Ceal Floyer
dal 5/4/2006 al 5/5/2006
Segnalato da
5/4/2006
Ceal Floyer
Lisson Gallery, London
"I want the manifestation of my ideas to be life-sized, not only regarding their scale, but also in terms of their relevance to their situation or medium." C. Floyer. The deceptive simplicity of the work is informed by the artist's particular sense of humour and an almost Beckettian awareness of the absurd.
"I want the manifestation of my ideas to be life-sized, not only regarding
their scale, but also in terms of their relevance to their situation or
medium. Then they're more like the ideas behind something. Art is just a
manifestation, a Trojan Horse, for ideas." Ceal Floyer's clarity of
thought and the elegantly concise presentation of her ideas resonate
through all areas of her practice. The deceptive simplicity of the work is
informed by Floyer's particular sense of humour and an almost Beckettian
awareness of the absurd; her use of double-takes and shifting points of
view forces the viewer to renegotiate his perception of the world.
Floyer's work examines a dialectical tension between the literal and the
mundane, and an imaginative construction of meaning.
Helix, 2001 consists
of a circles template filled with everyday objects selected precisely
because they are exactly the same size as the circles. In Warning Birds,
2002 Floyer uses mass-produced adhesive 'warning birds'; simple bird
shaped silhouettes used to deter birds from plate-glass windows. Rather
than using a single sticker she covers the whole window, obscuring the
original form and function of both the window and the warning bird.
Through its multiplication, this simple almost elegant image is brought to
the verge of hysteria. In the sound piece Goldberg Variation, 2002 the
title is used as a framing device, determining the identity and meaning of
the work.
'The Goldberg Variations' was originally composed by Bach as a
Baroque keyboard exercise in musical structure and reasoning. It
subsequently became a standard in classical keyboard repertoire,
consisting of 30 variations of a single aria. Floyer takes the initial
prototype aria as her starting point, simultaneously presenting all the
different piano recordings and interpretations of it that she could find
commercially. The condensation of the individual versions into one
composite playfully acknowledges and articulates the conceptual themes of
the original. The video work H20 Diptych, 2002 consists of two monitors,
one showing a pan of water slowly reaching boiling point whilst on the
other a glass of fizzy mineral water gradually goes flat. Both processes
are almost imperceptible, as the water inexorably moves towards
equilibrium.
For Ceal Floyer, language itself is utilised as a material,
intangible yet integral to the work of art. Ink on Paper, 2002 acts as
both the title of the work and a description of the medium. The circles of
colour that are produced by the draining of felt tip pens onto sheets of
blotting paper are both visually beautiful and conceptually pure. Since
graduating from Goldsmiths' College in 1994, Floyer has exhibited
extensively around the world. Previous solo exhibitions include: Ikon
Gallery, Birmingham; CCA, Berkeley, California; Institute of Visual Arts,
Milwaukee; Kunsthalle Bern; and City Racing, London. Ceal Floyer was
awarded the prestigious Philip Morris Scholarship at Kunstlerhaus
Bethanien, Berlin in 1997.
Opens also a solo show of Tim Lee
Opening: 6th April 2006
Lisson Gallery
29 & 52-54 Bell Street - London
Hours: Monday-Friday 10am - 6pm Saturday 11am-5pm