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28/3/2006

James Aldridge

David Risley Gallery, London

A Murder of Crows

Aldridge's new work has been made in isolation in a Swedish forest to a soundtrack of heavy metal. Having been a fan in his early teens Aldridge recently rediscovered this music as a kind of nostalgia but is now finding himself increasingly involved on a level he could not have imagined. Despite it's ridiculousness and profanity this genre of music is inspirational to Aldridge, partly for the serious and heartfelt nature of the music and the bands that produce it and the contradictory cliche'd nature of some of the imagery and subject matter.

Pictorial cliche' has always been important to Aldridge's work and he tries to find an edge where these elements can suggest something more mysterious and free of irony, akin to his response to the music. The choice to make this work in a relative wilderness has also been important, allowing him to become immersed in the subjects and iconography of his work. Aldridge has undergone a shift in his relationship to the imagery he uses. From distant and abstracted to a more personal engagement.

The image of the Crow as a symbol of death and disaster may appear cliche'd. However, Aldridge was struck by the timelessness of the image of a crow sitting alone on a branch as he drove through the countryside. It could have belonged to a renaissance painting. He has always been fascinated by the landscapes that serve as a backdrop to these paintings. Aldridge¹s new works foregrounds the birds as protagonists, recasting them from incidental bit players, such as the crows and magpies in a Breughel, or the goldfinches skulking in the scrub of a Piero della Francesca to central characters.

Private view Wednesday 29 March. 6.30-8.30

David Risley Gallery
45 Vyner Street - London

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