John Gerrard
dal 3/6/2009 al 29/9/2009
Segnalato da
3/6/2009
John Gerrard
Isola della Certosa, Venezia
Animated Scene. Tre lavori recenti vengono presentati sottoforma di grandi proiezioni. Gerrard crea scenari virtuali, sorprendentemente reali ma interamente e meticolosamente realizzati dall'artista nel suo studio. Il progetto si focalizza su tematiche riguardanti il potere globalizzato, la politica e la societa'. A cura di Jasper Sharp, Patrick T. Murphy.
curated by Jasper Sharp, Patrick T. Murphy
RHA Projects, Dublin, is pleased to announce the solo exhibition John Gerrard: Animated
Scene, a collateral event at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Three recent works will be
presented as large-scale projections in a boathouse on the former monastery island of Certosa, marking the first time
that this venue will be used for the Biennale.
John Gerrard creates virtual scenes, astonishingly real but entirely and meticulously fabricated by the artist and his
studio. In 2006, he discovered a single archival image of the North American ‘Dust Bowl’ which has informed much
of his research since. Between 2007-2009 he produced a series of works, each requiring up to a year to build, that
document agri-industrial landscapes of the Great Plains, scattered with grain silos, pig production units and small
towns. From the unflinching vantage point of an orbital camera, the viewer is encouraged to look at these desolate
places and appraise the underlying structures that sustain contemporary society. One finds evidence of a nitrogen-
and oil-based reality, dehumanised and existing on the outer limits of what is environmentally possible or even
plausible. The project’s title refers to the position that these damaged post-Dust Bowl sites occupy within the realm
of globalised power, politics and society. Remade, they exist as parallel worlds, frozen in time to function as discursive
points in the wider social landscape.
A fourth work from the Animated Scene series will be shown concurrently at the Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, as
part of Infinitum, the final part of a trilogy of exhibitions mounted by Axel Vervoordt which began in 2007 with
Artempo: When Time Becomes Art.
Artis
John Gerrard (b.1974) lives and works between Dublin, Ireland, and Vienna, Austria. Recent solo exhibitions include
Simon Preston Gallery, New York, and Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin. Recent group exhibitions include Academiaat
L’Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris, and Equal,That Is,to the Real Itself at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. Gerrard
received a BFA from the School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University in 1997, and an MFA from the School
of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2000. In June 2009 he will begin a guest residency at the Rijksakademie van
beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam.
Institution
RHA Projects is an initiative of the Royal Hibernian Academy, an artist-based and artist-orientated institution
in Dublin, Ireland, dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public’s appreciation and understanding
of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts.
Curators
The project is curated by Jasper Sharp, an independent curator and writer based in Vienna, Austria, and
Patrick T. Murphy, Director and Curator of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
An illustrated 64-page catalogue with texts by Prof. Michael A. Morris, Patrick T. Murphy, Linda Norden and
Jasper Sharp has been published by Schlebrügge.Editor, Vienna.
Media Contact: Rebecca Gale
Development & Marketing rebecca@rhagallery.ie
Press reception with the artist: June 3, 3-6 pm (preview continues through June 6)
Opening: June 4, 2009, 6.30pm
Public exhibition: June 7-September 30, 2009
Isola della Certosa
Venezia
orario: 10 – 19 lunedì chiuso
ingresso libero