Separated from the initial parent steel, the weld becomes a sculptural material in its own right. Consisting solely of mild steel weld, the work asserts itself in the gallery space at its current length of 11ft.
Dealing with length reconfigures the intense labour, time, skill and intuitive aspects of this specific industrial process whilst drawing parallels with sculptural practice.
Complimenting this are a series of intimate works using off-cut or discarded materials ranging from wire mesh to flat steel plate. These works examine the act or function of joining as a necessity whilst presenting materials and processes associated with joining as integral to composition as they are to structure.

It’ll Hold Until it Breaks has been developed and curated in partnership with Mark Devereux Projects.
Nicola Ellis graduated from the Manchester School of Art in 2011 with an MA in Fine Art. Her work recently featured in exhibitions including: More room for error (solo exhibition) at Arcadecardiff, Cardiff, &Model, Leeds and Bloc Projects, Sheffield (2015); You won’t see that bit anyway (solo exhibition) at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, UK, (2014); Head to Head: Nicola Ellis and Aura Satz at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK (2013); Part of the Programme at FAFA Gallery, Helsinki (2012); and Cabedal at Plataforma Revolver, Lisbon (2012).