exhibition

Abstract mode

Artists Claude Temin-Vergez, Richard Kirwan, Daniel Sturgis, Jane Harris, Monique Prieto, Danny Rolph, Mick Finch, Olivier Gourvil, Gary Simmonds

17.May.06 - 18.Jun.06
Thu-Sun 12-6 or by appt

Contemporary Art Projects
20 Rivington St
London EC2A 3DU
020 7739 1743
info@caprojects.com
www.caprojects.com
Tube Old Street, Liverpool Street, Shoreditch / Hoxton

The nine artists brought together for this exhibition represent a variety of attitudes regarding the notion of abstraction. There are moments of common interest; there are moments of contradiction.

Over time, the definition of abstraction has become a default setting, a stylistic catch-all for the non-representational. These artists question the evolution of the term, suggesting possibility as opposed to pessimism.

Mick Finch’s paintings situate themselves within questions of image and signification, from visibility to effacement. Images and forms originating from the Internet are integrated through a carefully worked process of transcription. Recent solo exhibitions include Nevermind (Galerie Pitch, Paris). He lives and works in Senlis, France.

Olivier Gourvil. Apparently abstract forms immediately perceived by the viewer adopt an autonomous life recalling architectural diagrams, comics and design (amongst others). A quasi-automatic drawing process renders these observations as strange mutated forms. Recent solo exhibitions include Olivier Gourvil (‘Le quartier’ Frac of Quimper, France). He lives and works in Paris, France.

Jane Harris employs succulent oil paint to seduce and exclude. By imbuing geometry with a curious sense of character, a complex relationship between ornate forms confuses the perception between figure and ground. Recent solo exhibitions include Jane Harris (Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, USA). She lives and works in London.

Richard Kirwan’s recent paintings depict heaps of shapes caught in limbo between structure and collapse. By acknowledging the desire to name or categorise whilst simultaneously denying interpretation, these paintings hover between abstraction and cognition. Recent solo exhibitions include Richard Kirwan (Austellungsraum Zurich, Switzerland). He lives and works in London.

Monique Prieto investigates the possibilities of ‘lightness’ in the opposition of the ‘weight’ of abstraction. Using low-fi computer drawing programmes, she creates compositions that achieve a sense of awkward delight. Saccharine subversions of murky, outmoded themes. Recent solo exhibitions include Out of the Blue (ACME Los Angeles). She lives and works in LA, USA.

Danny Rolph works on a variety of surfaces including rigid plastic sheets that enable a variety of painting languages to physically slide in and out of each other. The work suggests a close affinity between chaos and control. Recent solo exhibitions include Danny Rolph (Hales Gallery, London). He lives and works in London.

Gary Simmonds is an exponent of so-called ‘dirty minimalism’ and the more recent ‘soft-edged hard-edge’. His paintings extol the virtue of the squeegee over sable, whilst flirting with decoration and disorder. Recent solo exhibitions include Gary Simmonds (One In The Other, London). He lives and works in London.

Daniel Sturgis’ recent paintings have exchanged their supermarket abstraction for geometric romanticism. A micro/macro relationship between forms suggests an almost diagrammatic desire to convene with both artifice and nature. Recent solo exhibitions include Daniel Sturgis (Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, USA). He lives and works in London.

Claude Temin-Vergez’s images are carefully constructed using a repertoire of enamel and gloss to create equally fluid forms. By ‘slowing down’ the notion of gestural mark-making, she proposes a double reading between tactile ornament and hard edge abstraction. Recent solo exhibitions include Claude Temin-Vergez (Space Other, Boston, USA). She lives and works in London.