calendario eventi  :: 

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27/7/2007

Two exhibitions

ArtSway, Sway

Ma Yongfeng: The Cretaceous Period

Ma Yongfeng is a Beijing-based artist who has received international recognition for his photographic and video pieces examining the ways that humans position themselves in relation to the natural world. The artist describes his photographic work and video installations as “relating to aspects of animal culture, man-made environments and topographic modelling”. Hosted at the Chinese Art Centre in Manchester for three months and subsequently in residence at ArtSway, Ma Yongfeng has spent a total of five months researching and developing his work.

Ma Yongfeng came to international prominence with his notorious work, Swirl (2003), exhibited at MOCA in Los Angeles, and PS1 in New York in which six coy carp were subjected to a fifteen minute wash cycle in the drum of a washing machine. The work raised a debate about the human treatment of animals both within and outside an artistic context. The artist has continued to explore the relationship between humans and their nature displays, photographing empty dioramas and “natural habitat” enclosures in zoos and museums, and revealing the centrality of humans and their own narratives in these spaces.

During his residency in Manchester, Ma Yongfeng visited numerous zoos and museums and conducted exhaustive research relating to all aspects of Natural History. For his subsequent residency and exhibition at ArtSway the artist has chosen to focus on a significant period in Earth’s history, The Cretaceous Period, after which he has named the exhibition of video works and large-scale photographs. These images examine the cretaceous period in relation to the artist’s continuing research into natural history, animal culture and fossil archaeology alongside his interest in archaeological simulations, geographical models and displays in natural history museums.

Ma Yongfeng’s new work has developed from the photography of animal enclosures and man-made environments to the documentation and recreation of these sites as ‘sets’ in his own studio, as in the work of German photographer Thomas Demand. Ma’s images, however, create what he terms an “installation after an installation”, referencing and refashioning earlier media such as television, stage-production, film set building and installation. Hibernation (2007) depicts a bright chocolate box snow-scene in which one imagines a hiding animal, and the photographic work Volcano (2007) depicts a miniature volcano, complete with authentic looking lava that the artist constructed in his studio in Beijing. This working volcano is also featured in one of two video works in The Cretaceous Period, and comments upon the relationship between artificial environments, natural habitats and aesthetics.

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Joel Papps Goodpasture's

ArtSway is pleased to present Goodpasture’s: an exhibition of new artwork from the winner of the Open06 exhibition, Joel Papps. Papps has developed intricate sculptural cutouts from industrial woodboard and a series of paintings on the same medium, which reference medical diagrams, microscopic organisms, anatomy books and medical data readings. Papps entitled his exhibition Goodpasture’s after Goodpasture’s Syndrome, the illness that caused the artist to spend nearly two months in intensive care in 2000.

Since then Papps has explored the medical mapping of the human body and aesthetics of illness, such as microscopic imagery of viruses and diseased tissue. Abstracting these images, Papps works with pared down materials, creating sculptural works that are reminiscent of theatrical stage-sets, casting a delicate play of light and shadows. These intriguing images create a tension caught between the appeal of the objects themselves and the frightening diseases that they portray. Joel Papps graduated from Winchester School of Art in 2005 and is currently based in Hampshire. The ArtSway annual Open attracts hundreds of entries every year. The winner is given a solo exhibition at ArtSway, as well as professional development advice and marketing from ArtSway staff. The competition gives emerging artists support at a crucial stage in their career. Joel Papps was the winner of ArtSway Open06 for his entry, ‘Dukes C’, a wooden sculptural drawing that referenced a colon in the final stages of bowel cancer. Details of ArtSway Open07 will be announced in the coming weeks.

Opening july 28, 2007

ArtSway
Station Road Sway

stampa

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