calendario eventi  :: 

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6/10/2014

Two exhibitions

Vitrine - Bermondsey Square, London

Notes from the Orifice
Jonathan Baldock
8 October 2014 - 15 November 2014
Location: Bermondsey Street

VITRINE Bermondsey Street is delighted to present a solo exhibition of work by British artist Jonathan Baldock including new sculptural and wall-based works, installation and performance.

Taken from Robin Lydenberg’s critical essay on William S. Burrough’s novel ‘The Naked Lunch’, the title of this exhibition reflects Baldock’s fascination with the human form as a vessel with which to explore both the formal and conceptual qualities of the body. Baldock describes the creation of his work as a performative dance between the subject and its maker: a ritualistic process that celebrates the transformation of the idea into a physical entity. The orifice is a passage in the body leading from the outer skin into the internal world of flesh, blood and organs, in this case suggesting a metaphorical journey from the surface into the very substance of the artwork.

Jonathan Baldock, ‘Orifice painting in neutral’ and ‘Orifice painting in Turquoise’, 2014In ‘Notes from the Orifice’, Baldock will exhibit sculptures, costumes and wall-based work. Originally trained as a painter, Baldock employs a host of tactile materials such as salt-dough, felt, straw and ceramic and traditional methods such as weaving and stitching. In his works, the viewer experiences clearly the presence of the hand where it has kneaded, plaited or sewn the materials together.

A circular peephole installed in the window of VITRINE’s space will control the visitors’ first impressions of the exhibition, drawing them in to explore the space physically rather than as a passive viewer. Costumes and sculptures suggestive of remnants from a previously performed ritual will be installed inside the space, whilst in wall-based works we encounter symbols suggesting a language taken from – or created for – a society apart from our own. We are reminded of cultural artefacts found in museum displays that give us a glimpse at the customs of civilisations that have been swallowed up by history.

In its bodily connotations, exquisite craftsmanship and mysterious – but very present – narrative, the work of Jonathan Baldock is testament to man’s fundamental need to create as a means to find order and definition within contemporary society.

Jonathan Baldock (born in 1980 in Pembury, UK) graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2005 and lives and works in London. He has exhibited internationally with solo shows including: Warm Bodies (with Olga Balema) at Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, The Netherlands (2014); The Soft Machine, Chapter, Cardiff (2014); Multiple points in this crude landscape, Primary, Nottingham (2014); Hot Spots, The Apartment, Vancouver, Canada (2014); A Strange mix between a Butcher’s Shop and a Nightclub, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK (2013); The Blue Epoch, Colloredo-Mansfeldský Palác, AMoYA, Prague, Czech (2012); Musica, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy (2011); Pierrot, PeregrineProgram, Chicago, USA, (2011); The Fool’s Flipside, Cell Projects, London, UK (2010); and ‘H.E’ The Fine Art Society London, UK (2008).

Group shows include; Two Figures in a Landscape (choreographed by Rubato Dance Group), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2013); Relativity Absolute, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK (2013); The Gathering, Mytoro Gallery, Hamburg, Germany (2013); ARE YOU ALRIGHT? New Art From Britain, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), Toronto, CA (2013); Implausible Imposters, Ceri Hand Gallery, London, UK (2013); A Conspiracy of Detail Mackintosh Museum Glasgow, UK (2013); Pile, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales (2011); Memories and Encounters, Via Farini Milan, IT (2009); NEWSPEAK: British Art Now, Hermitage Museum St Petersburg, Russia (2009) and Saatchi Gallery London, UK (2008).

He has received international awards and residencies, including: Abbey Fellowship, British School in Rome, Italy (2013); Residency – The Forest, Wysing Art Centre Cambridge, UK (2012); and Skowhegan, School of Painting and Sculpture Residency, Maine, USA (2007).

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Karen Tang: Synapsid
Karen Tang
8 October 2014 - 1 March 2015
Location: Bermondsey Square

VITRINE is delighted to announce the launch of its public sculpture commission ‘Sculpture At Bermondsey Square’. The first commission is by London-based artist Karen Tang, whose work has been exhibited international and encompasses an extensive portfolio of public sculpture projects.

For Tang’s sculpture at Bermondsey Square ‘Synapsid’, her initial influence draws from sci-fi sources that traverse the worlds of biology, botany and alien landscapes, a thread through much of her recent practice. The work sprung from research into the Golden Age sci-fi from the 1950s and 1960s and the artist’s encounter the 1959 film, ‘The Giant Behemoth’. The film originally intended to feature a giant, formless blob of radioactive material, swims up the Thames and tramples through Rotherhithe and Bermondsey. Within the narrative, the creature leaves destruction in its wake, but the film also contains valuable records of the local streets, residences and businesses. It features many Bermondsey inhabitants as extras, running screaming from their flats, Park Buildings in particular, which were demolished in the mid-1970s. This link to the area around Bermondsey Square, especially the relationship to the Thames, combined rich sci-fi inspiration with a sense that the sculpture belongs in the Square.

The protean-blob forms epitomise looseness and change, posing the insuperable challenge of freezing a moment in static material; The sculpture, a three-dimensional form that cannot be perceived in a single instance. One’s understanding of it develops depending on distance and viewpoint, allowing for manipulation with regard for multiple angles. In planning of the sculpture, it was crucial for the artist to understand the nuances of the form. Models began with thoughts that materialised quickly in soft plasticine, then moving into foam and plywood to work out the armature and sections that could be attached. The visibility of bolts in the final fibreglass work will emphasise the concept of mutability, suggesting shifting identities of the parts themselves.

The forthcoming sculpture is also informed by one of Tang’s earlier public sculpture works ‘Modern Molluscs’, which was executed in 2008 with architect Daniel Sanderson for Jerwood Space. This work explored many of the concepts that have informed Tang’s upcoming work for Bermondsey Square, such as the juxtaposition of mutated nature with the built environment.

Karen Tang (b. London 1978) is an artist based in London. She studied at Chelsea then the Slade School of Fine Art, leaving in 2004 with an MFA (Distinction) in Sculpture. After being awarded the Duveen Travel Scholarship, she researched mutated spaces in Mexico’s architecture and underwater sunken wrecks. Her sculptures offer viewers the experience of surprising structural and material combinations, with unexpected forms that reference science-fiction, architecture and peculiarities of city life.
Tang’s work has been commissioned by The National Trust, Contemporary Art Society, The Economist, South London Gallery and private collections. Tang has exhibited at venues including: Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium; Bloomberg Space; Jerwood Space; Ambika P3; MAMA Rotterdam; Dalston Superstore; Guest Projects; The Agency Gallery; Pumphouse Gallery, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester; The Collection Museum, Lincoln. Tang is currently a Fine Art lecturer at Central Saint Martins.

Sculpture at Bermondsey Square is made possible with the generous support of Ideas Tap, Bermondsey Square Community Fund, Arts Council England, The National Lottery.

With additional support of Team London Bridge, Peroni, Diversity Art Forum, Top Nice, We Are Goat, Bermondsey Square, Shortwave Cinema, Colourpoint.

Media partner: Art Review, Elephant Magazine.

Image: Karen Tang, Synapsid (Working Model), 2014

Private view Tue Oct 7 7pm - 10pm

VITRINE Bermondsey Street
183 – 185 Bermondsey Street - London SE1 3UW
Wednesday – Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 12-6pm (& by appointment)

VITRINE Bermondsey Square
Bermondsey Square - London SE1 3UN
Daily 24-hour

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