Rieko Akatsuka, Nicky Coutts, Alexa de Ferranti, Rachel Reupke, Adam Thompson. By isolating elements of reality the five artists lead us into illusionary worlds where we constantly need to readjust our visual references in order to interpret what we see.
Rieko Akatsuka Nicky Coutts Alexa de Ferranti Rachel Reupke Adam Thompson
By isolating elements of reality the five artists lead us into illusionary
worlds where we constantly need to readjust our visual references in order to
interpret what we see.
For the last twelve months, Rieko Akatsuka and Alexa de Ferranti have worked
together to produce a giant kaleidoscope. The kaleidoscope simulates complete
breakdown and disintegration of everyday objects by means of a tunnel of
mirrors. The objects themselves are in reality veiled and presented in the
world beyond the end of a tunnel, while the viewer is faced with a startling
chaos. This visual disorientation is mediated by the kaleidoscope's creation of
geometrical patterns repeated into infinity and accordingly, our unconscious
need to organise visual data is both suspended and engaged. The eye becomes
entangled by the simple act of looking.
In her new series of photographs, Nicky Coutts selects hardly noticeable scenes
from the background of classical paintings. Very small details (a brook
meandering through the countryside in a Breughel painting) are held in focus
while the surroundings are thrown out into blur. The effect is of tunnelling
into miniature worlds. Any sense of the original or means of orientation
loosens in definition.
Rachel Reupke's video shifts reality by juxtaposing a made-up frame of vision
with incidental happenings. A bike track becomes a toy circuit, the background
an idyllic memory where time is suspended.
>From found photographs to old postcards Adam Thompson creates images of
castles, waterfalls or motorways floating in a sensual background of velvety
black. The artist forces the viewer into an imposed vision of an illusionary
world, but eases the tension by leaving the imagination to run free in a sea of
blackness.
Private view: Friday 16 May 6 to 9 pm.
Image: Rieko Akatsuka and Alexa de Ferranti Kaleidoscope 2003 - Mixed media (work in progress)
A catalogue with an essay by Simon Grant will be published. The exhibition will
tour to Japan in Autumn 2003, co-curated by Tatsuko Tomiyama and will include
work by Tomoko Kaneko.
For further information and slides/digital images please contact Danielle Arnaud
on 020 7735 8292.
Next: Exhumed at The Museum of Garden History
11 July to 30 August 2003
21 artists explore notions of story telling, ancestry, memory and interpretation
of history.
Danielle Arnaud
123 Kennington Road SE11 6SF UK
London