18/6/2009
Mike Marshall
Union, London
In this exhibition, Marshall shows a combination of video and photographic works revealing scenarios and forces that interconnect in ways which cannot be entirely predicted or controlled, while at the same time exploring the potential for individual engagement within them.
Union Gallery is delighted to present a new body of work by British artist
Mike Marshall.
In this exhibition, Marshall shows a combination of video and photographic
works revealing scenarios and forces that interconnect in ways which cannot
be entirely predicted or controlled, while at the same time exploring the
potential for individual engagement within them. This engagement may simply
be that of abandonment and pleasure, such as when swimming in the sea we
might give ourselves up to the movement of the water so that it moves us, or
as when watching the physical effects of wind as it moves the leaves and
branches of trees.
The video installation 'Volume and Frequency' (2009) shows a distant group
of surfers patiently waiting for a wave, interspersed with images of trees
in movement. Filmed in black and white, with carefully timed intervals of
intense colour, the transition from one shot to another suggests a passing
of propellant forces between scenarios, whilst a soundtrack employing the
musical language of suspense constructs a balance between languid relaxation
and anticipatory tension.
In the large scale photograph 'Flood Plain' (2009) an arrangement of
pot-plants sit amidst a vast expanse of scorched, cracked earth. Purchased
from a garden centre in India, these plants were photographed and then left
behind to presumably wilt, die and possibly be swept away towards a distant
sea.
The forces under scrutiny in Marshall’s work are as global as they are
local. His work appears to function as a kind of intermediary, where
movements suggestive of growth and dissolution pass through and continue on
towards some indefinable future. Through its careful testing of the limits
of involvement with such processes his work raises questions of personal
agency and the ability to truly know the outcome of any action.
Mike Marshall lives and works in London.
Solo exhibitions include 'No Love No Hate', Stanley Picker Gallery,
Kingston; 'Mike Marshall' Pharos Centre of Contemporary Art, Nicosia,
Cyprus:'The Intimacy of Distance', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; 'At the Edge
of the Known World', Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool and 'Mike Marshall: Here
is Fine', Tate Gallery, St. Ives. Recent group exhibitions include 'Figuring
Landscapes' Tate Modern, touring UK and Australia:'CASZuidas' Amsterdam,
Netherlands; 'Pharos = 10' The Power House, Nicosia, Cyprus 'Happy
Believers', Werkleitz Biennale, Germany; 'A Grain of Dust a Drop of Water',
Gwangju Biennale, South Korea; 'Days Like These', Tate Triennial, Tate
Britain.
Private View 19/06/09 6-9pm
Union
57 Ewer Street - London
Free admission