THE WEIGHT OF SMALL THINGS

ARTIST: Karen Britcliffe and Richard Baker
CURATOR: Court Spencer
DATE: Sep - Nov 2025
VENUE: Eye Room, Leeds

The Weight of Small Things brings together work by Karen Britcliffe and Richard Baker, two artists who share a sensitivity to detail and an interest in domestic objects and spaces. The exhibition invites us to pause and notice the quiet resonance of the small things that shape our surroundings.

Karen’s sculptural assemblages and architectural miniatures sit between fragility and permanence. Created with great care, her models distil the essence of a building or structure, transforming them into works that feel both precise and dreamlike. Scaled down and encased, they become contemplative objects, filled with memory and a strong sense of place.

Richard’s paintings echo this attention to the modest and the domestic. His subjects are interiors and familiar furnishings, captured in moments of stillness. Everyday objects are transformed through paint into carriers of intimacy and familiarity. His measured compositions and gentle palette give the works a reflective quality, suggesting how memory lingers in rooms and rests on the furniture within them.

Together, Karen and Richard create a thoughtful exchange between sculpture and painting, exterior and interior, public and domestic. The Weight of Small Things is about noticing details, recognising the emotional pull that places and objects hold in our lives, and the importance they play in creating a sense of home.