Two exhibitions
dal 21/2/2007 al 30/3/2007
Segnalato da
21/2/2007
Two exhibitions
Gimpel Fils, London
There is a sense of discovery in Antoni Malinowski's paintings. Or rather, a contemporary rediscovery of abstraction in painting and the power of pure pigment. Jock Mooney will install his ongoing project Inventory, a bombardment of hand crafted small-scale sculptural objects.
Antoni Malinowski
Paintings
There is a sense of discovery in Antoni Malinowski's paintings. Or rather, a
contemporary rediscovery of abstraction in painting and the power of pure pigment.
The layering of his colour pigments causes the surfaces of his paintings to vibrate,
so that movement is achieved not only across the canvas but also through the layers
of paint. Lapis lazuli pigment resonates and gives a three dimensional depth to the
two-dimensional picture plane. This dedication and reverence to the materiality of
painting can appear out of step with current technological consumerism. However,
Malinowski is concerned about the experience of painting in the digital age. He
remains fascinated by the properties and possibilities of pigment. Pure reds,
blues, and yellows in various shades and tones elide in his paintings to create
canvasses filled with subtle intensity and energy.
Malinowski's practice is based in a dialogue with the painterliness of painting; His
artwork is steeped in the history of the medium and his use of synthetic tempera, by
virtue of the technique used, creates a link between the present and fifteenth
century Italian tempera paintings. Using this technique allows Malinowski to expose
the pigment so that light is able to work with and through it; Pigment, light and
pictorial composition work together to create a whole. By focusing on the
properties of given pigments and following the potential of each, Malinowski's
paintings are all different despite the fact the some forms and motifs reoccur. In
these works the perceptual sensation is pushed to the limits by exploring the whole
range of painterly possibilities.
As well as the influence of early Sienese painters, Antoni Malinowski's swooping and
floating forms are indebted to Mark Rothko's thesis on abstraction, gesture and
colour. His canvasses demonstrate the power that comes through the exchange and
transformation of emotional and visual components within a single painting. The
space of Malinowski's paintings are expansive and dynamic, but each with its own
subtlety and variation. The classical Chinese philosophy of the brushstroke as the
notation of time informs Malinowski's practice. His focus on the brush stroke and
its relationship to the surface is linked to his preoccupation with how we perceive
space. Those complex paintings present the viewer with the simultaneous multitude
of spatial readings.
Private view: Thursday 22nd February, 6-8pm
*******************
Jock Mooney
Funland was no more
Jock Mooney is sculptor, drawer and performer. For his exhibition Downstairs at
Gimpel Fils, Jock will install his ongoing project Inventory, a bombardment of hand
crafted small-scale sculptural objects. Comprising over 1,000 individual pieces,
Inventory incorporates familiar images from mythology, religious iconography, art
history, popular culture, and everyday life. Juxtaposing images from different
sites and contexts Mooney questions the hierarchies into which visual culture is
categorised. Problematising scales of value, Mooney's sculptural version of Sandro
Botticelli's Birth of Venus stands alongside a gingerbread house, a bust of the
Virgin Mary crying red blood tears and items reminiscent of Happy Meal gifts or
Kinder Surprise toys.
Mooney's work has been discussed in terms of the carnavalesque: folly, excess and
the mocking of established norms and codes of behaviour. Challenging the
distinctions between high, low and popular forms of visual material, Mooney works as
a satirist, commenting on the folly of contemporary society. He utilises humour as
a subversive tool that can be understood as defying a world of gloss and sheen.
Much of the humour here is adolescent- about sex, farting, and booze, acting as a
reminder that at base level, everyone is the same despite pompous claims of being
civilised or cultured. The vulgar excesses of contemporary disposable culture are
replicated in Mooney's work, swamping the exhibition space while simultaneously
highlighting the banal horror of our Ikea society.
Jock Mooney studied at the Edinburgh College of Art. Since graduating in 2004, he
has exhibited regularly, including solo shows in Newcastle and Glasgow. His work
was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Show in 2006.
Private view: Thursday 22nd February, 6-8pm
Gimpel Fils
30 Davies Street - London
Gallery opening hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 5.30pm, Sat 11am - 4pm