Totem
dal 6/10/2004 al 12/11/2004
Segnalato da
6/10/2004
Totem
Motinternational, London
The North American Indians passed their stories down the generations orally. To help them remember each story, they carved Totem poles, which were stacks of symbols representing the clans that acted as memory sticks to those that knew the tale. Works by Simona Brinkmann, Amy Clarke, Tom Ellis, Lee Reagan.
Private view Thursday 7th Oct 6 pm - 9pm + Launch of I LOVE MY YUGO, Sarah Carne, MOT car park same night
Simona Brinkmann, Amy Clarke, Tom Ellis, Lee Reagan
The North American Indians passed their stories down the generations orally. To help them remember each story, they carved Totem poles, which were stacks of symbols representing the clans that acted as memory sticks to those that knew the tale. These Totems were not worshiped, but were rather keys to the unconsciousness, monuments from the past or stairways to the future. Modernism embraced this model and Capital sponsored the erection of its own symbols or totems, all aiming skyward competing for their place in the clouds. At MOT, from our own elevated position above east London, the skyline still attests that there is still some undying belief in ‘up is best’. Wondering if this was at all reflected in the work of any of today’s young dreamers, we invited four sculptors to present us with their totems.
Amy Clarke gives more than a nod to Brancusi’s Endless column, in her piece, UN-LIMITED, which is made up of a column of pint glasses, drinking end to table end, mimicking those of Brancusi. This column acts as a maquette for a 1:2 version which, in turn informs a 1:3 version. As with Brancusi, Clarke alludes to her sculptures as being architectural models, with the endless increases in scale leading to her glass columns replacing the Swiss re building ( erotic gherkin). Brancussi’s Tirgu Jiu Sculpture groups endless column, represented the aspirationof ascent from earth to the heavens whereas Clarke’s materials suggests that these dreams lie at the bottom of a glass and as such are empty and often end in dissapointment.
Lee Reagan has just finished his MA at Reading and enters the London art scene bristling with bravado and cocksure. In fact Reagan does not hide his interest in the phallic, linking it with the architectural folly. He sees all his work as a folly, a self indulgent process, leaving a legacy and a monument to his own artistic aspirations. For Totem he will be providing us with a stack of recycled trophies, each representing a forgotten individual’s achievement which on mass emphasise their generic production and delusive quality.
Tom Ellis plays with the visual language related to the modernist notion of truth to materials. He uses mass produced objects such as garden chairs or mdf to create visual puns usually around the notion of reflection. He makes sculptures which act as images while being no more than a collection of readymade objects. His piece for Totem involves a stack of chairs inverted on top of a mirror which is itself supported off the floor, at exactly the same height as the stack above, by a stack of objects from his studio. The mirror projects the chairs back onto the floor and a sagging piece of plywood placed on the inverted feet of the chairs recreates the visual presence of the floor.
Simona Binkmann will be showing MEEK, a stack of video monitors on which runs an image of a male reclining figure that has been filmed through a horizontal succession of cropped shots, arms, feet, chest, although the head and therefore the identity is never revealed. Brinkmann uses film as a symbol for bigger issues. She chooses to use super 8 and transfer this to video, which produces a flashing or abstraction and combined with the installation of the monitors, alludes to a film strip. Brinkmann sees this deconstruction of moving image as a link with film’s past, predominantly its use in medical science for psychiatric study, mainly that of women. Brinkmann wishes to reverse this legacy by making her subject male. The grainy black and white footage combined with the stack of utilitarian broadcast monitors are reminiscent of the Utopian housing blocks of early soviet europe which brings us back to Modernism via architecture.
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven... And it makes me wonder... And she’s buying a stairway to heaven, uh uh uh.
In the image: Tell Tale Apple. Amy Clarke.
ALSO in association with MOT
I LOVE MY YUGO
Sarah Carne
London tour 8th, 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th October
The Yugo will be traveling between MOT, Keith Talent, 1000000mph, Cell and Jeffrey Charles Gallery on these dates. To book a ride call 07981336628 and leave contact details.
MOT
Unit 54/5th floor Regents Studios
8 Andrews Road London E8 4QN
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Open Fri, Sat, Sun 12-5 or by appointment