calendario eventi  :: 

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6/5/2010

Three exhibitions

The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall

Adam Dant
Dant on Drink: Drawings about Drinking in Britain

Adam Dant makes imposing and richly layered narrative ink drawings that are meticulously researched and obsessively rendered. Dant’s elaborate narratives are most often depicted within recognisable buildings, city-scapes and institutions. Museums, maps, flow charts and peculiar jokes frequently recur. He presents the viewer with visual encyclopaedic compendia suffused with folly, satire and ribaldry which, whilst referring to a particular art historical lineage, subtly expose the often crass mores and moral obsessions of 21st century society. Described as ‘the draughtsman laureate of the current British Art scene,’ Dant’s work is witty, complex and unique.

For his solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery, Adam Dant has created a new series of large scale ink drawings which take as their theme the enthusiastic attachment of the British to drink and drinking culture.

The news-media’s representation of a Britain tainted by binge-drinking, drink-related crimes and an epidemic of drink-related health problems continues to tout popular clichés about the richness and complexity of British drinking culture. The visual tradition of social commentary on the politics and often the evils of drink which can be seen in the works of artists such as George Cruikshank, Pieter Breugel and William Hogarth has often given artists a convenient armature on which to engage with the wider social themes of improvement, political dissent, revolution and social change.

Adam Dant’s new work explores this topical theme in the contemporary world whilst addressing the history of drinking as an intrinsic aspect of British society as well as cataloguing the rise and failure of temperance societies and similar zealous, ideological projects .

One of Adam’s new works produced in the artist’s characteristic sepia ink is titled The Fight between Temperance and Liquor. A contemporary re-interpretation of Breugel’s The fight between Carnival and Lent, this chaotic scene is now set in the centre of Walsall, albeit slightly modified so as to echo Breugel’s composition. Amongst the recognisable buildings and public sculptures such as Sister Dora and the Hippo, birds, beasts and characters found on the labels of alcoholic drinks battle with the protagonists of the temperance movement, the history of which can be gleaned from the drawing. A flock of ‘ Famous Grouse’ boldly confront ‘The Band of Hope’ whilst the Babycham Bambi cruelly butts Margaret Bright Lucas, president of ‘The British Women’s Temperance Association ‘.

Another drawing is set on the London streets close to the artist’s studio. To create the bizarre narrative of this particular scene, the artist has visually re-interpreted numerous words, phrases and figures of speech that describe various states of drunkenness. Some may be familiar, as in the various ‘trashed’ figures sleeping in a wheelie bin, some less so, like the gentleman who has ‘seen the French King’. The artist delves back as far as the 17th century and also explores regional alternatives to depict a veritable panorama of inebriation.

A resource area will include drink-related works and items from The New Art Gallery’ permanent collection and the archives of the Local History Centre.

A publication will accompany the exhibition. It will contain an introduction by Deborah Robinson and an essay by writer, reporter and cartoonist Anthony Haden-Guest.

Adam Dant was born in Cambridge in 1967. He studied at the Royal College of Art, London, University Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, India and Liverpool School of Art. He was The Rome Scholar in Printmaking in 1993 and has been the recipient of an Erasmus award and the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize. His 18th century style pamphleteering project, Donald Parsnips Daily Journal which was distributed freely throughout London first drew him to public attention. The journal was produced daily for five years until the turn of the millennium. Adam has exhibited widely and is represented in many collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Deutsche Bank, UBS, San Diego Museum of Art, HRH The Prince of Wales, the Arts Council Collection, the Government Art Collection and Middlesbrough Art Gallery. He now lives and works in London. He is represented by Hales Gallery, London.

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Sun K Kwak
Untying Space: The New Art Gallery Walsall
7 May - 4 July 2010

Korean artist Sun K Kwak creates large scale drawings that use the specific architectural space as the “canvas” for her work. The drawings appear epic, gestural and flowing but in fact are made from tearing black masking tape and applying it to the wall in layers. The process is both intellectually and physically demanding.

Sun will create a brand new site-specific drawing installation for Gallery 1, a beautiful spacious gallery that at 26m long, spans the whole width of the building.

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Matthew Houlding
The Chemosphere
7 May - 18 July 2010

Matthew Houlding is renowned for his beautifully detailed sculptures of imagined futuristic buildings which pay homage to the utopian zeal of modern architecture. He frequently draws inspiration from ideas of architectural design and explores the relationships between intersecting materials, planes and colours.

For this exhibition, Matthew has created a significant body of new work with the newly reconfigured gallery space in mind. Drawing on a recent visit to Mombasa and East Africa, (where he grew up), Houlding has created a new sculptural environment that takes the viewer on a journey that reflects a new world dynamism.

For all press and media enquiries contact:
Chris Wilkinson - Marketing and Development Assistant T: 01922 654416 E: wilkinsonc@walsall.gov.uk

Image: Adam Dant

Opening 7 May 2010

The New Art Gallery Walsall
Galleries 3 and 4, Floor 3
Gallery Square - Walsall
open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 11am to 4pm
Admission is free

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