Monday 24 May 2010

Unknown












One of the best exhibitions I've seen this year I'm embarrassed to say I don't actually know who the artist was. The work was fantastic and i found it really influential, one of those moments when you just stumble across something you completely love. The work seemed to be the artists train of thought as he attempted to decipher the world we live in and work out what's going on around him. I got a sense that they didn't feel too connected with our society or at least on the peripheries of common thought. In his work, every day objects and images were being broken down into equations and formulae, as if conducting a hypothetical experiment on life itself.

Most of the works were acrylic on canvas plus a couple of beautiful abstractions of sculpture which dominate the centre of the space. The common format for the painting was to have a contrasting beige bar across the base line, within this the artist has created series of kind of unique algebraic formulae which try to piece together elements from his life like the "amount of girls i have adored from a distance", "removing a wet overcoat in the winter of 1964" and "The smell of hot dogs in a cinema foyer" in which he tries to come to some conclusion, the image is kind of like an illustration for his point. I think there is a beautiful clarity in the painting which is laid out like a Google image search page. In the perfect yet very stylised execution of the painting work is really appealing and visually very engaging, he's taking an interface the audience is very used to seeing and serving it back in a medium they are definitely not used to. With his coffee cup it may not translate as well in a photo as it does in person but i found it really interesting how at first glance it appears to be a galaxy or planet of some kind but in fact its just that same view you've had every morning for years. The exhibition seems to be challenging the way you interpret and look at things, as a conscious decision from the artist to try and get you to work out life with him.




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