calendario eventi  :: 

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21/5/2008

Two exhibitions

Gimpel Fils, London

Peter Kennard - 1968: Stop

Since his first solo exhibition in 1968 Peter Kennard has consistently held a mirror up to the contemporary world with the aim of enacting social and political change. On the 40th anniversary of his first show, Gimpel Fils is pleased to present a retrospective exhibition of paintings made in the wake of the turbulent student uprisings of May 1968. Kennard's Stop paintings mark the beginning of what has become a remarkable artistic career. The visual imagery found in these paintings, from the outstretched hand to the silhouetted paratrooper, was to reoccur in Kennard's photomontage work throughout the 1970s and 1980s losing none of their visceral power. Kennard's radical political stance to the war in Vietnam and the Soviet military clampdown in Czechoslovakia finds visual form in these paintings. As a member of a growing disaffected youth culture Kennard's work voiced the concerns of a generation. Having grown up during the height of the Cold War this generation saw the increased global military activity of the 1960s as a return to an old world order.

To mark this exhibition Gimpel Fils will be holding a panel discussion, Art and Culture since May '68, exploring the legacies of the student uprisings in Britain. Speakers, including Tariq Ali, Esther Leslie and Hilary Wainwright, will address such issues as whether the visual arts have the potential to instigate political change; has art reflected the realities of political change since 1968 and does political art have a role to play in today's social climate. Art and Culture since May '68 will take place on Tuesday 10th June from 6:30-8:30 pm. There is no charge for this event, but places are limited. To reserve a seat please contact: lukas@gimpelfils.com

Peter Kennard was born in 1949 and studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art, The Slade and The Royal College of Art. He has been a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the Royal College of Art since 1994. His first solo exhibition was held at St Catherine's College, Oxford in 1968. Since then he has exhibited regularly, with work included in major exhibitions such as Art into Society, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1978; Through the Looking Glass', Photographic Art in Britain 1945-89, at the Barbican Centre, London, 1989; Media Burn at Tate Modern, London, 2006-7; and Forms of Resistance at Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2007-8. Kennard's work is represented in various public collections including the Arts Council Collection; the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Imperial War Museum; and the Tate.

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Susan MacWIlliam - Eileen

"On the face of it, Belfast artist Susan MacWilliam breathes life into the obscure history of research into paranormal perception. Straddling the roles of scientific investigator, documentarian and artist, she delivers hauntingly beautiful video-based installations of real case studies. On another level, MacWilliam unravels some of our most basic assumptions about art, authenticity and perception." - Don Carroll, Jack the Pelican

Hailed one of the world's greatest mediums, Eileen Garrett (1893-1970) founded The Parapsychology Foundation in 1951. Eileen features projected images of the Parapsychology Foundation Library in New York, a strobing edit of archival footage of Garrett and a synchronised 3 screen video work featuring academics and family members talking about Garrett. The charismatic and multi-facetted Garrett is conjured through image and anecdote, and video vignettes recall the 'dead ducks', 'the horse riding incident' and 'The Ash Manor Case'. In particular, Garrett is brought to life through the descriptions and gestures of her daughter, Eileen Coly. Although ostensibly about Garrett, Eileen can be understood as being as much about her daughter, now in her 90s.

MacWilliam first worked with The Parapsychology Foundation and the family of Eileen Garrett in 2006. Last year she was artist in residence at The Parapsychology Foundation during which time she lived with Eileen Coly. A number of curious coincidences occurred during MacWilliam's research, including the discovery that in September 1934 some of her own cousins sailed from Southampton to New York on the SS Majestic on the same voyage as Eileen Garrett and her then 18 year old daughter. Garrett's daughter Eileen and her daughter Lisette, will travel from New York for the opening of this exhibition.

Gimpel Fils is pleased to present Susan MacWilliam's first solo show in London. MacWilliam's practice involves the investigation of particular individual case histories and myths, particularly those relating to the paranormal, the supernatural and to perceptual phenomena. She incorporates the fields of psychical research, psychology, physiology, into her artistic practice. Using video, photography and installation, her works explore ideas about the presentation and credibility of an image and question vision and perception, reality and illusion. MacWilliam has made work about materialisation mediums, table tilters, optograms, trance, dermo optical perception and x-ray vision. She produces unique works of art that provide a visual entry point into the history of parapsychology.

In 1999 MacWilliam was shortlisted for the IMMA/Glen Dimplex Artists Award at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and in 2003 was awarded the Perspective Award at Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast. MacWilliam has been artist in residence at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Carribean Centre for Contemporary Arts, Trinidad; and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. In summer 2008 she will travel to Winnipeg for a residency at Platform Centre for Digital and Photographic Arts and will research the Thomas Glendenning Hamilton Spirit Photograph Archive at the University of Manitoba. Her work was most recently exhibited in the group exhibition Seeing is Believing, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2007 and in a solo show at Jack The Pelican Presents, New York, 2008; A review of her solo show will be published in Art Forum, summer 2008. In 2008 MacWilliam's video works (1998-2007) will be housed in the British Library's 'Sound Archive', London. MacWilliam lives in Belfast, for further information, please go to: http://www.susanmacwilliam.com

private view: Thursday 22 May 6-8pm

Gimpel Fils
30 Davies Street - London
Gallery opening hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 5.30pm, Sat 11am - 4pm
Free admission

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