Driving off the Spleen relates an arduous Lake District episode in the lives of Juneau Projects. Grappling with nature, technology and the haunting characters they meet there, the Juneaus recount their journey in all its horrific detail.
DRIVING OFF THE SPLEEN
Driving off the Spleen relates an arduous Lake District episode in the lives of
Juneau Projects. Grappling with nature, technology and the haunting characters
they meet there, the Juneaus recount their journey in all its horrific detail.
They will always remember the crowing of the Former Professional; the poetry of
Small Hands Paul, redolent with the beauty and heartbreak of the lakes reflected
in an ale glass; the powers of darkness that swarm around the landscape painter
Meg and the solitary figure of The Man of Speed.
Ben Sadler and Philip Duckworth started making work together in Birmingham under
the name Juneau/Projects/ in the late 1990s. Their works consist of
installations of elements - photographic, sculptural, documentary - which
conjure up characters to populate their Chaucerian narratives. They draw on
ephemera, outmoded and defunct technological equipment, video documentations of
performances and events, a painted crash helmet or bottles, customised TVs and
computer monitors, all of which become components in their narrative journey.
Juneau/Projects/ are equally alienated from nature, which is often their
subject, and from the consumer items of computer hardware, walkmans, broken TVs,
mobile telephones, which are their medium. This alienation becomes a critical
position in their work, which has a performative element as much as a sculptural
form. Walkman/Lake, 2001, documents a Walkman continuing to play a recording of
Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen while being lowered by a man into a lake from a
rubber dinghy. In The Beauty Royale, 2003 lengths of wooden dowel, with contact
microphones attached, are fed through a chipper. What is unique in these works
is the fluidity with which the artists negotiate the transition from performance
to documentary to sculptural form.
Philip Duckworth, British, born Iselohn, Germany 1976, BA Coventry 1996-1999,
Ben Sadler, British, born Birmingham 1977 BFA Ruskin School of Art 1996-99, MA
Goldsmiths 2002-2004. Recent exhibitions: Grizedale Open and Grizedle Arts, 2002
- 2004, Motherfucking Nature, the Showroom, 2004. Forthcoming: Romantic
Detachment P.S.1, 2004
For further information and images 0207 928 3228
Image: The Man of Speed's Helmet, 2004 Motorcycle Crash Helmet, enamel paint.
Gallery Hours Tuesday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 12-5.
Private View Wednesday September 8 6.30-8.30 pm
f a projects are pleased to announce the first exhibition at the gallery of the
young British duo Juneau/Projects/.
f a projects
1-2 Bear Gardens
London SE1 9ED
+44 20 7928 3228