Nigel Massey
dal 10/10/2002 al 9/11/2002
Segnalato da
10/10/2002
Nigel Massey
Art Space Gallery, London
Massey takes evident pleasure in the abstract qualities of a particular surface and in the physical aspect of making things, pushing the boundaries of each material to achieve the desired effect and relishing the unpredictability inherent in the processes involved. Surfaces may be worked and reworked, added to and eroded again to the point where the effect of multiple layers becomes almost sculptural.
Nigel Massey was born in 1969 and graduated in 1995
from the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded the prestigious JMW
Turner Gold Medal. This will be his second solo exhibition at Art Space
Gallery
Taking inspiration from Malevich, Ellsworth Kelly and Sean Scully,
the aesthetic appeal of Massey's work is through its textures, tones
and markings. Using a range of disparate materials such as polyurethane
foam, fused silica molochite mixed with oil paint and acrylic, Massey
constructs his work into abstract forms that take their references from
his own immediate environment and the passage of time. These surfaces
once built are then subjected to a variety of techniques designed to
stress and corrode the materials to produce images that suggest peeling
paint, crumbling plaster and the generally unremarkable items of domestic
architecture.
Massey takes evident pleasure in the abstract qualities of a particular
surface and in the physical aspect of making things, pushing the boundaries
of each material to achieve the desired effect and relishing the unpredictability
inherent in the processes involved. Surfaces may be worked and reworked,
added to and eroded again to the point where the effect of multiple
layers becomes almost sculptural. In the most recent work Massey has
added to his techniques of using stresses, cracks and folds to suggest
decay and the passage of time, to draping oil and molochite saturated
fabric grounds over various supports. As it dries the material slumps
around, and echoes, the physical support, be it wall brackets a fireplace
or a mantelshelf.
With titles like Green Guard, Drawer and Mantel, Massey declares his
interest in the everyday, the vernacular and the banal, but essentially
he is concerned with the process of exploring the physical, emotional
and conceptual possibilities in the medium. His work evolves steadily
and progressively over periods of time as ideas are developed and discarded
in an effort to make the ordinary extraordinary and the commonplace
and familiar into the phenomenal
Art Space Gallery
84 St Peter's Street N1 8JS
London