MEMBERS SHOW 2012
Selected by Ruth Ewan
O U T P O S T
2 November to 21 December 2012
12 noon to 6pm daily
Opening View: Saturday 1 December, 6 - 9pm
Open to public - admission free
Artworks exhibited in this year’s members show provide a unique cross-section of artists and practices from the OUTPOST membership, combining video, sculpture, lectures, interventions, sound, print and photography to form a materially diverse group show. Upon entering the gallery Andy Parker’s model ship, raised on a plinth and encased in glass, provides a striking centerpiece in the gallery space. On an adjacent wall Johann Arens series of faded dusky pink notice boards display motivational slogans, lists and photographs, while a trilogy of separate monitors screen videos by Tom Smith, Stella Ouzounidou and Scott Massey, and a separate wall-based film projection by Maeve Brennan. The selection exceeds wall-based works and static objects, with Candice Jacob’s rapid ‘thank you’ sound piece quietly emanating from one corner, while in the office an invigilator wears a ceramic ‘rave necklace’ by Mark Essen, modeled on the iconic smiley faces from club culture.
Our wider culture is under playful scrutiny through Ewan’s selection of works, hinting at notions of labour, value and distribution of resources. Terence McCormack’s poignant series of black and white photographs depicting closed down regional theatres coexist in the space with Scott Massey’s performative video of the artist attempting to repay a bank loan via the act of speech. Elsewhere Leo Koivistoinen’s sequence of framed line drawings depict the typical English lunch; the sandwich. Everyday materials are also transformed through the exhibition process. Will Cruickshank has repurposed a wooden broom belonging to the galley by subtly altering its fabric so it now also functions as a whistle, while remnants of The Financial Times are scattered across the gallery floor, its pink paper staining one wall having been used by Tom Crawford used as an aesthetic ‘Milwall Brick’. A selection of polish beer labels are collaged by Simon Liddiment into a figurative form, demonstrating the creative potential of mundane materials, a theme that will also be addressed in a lecture by Laura Wilson later in the month on the most visually banal, but essential of objects: the brick.
Ewan’s point of departure, both in her own practice and for this exhibition, appear to be one of curiosity and humour, yet with an unmissable undertone of seriousness, making visible that which is not always immediately apparent.
Exhibition event: performative lectures by Tom Smith and Laura Wilson, Thursday 13 December, 6 – 9pm
Ruth Ewan (b. 1980, Aberdeen) is an artist based in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Billboard for Edinburgh,Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (2012), Brank & Heckle, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (2011), Dreadnoughts, Chisenhale, London (2010), These Airwaves Neutralise the Tools of Oppression, Frieze Projects, London 2009, Did You Kiss the Foot that Kicked You?, Artangel, London (2007). Group shows include Weighted Words, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2012), Transcendental Empiricism, Rob Tufnell at Page Street, London (2011), A Million Miles from Home, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone (2011), The Unsurpassable Horizon, No Soul for Sale, Tate Modern, London (2010), Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009) and EASTInternational, Norwich Gallery, Norwich (2006). Ruth is represented by Rob Tufnell, London.
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