A series of foam sculptures that are either suspended from the ceiling or presented on wooden stools. Ceramic and steel pots or vases containing a chemical detergent are fed air from small compressors and seem to create foam endlessly. Over the course of the exhibition, soapy substances move steadily upwards, until they collapse.
Annet Gelink Gallery is pleased to present the second solo exhibition of British artist Roger Hiorns at the gallery.
The concept of a thing making itself, an object that self-produces rather than being produced by the agency of the artist, is a central theme throughout the artist’s work. Hiorns often works with materials that have their own autonomy and a very distinct aesthetic: materials such as brain matter, fire, foam and liquid copper sulphate. For example, his work Seizure (2008) consisted of a London council flat that he encrusted in blue copper sulphate crystals. Here, the end result and final work was uncertain and depended solely on the dynamics of chemistry latent within the crystals.
For his exhibition at Annet Gelink, the artist will show a series of foam sculptures that are either suspended from the ceiling or presented on wooden stools. Ceramic and steel pots or vases containing a chemical detergent are fed air from small compressors and seem to create foam endlessly. Over the course of the exhibition, soapy substances move steadily upwards, until they collapse, forming saggy columns on the floor, occasionally leaving a greenish trail of detergent on the vessel’s surface.
Like Seizure, these foam sculptures suggest an independence from the gallery space and from visitors. They create and exist themselves. The sculptures offer no composition or dialogue – they offer only themselves.
Roger Hiorns (*1975, Birmingham, UK) studied at Goldsmiths College in London. He had solo exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (USA, 2010), The Art Institute of Chicago (USA, 2010), Tate Britain (UK, 2009), The Camden Arts Centre, London (UK, 2007) and the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (USA, 2003). He participated in several group exhibitions, including: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (UK, 2010), Nottingham Contemporary (UK, 2010) and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (USA, 2009). Recently, Hiorns had a large solo show at Museum De Hallen, Haarlem, (The Netherlands, 2012). In 2009, he was nominated for the Turner Prize. The artist lives and works in London.
Image: Untitled, 2012. Courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
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Opening: Saturday, 7 September, 6 - 9pm
Annet Gelink Gallery
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