exhibition

The Whiteness of the Whale

Artists Nadia Hebson , Reece Jones, Anna-Karin Jansson

09.Feb.07 - 11.Mar.07
Fri-Sun 1-6

Performance, 09.Feb.07, 6 pm Fri to 6 pm Sat

Transition Gallery
Unit 25a Regent Studios 8 Andrews Road
London E8 4QN
020 7254 0045
transition@huntergather.com
www.transitiongallery.co.uk
Tube Bethnal Green; BR Cambridge Heath, Hackney / Bethnal Green

Whether the epitome of romantic writing or the first modern novel Moby Dick parades a flow of now familiar language and imagery to explore the nature of fear, where the true horror is not so much a livid white whale as unfathomable natural force.

The monochrome show The Whiteness of the Whale brings together three artists who today recognise the insistence of the indefinable, taking a contemporary look at the sublime. Touching on nature, spectacle, disaster, and the mundane, work in the show includes Hebson's enigmatic dark seascapes, Reece Jones's meticulous shadowy drawings, and Anna-Karin Jansson’s understated, sinister videos.

All three artists employ a highly developed, almost obsessive working process, which can be seen as a kind of alchemy. They are intoxicated by making. As Melville explored the symbolic power of white he became entranced by the potential of language. The artists in The Whiteness of the Whale are similarly lost to their activity, mesmerised by the potency of the oblique, uncertain image.

A 24 hour continuous reading of Moby Dick will take place in the gallery starting at 6pm on Friday 9 February.