10th May – 5th July 2008
2nd Floor
The words ‘still life’ or ‘portraiture’ mostly conjure up thoughts of grouped objects or perhaps a figure returning our gaze - and most of the time the images that spring to mind have a calming stillness about them. The work in this exhibition – which includes the UK premiere of Ori Gersht’s Falling Bird - turns this upside down and instead presents a group of pieces that inject a dynamic charge into the traditional genres of still life and portraiture.
The contrast between what is actually still and what is in fact moving in this exhibition may seem at odds with what is first seen. Different media has been used by the artists to convey their ideas. The screen based works in the exhibition appear somewhat traditional at first glance, but soon reveal themselves to shift and move. From an ever altering composition to subtle movement and the involuntary actions of the body to dramatically altered traditional still life scenes. There are large scale photographs that allow the viewer to get close to the subject in a profound way; other photography in the exhibition gives us a series of arresting images that seek to provide a portrait of a section of society. These photographs create an anxiety in the viewer, they feel like something on the brink of unfolding, like the anticipation of the start-gun firing. The paintings are completed on expertly constructed sculptural canvases. Like the photographs these paintings are indeed still, that is until the viewer chooses to move. Then they pitch and lurch after the onlooker, following their every move.
2nd Floor
The words ‘still life’ or ‘portraiture’ mostly conjure up thoughts of grouped objects or perhaps a figure returning our gaze - and most of the time the images that spring to mind have a calming stillness about them. The work in this exhibition – which includes the UK premiere of Ori Gersht’s Falling Bird - turns this upside down and instead presents a group of pieces that inject a dynamic charge into the traditional genres of still life and portraiture.
The contrast between what is actually still and what is in fact moving in this exhibition may seem at odds with what is first seen. Different media has been used by the artists to convey their ideas. The screen based works in the exhibition appear somewhat traditional at first glance, but soon reveal themselves to shift and move. From an ever altering composition to subtle movement and the involuntary actions of the body to dramatically altered traditional still life scenes. There are large scale photographs that allow the viewer to get close to the subject in a profound way; other photography in the exhibition gives us a series of arresting images that seek to provide a portrait of a section of society. These photographs create an anxiety in the viewer, they feel like something on the brink of unfolding, like the anticipation of the start-gun firing. The paintings are completed on expertly constructed sculptural canvases. Like the photographs these paintings are indeed still, that is until the viewer chooses to move. Then they pitch and lurch after the onlooker, following their every move.
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