state
DESCRIPTION
An exhibition catalogue produced by StevieRay Latham and Laura Porter to accompany the exhibition, STATE.TRANSCRIPT
Fine Art Exhibition
4th - 7th March 2014
The Atrium Space,
The Grove
Middlesex University,
The Burroughs,
Hendon,
London,
NW4 4BT[Curated by]
Chris Alton
Marcin Cybulski
Chris Elliott
Theo Gibson
Gabriela Giroletti
Kerri Jefferis
Roberto Landin
StevieRay Latham
Gemma Milligan
Laura Porter
Kim Taylor
Justina Urbon
Mok Yee
Chris Alton
StevieRay Latham
Laura Porter
[Artists]
[STATE]
This exhibition investigates the role of
artisanal sensibilities within contemporary
art practice. The artists involved in the
exhibition have a tactile relationship with
the materials that they use and this can be
seen in the autographic nature of the artworks
on display.
Each of the outcomes featured in the
exhibition are born out of the
physicality of material and process.
The artists' mediation of this dichotomy
roots their practice in processes of a truly
physical nature.
Here, artisanal traditions are re-imagined
in a contemporary art context; the artworks
that are exhibited all exist as the
(occasionally momentary) termination of an
action in which something physical is
manipulated by the artist.
[Foreword from the curators]
The tradition of painting is one that has ebbed and flowed
throughout time. Chris Elliott's explorations into the move-
ment of paint appropriate paintings from art history and
reform them through fluid abstraction. His work questions
what paint was, is, and can be.
Chris Alton also uses paint, but as a replacement for digital
media. His image has been processed, using the canvas,
oil paint and a paintbrush to replicate the effects of photo-
shop. Through a long and drawn out process he works to
create something unique and irreproducible, considering
the 'one-off' nature of an oil on canvas as opposed to
infinitely printable digital images.
Printmaking embodies a certain degree of reproduction,
however Marcin Cybulski's print based works utilise unpre-
dictable surfaces developed through a layering of glue and
ink on plywood, creating autographical marks. The expres-
sive nature of his silkscreens suggest a painterly sensibility.
In Theo Gibson's prints he uses a traditional etching
processes, however by displaying prints of each stage of
the process, we are reminded not only of the process
involved, but also of the ephemeral nature of each print
during the work's developments, as the chance of reprint-
ing each of the individual stages is destroyed as he works
towards an outcome.
Chemical process can be both restricting and liberating. Kim
Taylor uses allum crystal and animal spine to create her
organic bone structures. The bone must stay deadly still in
order for the crystals to form, and so after the initial applica-
tion the material can no longer be manipulated by the artist to
suit a specific outcome. With the unfolding of the artwork
entirely out of her hands, the process is one of time and
stillness.
The control we have over our material is ultimately determi-
nate of the result. Kerri Jefferis' work balances these ideas as
the immaculate plaster cast eggs are suspended in fabric
over which her control is limited. The final form that each
installation takes is dependent on both her interventions and
the natural fall of the materials that she uses.
Laura Porter's hanging works are also determined by the
material choices that she makes. Her outcomes are a visual
reminder of the process that they have gone through, their
shape a memory of the way in which the bitumen paint has
been applied. The surface details are direct results of the
chance availability of clothing that she works with. The
garments used, donations, cast-offs and rags, retain a sense
of their history, with each item displaying unique features that
contrast with the repetitive process of their uniform treatment
in bitumen.
Justina Urbon's sculpture in glue uses a repetition that is
determined by her material choice. Her process is long and
arduous requiring high levels of skill and control in order to
manipulate the glue in a very particular way. Her choice of
material requires an intimate knowledge of its limitations in
order to expand it's uses and elevate it into an artform.
Mok Yee's process is again one of patience and repetition. Using aluminium light reflectors, so far removed from their intended purpose, he extends the boundaries of what can be considered an art material. By careful assemblage he changes something purely practical into an adversely decorative object.
Gemma Milligan's sculpture is a complex juxtaposition of material. She uses the worn steel as a frame on which to wrap and tie the cotton covered in plaster, creating a free form sculpture that has an interesting physical presence.
StevieRay Latham's drawings again work with a relationship to physicality, the freeform surfaces of the clear resin providing a tactile finish to the flat graphic images. The linear drawing style contrasts his freehand approach with the rigid architec-tural blueprints that his drawings connote.
The surface of Roberto Landin's sculpture is both expressive and evidence of a highly considered process. Ceramics is a very particular and skilled art form, yet the breakage in the figure suggests a more visceral nature of the work.
Gabriela Giroletti's knitted forms also show a skilled process linked with artisinal traditions of the past, however much like Landin's work, these age-old skills have taken forms more mysterious than their processes would suggest. The organic appearance of the work suggests a natural growth at the hand of the artist.
[Chris Alton]
Untitled (Four Girls)
2013
100 x 100 cm
Oil paint on canvas
[Mar
cin
Cyb
ulsk
i]
Untitled2014244 x 122 cmPVA glue, Ink and acrylic silkscreen on plywood
[Chr
is E
lliott]
6WXG\�IURP�¶7KH�'HDWK�RI�6DUGDQDSDOXV·201450 x 61 cm2LO�SDLQW��JHVVR�SULPHU�DQG�VRIW�JHO��JORVV��RQ�FDQYDV
[Theo Gibson]
View from Montserrat2013/201450 x 30 cm Etching (Itaglio ink) on paper
Untitled2013120 x 50 cmKnitting yarn, soft toy fillingand table
[Gab
riela
Giro
letti
]
Touch Me. There, There2014Variable dimensions Fabric, plaster and baby powder
[Kerri Jefferis]
[Roberto Landin]
HERM Body
2013
130 x 60 x 60 cm
Ceramics, coiled paper-flux,
dry pigments and matte glaze
[StevieRay Latham]
Absent Artwork series201430 x 30 cm (series of 12)Ink, resin and correction fluid on paper
[Gemma Milligan]
Untitled2014130 x 115 x 65 cmSteel, plaster and cotton
Let Us Imagine All Beings, Things and Persons, Reverting to Nothingness2014Variable dimensionsRecycled clothing and DPM
[Lau
ra P
orte
r]
[Kim Taylor]
Spine I201430 x 15 x 10 cmAnimal bone and allum crystal
Spine II2014100 x 5 x 5 cmAnimal bone and allum crystal
[Jus
tina
Urb
on]
Aspire to Inspire2013193 x 70 x 72 cmGlue
[Mok Yee]
Wave-75mm2013180 x 173 x 6.5 cmAluminium light reflector
[C. Alton] [email protected]
[M.Cybulski] [email protected]
[C.Elliott] [email protected]
[T.Gibson] [email protected]
[G.Giroletti] [email protected]
[K. Jefferis] [email protected]
[R.Landin] [email protected]
[S. Latham] [email protected]
[G.Milligan] [email protected]
[L.Porter] [email protected]
[K.Taylor] [email protected]
[J. Urbon] [email protected]
[M. Yee] [email protected]
Illustrations by StevieRay Latham
Original logo by Theo Gibson
Publication design by Laura Porter
