Solo Exhibition
A Foundation for Exchange - Primo Piano - Lugano Switzerland - 2010
Press Release
‘A Foundation for Exchange’ Lugano Switzerland 2010
‘A Foundation for Exchange’ is best described as a response to the idea that a being has a primeval desire to want to belong to something greater than ones self. This ‘wanting to belong’ manifests itself in both the production and consumption of cultural artefacts. Whether in isolation or as a collection artefacts are dependent on a creator, mediator and audience. The exhibition juxtaposes a culturally diverse collection of objects questioning their value and original purpose. The viewer is forced to engage in the notions of value, authorship and display.
The collection corrupts and transforms the values put upon cultural artefacts. Every culture principally has its own distinct set of values and beliefs, which are transferred to the things around them. This transferral manifests itself in the thoughts and values of the creator, curator/mediator and viewer and therefore, the production and consumption of cultural artefacts. Through trade, cultural objectives become re-appropriated into other forms. Therefore, artefacts and images change from potent forms of communication to objects of fashion and aestheticism. Once the original is appropriated an informed copy enters the world creating a new set of values and a secondary history of its own. The focus becomes the co-existence of both original and copy and the tension between historical fact and fabrication. This subsequent tension allows an engagement with the notions of artefact, artifice, creativity and invention.
The paintings although individual, bear the same title ‘United in Different Guises’ and are numbered accordingly. The title refers to a proposed shared function. This function sits somewhere between a communicative role and the symbolic. The source imagery used is a mixture of signage and design; which is reconstructed to form gendered symbols. Their scale and material quality mimic the appearance of flags and banners. By folding, scuffing and gradually aging the paintings, a suggested utility appears. What is left is an object that questions notions of symbolism and authenticity, allowing the work to function beyond the realms of painting.
Tim Ellis 10.02.2010
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Installation Views
From Left to right: Three Tiers 2010, Allegorical Reflections 2009, Souvenir 2010
From Left to right: Four Quarters 2010 and Three Tiers 2010
From Left to right: Four Quarters 2010 and Three Tiers 2010 (Detail)
From Left to right: Three Tiers 2010 and Allegorical Reflections 2009
From Left to right: United in Different Guises XXIII, United in Different Guises XXI, United in Different Guises XXVII,United in Different Guises XIII,United in Different Guises XIV,United in Different Guises XII
From Left to right: About Face 2010, United in Different Guises XXIII, United in Different Guises XXI, United in Different Guises XXVII
From Left to right: About Face 2010 and Souvenir 2010
From Left to right: Him and Her 2010, Three Tiers 2010 and United in Different Guises X 2010
From Left to right: Him and Her 2010 and United in Different Guises X 2010
