Strange Objects

Funny Weather, a new annual outdoor exhibition platform announces its inaugural exhibition, Strange Objects, set across the gardens and forest of Hampshire, UK, the exhibition brings together works and new commissions by British and international artists. About To book your visit, please email arina@funnyweather.pink. The address will be shared once your visit has been confirmed - Funny Weather, a new annual outdoor exhibition platform founded and curated by London-based collector and artist Arina Izmestieva, announces its inaugural exhibition, Strange Objects , opening 12 September and running until 12 November 2026. Set across the gardens and forest of Hampshire, UK, the exhibition brings together works and new commissions by Jill Berelowitz, Ilona Malka Rich, Elium, Henri Frachon, Thibault Lucas, Mathilde Albouy, Luke James and STASH. Funny Weather was named after Olivia Laing's writing on Art in Emergency and with a knowing nod to the improbable variability of the British climate, as well as to the permanent impermanence of work encountered outdoors. The platform’s aim is to introduce sculpture to the landscape from which their materials originate, whilst connecting new artists with new audiences and opening the experience of collecting sculpture to a new generation. It uses the gardens and forest of Hampshire to replace the white-walled gallery and showcase works in open air. Strange Objects invites visitors to re-discover child-like wonder and move freely between works, some hidden among trees, revealed through light, discovered at the end of a path. At the core of the exhibition is materiality and the return to origin: bronze, resin, stone, ceramic, and organic matter placed back within the landscape. No two visits are the same as morning light, rain, wind, and dusk each reshape the landscape and the works within. STASH's bronze sculptures are tactile and figural, exploring intimacy and the instinct to connect. Jill Berelowitz works in bronze and resin, drawing from organic structures and the cycles of the human form to create work that is simultaneously large and yet deeply intimate. Elium builds immersive narratives around objects, giving life to the inanimate, for Strange Objects , her new commission Excalibur Sword , standing approximately three metres tall. Ilona Malka Rich works in bold coloured resin, combining scale and vivid colour. Henri Frachon presents a new on-site commission inviting viewers to “ look through the hole ” framing a hidden detail in the landscape — a twisted branch, a faint trail stretching toward the horizon — through this theory of emptiness, the artist brings attention back to the heart of the space. Luke James creates anthropomorphic sculptures that balance monumentality with humour, transforming plaster, ceramic and bronze into tactile, minimal forms that explore play, materiality and the subtle relationships between body, object and landscape. Thibault Lucas assembles found materials directly within the Hampshire landscape, his totems, dolmens, and cairns drawing a quiet connection between the present and ancient cultures. Mathilde Albouy's sculptures play on formal and conceptual paradoxes, creating objects that sit at the threshold of beauty and danger, seduction and threat. Funny Weather was founded by Arina with a dual commitment: to champion both emerging and established artists whose practices are grounded in materiality and the physical presence of objects, and to encourage a new generation to engage with and collect sculpture. By presenting works across a broad range of price points, the platform creates an approachable entry into the medium for new collectors, while fostering a deeper understanding of sculpture and the processes behind it. "For many younger collectors, the traditional white-wall gallery can feel intimidating and disconnected from how they want to experience art today. Sculpture, in particular, is often seen as difficult to access, both in terms of how it's presented and the price points at which it's typically offered. Funny Weather was founded on the belief that when you place works in the right environment, people engage with them differently. Sometimes all it takes is a more inviting setting to help someone discover a connection to sculpture for the first time. Or in this case, the right forest." — Arina Izmestieva, Founder, Funny Weather Strange Objects is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, by appointment, from 12 September to 12 November 2026. Each edition of Funny Weather invites a new group of artists to respond to a new theme, placing work across the Hampshire estate, a platform that returns with each new edition, with the same commitment to ambition and the same belief that the right landscape changes everything about how a work is felt. Read more Toggle Sculpture