Two exhibitions
dal 28/9/2011 al 23/12/2011
Segnalato da
28/9/2011
Two exhibitions
The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall
Structure & Material is an exhibition of work drawing from the Arts Council Collection bringing together the work of three British artists Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley and Karla Black, who each investigate the meaning generated by materials. It takes a fresh and particular look at current British sculptural practice. Contemporary on view Edgar Martins' body of work 'This is not a House' in which he addresses the global impact of the collapse of the housing market. The subjects of his photographies are contemporary ruins, and the artist knowingly plays with these associations to create dramatic, poetic and often theatrical compositions.
Structure & Material
Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley, Karla Black
An Arts Council Collection exhibition co-curated by Katrina Brown (The Common Guild) and Caroline Douglas (Arts Council Collection)
A new exhibition of work drawing from the Arts Council Collection will open on 30 September 2011 at The New Art Gallery Walsall, bringing together the work of three British artists Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley and Karla Black, who each investigate the meaning generated by materials. Structure & Material takes a fresh and particular look at current British sculptural practice, and opens up an interesting dialogue with The New Art Gallery Walsall's Garman Ryan Collection which has its roots in British 20th century sculpture.
Barclay, Beasley and Black's chosen media and techniques are very diverse, though in each case familiar materials are often made unsettlingly strange. Unlikely sculptural materials such as cosmetics, sugar paper, blackboard paint and brass hinges, or traditional skills in the form of carpentry and tapestry, are co-opted by all three to diverse and distinctive effect. From elements that are sometimes meagre or over-familiar, new forms are created that are often mysterious and highly evocative.
A sense of instability, ambiguity and fragility is shared by the works included in the exhibition. A paper and cellophane construction by Black, nominated for this year's Turner Prize, looks like it could be easily crushed; her delicate, pastel coloured chalk dust which forms a tectonic plate across the gallery floor could blow away on a strong breeze, despite its significant size. Beasley's life-sized but fragile, hand printed photographs of mute objects and her delicate brass-hinged woodworks are a deeply personal exploration into the relationship between the inanimate object and its image, the individual and its fate. The work from Barclay holds traditional handcrafts and industrial techniques in a delicate balance - soft leather, wool and a strong sense of manual labour are at odds with machined brass spikes and gimlet steel rods, with decorative techniques often used to create structure and vice versa.
The exhibition features significant recent acquisitions from the Arts Council Collection that exemplify the continued support offered to young and emerging artists in Britain, alongside new works either made especially for the exhibition, or borrowed directly from the artists and private collections.
As Sir Jacob Epstein (whose work forms the focus of the Garman Ryan Collection) helped to pioneer modern sculpture, so too are the artists in this exhibition as they question the material world which increasingly forms the structure of our lives.
Structure & Material will be shown alongside Edgar Martins, This is not a House (Floor 3, Gallery 1. 30 September - 24 December 2011)
The Arts Council Collection supports artists in the United Kingdom through the purchase and display of their work. It is the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art in the world, and includes fine examples of work by many of this country's most prominent artists. The Arts Council Collection is managed by The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England. The centre for sculpture at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, enables the Arts Council Collection to increase access to the sculpture collection through exhibitions at venues across the UK and at Longside Gallery. www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk
Claire Barclay and Becky Beasley will be leading an informal tour of the exhibition and discussing the relationship between their work on Saturday 26 November 2011 at 2pm.
The New Art Gallery Walsall is run and maintained by Walsall Council and also receives significant financial support from Arts Council England.
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Edgar Martins
This is not a House
The New Art Gallery Walsall is delighted to present the UK launch of Edgar Martins’ body of work This is not a House in which he addresses the global impact of the collapse of the housing market. It will be shown alongside Structure & Material, an Arts Council Collection exhibition, which brings together three of Britain’s most exciting female artists, including Karla Black who is one of the four shortlisted artists for this year’s Turner Prize.
Edgar Martins’ extraordinary body of photographic work was originally instigated by a commission from The New York Times Magazine. The artist was asked to create a photo-essay that reflected on the collapse of the US housing market. Shot initially in 16 carefully researched locations across 6 US states over a period of two months, Martins has attempted to expose the full extent and impact of this worldwide crisis. He has created a compelling series of images of neglected and abandoned houses, apartments, office buildings, golf courses and ski resorts. The subjects are effectively contemporary ruins, and the artist knowingly plays with these associations to create dramatic, poetic and often theatrical compositions.
Martins approached the project as “a photographic intervention into a crisis” and the resulting images go beyond pure formal investigation or documentation. His interest lay in “cutting into the real”. As the writer, Jacques Rancière states, the real can only be unravelled and understood if it is first fictionalised. Bernardo Soares wrote; “some truths cannot be told except as fiction.” And so the real must be transformed in order to be understood.
When the work was finally published in the summer of 2009, it became the focus of a heated debate due to Martins’ decision to digitally re-shape a select few images.
The photographs of Edgar Martins prompt a re-evaluation of photography’s fragile and difficult relationship with the “real” and of the impact of digital media in journalism.
Edgar Martins will give an informal tour of his exhibition on Saturday 5 November at 2pm. The event is free but visitors should book a place in advance at the gallery reception or by calling 01922 654400.
A publication accompanies the exhibition. Published by Dewi Lewis Publishing, it contains 65 colour photographs as well as essays by Sacha Craddock and Peter D Osborne. (ISBN: 978-1-907893-02-5).
Edgar Martins: This is not a House has been supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK branch). Structure & Material is an Arts Council Collection Exhibition curated by Katrina Brown and Caroline Douglas.
Image: Karla Black, Persuader Face, 2011. Installation detail Longside Gallery, March 2011. Courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Photo: Jonty Wilde
Press contact:
Chris Wilkinson, Marketing and Development Assistant on 01922 654416 or email: wilkinsonc@walsall.gov.uk
A preview of the exhibitions will take place on Thursday 29 September 2011, 6-8pm
The artists will be present.
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Gallery Square
The gallery is currently open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Closed Mondays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Admission is free.