Black. A solo exhibition of new mixed media work by the artist across two venues. At The Agency Gallery Eldridge will present a series of paintings and works on paper, installed according to conceptual groupings. At Gimpel Fils (10/2 to 5/3) the renowned Northern Irish writer Maria Fusco made a text insertion into Eldridge's work.
The Agency Gallery and Gimpel Fils are pleased to present BLACK, a solo exhibition of new mixed media work by Giles Eldridge across two venues. At The Agency Gallery Eldridge will present a series of paintings and works on paper, installed according to conceptual groupings. Black, 2010, from which these two displays take their collective title, will be exhibited at Gimpel Fils, where the renowned Northern Irish writer Maria Fusco will make a text insertion into Eldridge’s work.
Giles Eldridge - A Method for the Dematerialization of Painting
Groups determine the meaning and aesthetic of Giles Eldridge’s work. His practice consists of a prolific production of paintings and drawings, polaroids and photocopies. The pieces, which are either representational or abstract, are shelved and subsequently arranged as groups. The first step of Eldridge’s work is the archive where all of his production is stored without distinction. The archive is a constant. From there works are taken and continuously re-arranged. The arrangement of works in dialogue with each other creates a multitude of meanings and sub-meanings. The only incisions in this process are the exhibition or collection of the work. Both events result in the finalisation of the arrangement process with a determined work, which is recorded. In allowing each piece to have a potential value in itself and vis-à-vis another Eldridge achieves true democracy of choice.
The democratisation of choice serves as a method of objectification, much in the manner of the flâneur in the Benjaminian sense. The subject matter of such flânerie spans from the reproduction of printed news photographs, British abstraction to technical exercises with brush marks on paper or canvas to other emblematic images as well as images taken from random domestic sources. These are grouped by form, content, colour or other criteria. The resulting groups pull together the different formal and narrative strands to form unique and surprisingly homogenous works, each with their own aesthetic. The works thus become emblematic signifiers of narrative and formalism, the two foundations for interpreting works.
For his forthcoming solo exhibition Eldridge is pushing the boundaries of his groups by inviting the intervention of Maria Fusco’s writing toinfluence the reading of his work. He will be exploring the dialogue between a group of works critiquing primitivism and non-western artefacts from the Gimpel Fils collection. The results of both explorations will be open-ended until the exhibition.
Giles Eldridge just completed a collaboration with Sadie Murdoch entitled Ship In The Ocean and was recently included in Library of Babel, an exhibition of works from the Zabludowicz collection curated by Anna Catherina Gebbers. Prior shows include solo presentations both at the Agency gallery andGimpel Fils Gallery 2, as well as the exhibition Faydun Bites, with a/o Laura Gannon and Line Ellegaard, curated by Charles Danby.
Image: Giles Eldridge, As spillage of ink on something precious - , Collage, 2010. Title by Maria Fusco
Private view: 15 February 6-9pm
The Agency Gallery
15 A Cremer Street - London
Wed-Sat 10.30am - 6pm
Last Fridays of the Month 10.30am - 9pm