calendario eventi  :: 

X

12/9/2007

Nathaniel Rackowe

BischoffWeiss Gallery, London

Nathaniel Rackowe

BISCHOFF/WEISS is pleased to present the second solo show by British artist Nathaniel Rackowe. Following on from his 2005 exhibition “Shift”, this new show entitled “Luminous Territories” extends the artist’s interest in the urban environment and artificial light.

Conceived specifically for the upper gallery, Luminous Territory (2007) is a rectangular structure that almost fills the space, orchestrating the routes of access around its enclosed perimeter. Here, Rackowe uses generic building materials: scaffolding and hoardings draw direct association to changing urban landscapes; the structure’s orange base references the colour of building works local to the artist’s house and studio; and the industrial sheeting that enwraps the work is common in construction. While the structure creates volumetric displacement within the gallery due to the dominance of its exterior surface, its interior activity is also clearly visible. Flickering light cast from the interior of Luminous Territory evokes the dysfunction of vast abandoned urban spaces. Although apparently random, the light is in fact carefully choreographed via dozens of fluorescent lights that flicker into life one by one, slowly animating the static structure.

Located in the lower gallery, Sliced Door Four (2007) discloses a comparable agenda of internalised space. Its sliced doors both enforce and stand against the binary structure of their manufacture. Open or closed, here the doors are both and neither. Multiple shafts of light generated from a single source radiate along lines of rupture and repair.

Black Cube (2007) is a dark totemic mass that seems to absorb the light emitted by the other works. Corrugated bitumen roofing sheets are sliced, stacked and bolted together echoing the deconstructive, reconstructive nature of Slice Door Four.
A shaft of light spilling from WLP4 ( 2007) cuts the final gallery space in two. Through a slit in the black structure, a powerful light bulb slowly increases in intensity. The orange internal surfaces intensify the light spilling out, extending the boundary of this work beyond its physical limits.

Nathaniel Rackowe, born in 1975, graduated with an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2001. Past solo shows include: Garden Fresh Gallery, Chicago (2004), a residency and solo installation at Hull Time Based Arts (2005), Shift at BISCHOFF/WEISS (2005) and a show at Almine Rech gallery, Paris (2007). His work has been included in exhibitions both in the UK and abroad such as: New Contemporaries Liverpool and the Barbican Centre, London (2002); a permanent public sculpture, LP4, at Cardinal Place, Victoria, London (2005); an installation for Reveal at the Forest of Dean (2006); a residency and group show with the British Council at the Bangkok University Gallery, Thailand (2006); and Artificial Light, which toured the Museum of Fine Art, Virginia and the MoCA, Miami in (2006).

Coinciding with the exhibition at BISCHOFF/WEISS, Rackowe will have two other shows in London. A solo show with the Contemporary Art Society at the Economist Plaza (Sept 27th – Oct) and as part of The Body Electric, a group exhibition at the Truman Brewery (Oct 2nd – Nov 5th).

Opening 13 september 2007

BischoffWeiss Gallery
Rivington Street, 95, London
Free Admission

stampa

permanent link