New Life. The gallery space appears to be strewn with debris from a recent catastrophe or frenzied celebration. Ripped trainers, torn clothing and ruined toys lie testament to the aftermath of a terrible act. But there is no panic, no blood and no media frenzy. The disaster area is bright, cheerful and terror-free. Staged with precision and skill, the artist creates a ruined environment in which violence is meticulously sanitised.
New Life
Disaster, terror and hysteria form the basis of David Burrows’ major new installation New Life. The gallery space appears to be strewn with debris from a recent catastrophe or frenzied celebration. Ripped trainers, torn clothing and ruined toys lie testament to the aftermath of a terrible act. But in New Life there is no panic, no blood and no media frenzy. The disaster area is bright, cheerful and terror-free. Staged with precision and skill, Burrows creates a ruined environment in which violence is meticulously sanitised.
New Life’s carnage is inflected with a craftperson’s precision and immaculate attention to detail. Burrows cuts his objects from soft, harmless materials such as foam and rubber. Happy colours and harmless stains create a comic air that negates the installation’s initial impression of devastation. New Life fuses the 1960s scatter installation with a clean pop sensibility, forming a contradictory and complex visual language. Burrows talks of his concern with ‘the aesthetics of failure.’ His work is about the impossibility of representing an event, and our culture’s continuous attempt to capture the affect of events.
In 2002 Burrows received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award and had solo shows with fa projects, London and Fredericke Taylor Gallery, New York. Since 1995 he has taken part in group exhibitions internationally and has worked collaboratively with various artists. New Life is David Burrows first solo show in a public gallery which has toured to Chisenhale Gallery, London, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre and Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. The exhibition tour and accompanying catalogue were supported by Arts Council England, Grants for Arts Touring.
Aspex Gallery - 27 Brougham Road - Southsea Portsmouth PO5 4PA
Tuesday-Friday 12-6pm, Saturday 12-4pm, Closed Sunday & Monday - Admission FREE