Six degrees of separation
dal 23/2/2004 al 20/3/2004
Segnalato da
23/2/2004
Six degrees of separation
Clapham Art Gallery, London
Tom Hackney, Kathryn Lang and Dan McDermott. This exhibition consists of a selection of three technically superlative painters who derive their images from film or photography. Each artist pursues their work via a series of processional generations before finally rendering in paint on canvas or aluminium.
TOM HACKNEY - KATHRYN LANG - DAN McDERMOTT
Clapham Art Gallery is delighted to present Tom Hackney, Kathryn Lang
and Dan McDermott, exhibiting together for the first time in 'Six
degrees of separation...'
This exhibition consists of a selection of three technically superlative
painters who derive their images from film or photography. Each artist
pursues their work via a series of processional generations before
finally rendering in paint on canvas or aluminium.
Tom Hackney, winner of the 2003 BOC Emerging Artist Award, is known for
his flawless photo-realism. This most recent series of landscape
paintings are derived from locations used in Hollywood movies. Hackney
identifies specific locations and then visits the actual site in order
to photograph and document. He then uses this source material to render
his paintings, which are finally mounted and framed behind glass. There
are therefore many layers of appropriation and interpretation as
Hackney's work evolves from its nascent state. We experience a vying
between the mediums of painting and photography as well as film, and we
might find Hackney's works as slightly dislocating. Certain images can
be familiar without immediate recognition, depending on one's personal
experience and familiarity with either common culture or indeed actual
geography. Ultimately, however, Hackney's work does not depend solely on
its original source, but relies on it to present a series of filters
that create varying levels of ambiguity.
Kathryn Lang creates immaculate oil painted surfaces on aluminium. Her
work is process based, despite its clearly figurative, albeit distorted
appearance. Lang's current work explores iconic filmic imagery such as
Liza Minelli in 'Cabaret', representing a move away from her previously
more obscure sources. Stills are taken from the original film and worked
on digitally before being rendered obsessively. Lang abstracts her
original image by breaking it down into specific linear bands, recalling
electronic advertising hoardings or mid-career Bridget Riley's. These
tight, hard-edged contours might be divided vertically or horizontally
and are employed to shift and divide an otherwise identifiable
representation. A highly complex method of design is applied to the
source material, thus creating an ambiguous marriage of abstract
distortion and figurative representation that subverts an otherwise
sensual rendition.
Dan McDermott is enjoying his fourth year of a highly successful
relationship with Clapham Art Gallery. McDermott has become well known
for his vibrant renditions of American vehicles appropriated from
retrospective movies and TV shows. As well as being simply visually
stunning, McDermott's paintings access a nostalgic point in time for all
those who experienced the prevalence of American TV productions
throughout the 1970's and 80's. His subjects represent something very
familiar despite being foreign to many of us. This most recent body of
work, however, represents a shift away from a more dominant subject
matter towards a panoramic city view. Not only this, but also a move
further through time. We are presented with a selection of paintings of
varying scales that experiment with McDermott's interest in light,
colour and tonal qualities. By photographing TV stills and then
rendering in paint McDermott's process serves to heighten and distort
these qualities. Either night or day scenes using images appropriated
from the 1940's onwards are painted in distorted colour, black and white
or grey scale monochrome.
In totality we present here a vibrant selection of artists who are keen
to celebrate technique and to embrace other technical visual mediums in
the process of making their work. Throughout there are resonances of a
more sophisticated post-modern appropriation and the acknowledgement and
use of common culture. Together they form a representative barometer of
current painting practices.
Opening Preview (Serving Mixed Cocktails):
Tuesday 24/02/04 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat 11am-7pm
Contact:
Zavier Ellis / Aniko Pall
Clapham Art Gallery
61 Venn Street
London SW4 0BD
Unit 02
40-48 Bromell's Road
London SW4 0BG
+44 (0)20 7720 0955