30/9/2011
Salvatore Arancio
Spacex, Exeter
'An Arrangement of the Materials Ejected' is Arancio's first UK solo show. It develops his interest and ongoing investigation into ideas of nature and it's merging with science, myths and legends along with its relationship to the mystical.
A newly commissioned installation titled Everything Keeps Dissolving,
stages a large drawing combined with a sculptural sound piece. The drawing
is inspired by the geological phenomenon called Folded Strata whilst the
sound piece was created by manipulating a drone from a seminal 1990s record
by the experimental electronic band Coil. The manipulated sound, originally
created to represent a certain hallucinogenic chemical, together with the
visual element of the installation aims to create a sense of displacement
in the viewer a kind of temporal slip or disruption.
A selection of drawings and etchings focus on imagery recurrent in 19th
century geological illustrations. These take found images and use their
literal meaning as a point of departure, transforming into poetic and
visionary interpretations of nature.
A new series of monotype prints and a
sculptural piece depict images of mandrake roots. The root’s lysergic
powers and uncanny man-like shape have been the source for the creation of
many myths through the ages. Arancio juxtaposes images that are at once
disquieting, yet seductive.
The split screen video installation Shasta (2011), originally shot on Super
8 film, takes inspiration from a Native American tribe’s account of the
creation of Mount Shasta in California.
The timeless visual and sound
elements of the work stimulate ideas of narrative and storytelling in order
to create a sense of awe seen as a metaphor for human inefficacy against
the forces of nature.
Arancio has produced new work for the exhibition that creates a connection
between Spacex and its natural surroundings. One example, the large print
Bowerman’s Nose depicts a rock formation composed of stacks of weathered
granite found on Dartmoor.
Fascinated by the popular myths attached to the
stone and its alleged past as a place of veneration, Arancio’s manipulation
takes it out of context. Here it is presented as a mysterious monolith, a
sculptural form both impenetrable and remote.
An Arrangement of the Materials Ejected is Arancio’s first UK solo show. It
develops his interest and ongoing investigation into ideas of nature and
it’s merging with science, myths and legends along with its relationship to
the mystical.
Opening: Saturday 1 October, 3-5pm, free
Artist Talk, 4pm, free
SPACEX
45 Preston Street - Exeter
Open: Tues - Sat, 10am - 5pm
admission free