Between Frames at The Factory Project, Frieze Week 2021
LUAP presents new work as part of Between Frames, a group exhibition curated by Gallery No 32 for The Factory Project, taking place at the Thameside Industrial Estate from 9 to 22 October 2021. The Factory Project is one of the largest independent art exhibitions to run alongside Frieze Week, bringing together over 110 artists selected by ten curatorial partners. It offers a significant platform for emerging to mid-career artists and curators working without permanent gallery spaces.
Between Frames features new work by fifteen artists and collectives. Curated by Meg Stuart and Kieran Idle, the exhibition takes place in the expansive yard area of the site, which is reimagined as a transitional environment. The show explores ideas of liminality—the in-between spaces and periods of waiting that shape personal and collective experience. This curatorial concept grew out of the first national lockdown, during which Stuart and Idle founded Gallery No 32. That period, often described as a time of suspension, strongly informs the framework of the show.
LUAP contributes a new installation titled Time Can Escape You. The work comprises a reclaimed door, fitted with glass and vinyl, through which his recurring Pink Bear character is visible. The piece functions both as an image and an object, situated deliberately within a passage point of the outdoor yard. It invites the viewer to consider the threshold—between interior and exterior, stillness and motion, presence and memory.
The door, weathered and utilitarian, contrasts with the vibrant, almost surreal presence of the Pink Bear, a figure LUAP has developed across painting, photography and sculpture. Here, the bear is not simply symbolic; it becomes part of the architecture of the space, integrated into the physical route the viewer must navigate. It stands in quiet opposition to the scale and openness of the wider site.
The Factory Project as a whole transforms an unused warehouse complex into a museum-scale exhibition, offering rare access to over 67,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. It is conceived by Eric Thorp and Nicholas Stavri as a platform for independent curators and artists who are often excluded from the more commercial structures of the London art world. Each curatorial partner develops a self-contained exhibition within the overall site, with no two sections alike in tone or medium.
Within this environment, LUAP’s contribution maintains a clear visual and thematic identity. His Pink Bear motif continues to evolve, reflecting concerns with mental health, personal transformation and social space. Time Can Escape You integrates these ongoing concerns within a new sculptural framework, marking a shift from his previous photographic and installation works.
While many artists in The Factory Project respond to the industrial or architectural context of the site, LUAP’s piece engages more with the psychological dimension of the space. His work sits alongside that of other artists exploring transition and displacement, but stands apart through its economy of materials and clarity of intent.
The Factory Project is not a traditional exhibition space. It requires the work to hold its own within a fragmented and expansive environment. LUAP achieves this not through scale or spectacle, but through direct symbolism and careful placement. In doing so, he offers a subtle but persistent point of focus within one of London’s most ambitious contemporary art presentations.