edge of ordinary III
Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 7DG, Open Tuesday – Saturday 13:00 – 19:00, Sundays 13:00 – 17:00, 27th April – 17th May 2015.
EDGE OF LANGUAGE
We all use language; and many of us enjoy art. Both language and art have edges. If that seems odd, consider translation. Ludwig Wittgenstein took aim at the notion of a ‘proposition’.These logical entities would be derived from the following thought. If the French sentence, ‘Il pleut’ has the same meaning as the English sentence, ‘It’s raining’, then that common meaning must exist in a form which is neutral between French and English. ‘Propositions’ or ‘the sense of sentences’ were placed at the heart of the predominant theory of language meaning. At a stroke Wittgenstein decluttered the world of these uncanny entities. For Wittgenstein argued that when Pierre hands Véronique an umbrella, simultaneously telling her, ‘Il pleut’, he is doing what Frank does when he hands Dorothy an umbrella and tells her, ‘It’s raining’. It gives us a more anthropological view of language as a set of tools to be put to our uses. Wittgenstein incorporated the world into language at its edge and thereby provided the conditions under which we interpret linguistic actions. At the fringes of language is the ordinary human life it supports. No need for queer entities produced ad hoc to allay our philosophical embarrassment.
EDGE OF ART
In a recent book, Beyond Art, (O.U.P., 2014), Dominic McIver Lopes has argued that Duchamp’s Fountain, along with other ‘hard cases’, should be treated by the ‘Is it Art?’ question, only if the theory of art addressed,‘passes the buck’ to a treatment of the individual arts. In a novel treatment of conceptual art, he argues that the ‘hard cases’ are better treated by asking ‘To what art kind does this belong?’ He argues forcibly that ‘First, any item is a work of art if it is a work in an art kind – if it is a work of music, architecture, dance or the like… Second, there is nothing that is a work of art and yet does not belong to an art [kind].’ New art kinds, film, computer games, digital art, installation etc., attach to older forms or are emergent from non-art forms. But their understanding (and hence, appreciation) relies upon their integration within a medium. Media need not be physical – as is the case with conceptual art. Yet, whilst conceptual art emerges from visual art, it has now come to fulfil its potential as an art kind in itself.But each art in itself has edges; and can learn from what lies just beyond those edges. So that ice-dance (a non-art) can have features that are called upon by ballet. Installation art can learn from – and even situate itself inside – the window displays of department stores. Arte Poveracan appropriate its collage material from the city’s junk-yards and trash cans.
EDGE OF ORDINARY
Lopes’ looking beyond art provides a counterpart to Wittgenstein’s looking beyond language. Artists are foragers. They notoriously borrow and steal. We are used to them borrowing from other artists in the same art kind, but less used to them stealing from the street or borrowing from non-artistic sources. Additional to Lopes’ account is an interest that has taken hold of contemporary visual artists – Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project. This introduced ‘the art of display’ into fine art – and it is with such an art (if Lopes would countenance display as a ‘medium’) that we can make sense of Tracy Emin’sMy Bed, Ed and Nancy Kienholz’ various tableau, ClaesOldenberg’sRay Guns, Joseph Cornell’s assemblages, and, indeed, Duchamp’s readymades. Nothing in the ‘art of display’ discounts other work in established individual arts and Lopes’ ‘buck-passing’ theory of art accommodates this.
The work of the artists who contribute to this show, curated by Gail Olding, is diverse in its nature and calls upon different strands of connection to art kinds and to their non-art relatives. However, each is committed to the fineness of art and the combination of work in this ‘arcade’ is a celebration of that diversity.
On Thursday 14th May, 19:00 – 21:00, Dr Edward Winters will speak on Lopes’ Beyond Art with relevance to the current exhibition.
Exhibiting artists are: Dom Chastney, Olivia Davis, Charlie Dillon, Pam Gerrie, Graeme Messer, Gail Olding, Luca Pisano, Jane Price, Bettina Stuurman, Edward Winters.
EDGE OF LANGUAGE
We all use language; and many of us enjoy art. Both language and art have edges. If that seems odd, consider translation. Ludwig Wittgenstein took aim at the notion of a ‘proposition’.These logical entities would be derived from the following thought. If the French sentence, ‘Il pleut’ has the same meaning as the English sentence, ‘It’s raining’, then that common meaning must exist in a form which is neutral between French and English. ‘Propositions’ or ‘the sense of sentences’ were placed at the heart of the predominant theory of language meaning. At a stroke Wittgenstein decluttered the world of these uncanny entities. For Wittgenstein argued that when Pierre hands Véronique an umbrella, simultaneously telling her, ‘Il pleut’, he is doing what Frank does when he hands Dorothy an umbrella and tells her, ‘It’s raining’. It gives us a more anthropological view of language as a set of tools to be put to our uses. Wittgenstein incorporated the world into language at its edge and thereby provided the conditions under which we interpret linguistic actions. At the fringes of language is the ordinary human life it supports. No need for queer entities produced ad hoc to allay our philosophical embarrassment.
EDGE OF ART
In a recent book, Beyond Art, (O.U.P., 2014), Dominic McIver Lopes has argued that Duchamp’s Fountain, along with other ‘hard cases’, should be treated by the ‘Is it Art?’ question, only if the theory of art addressed,‘passes the buck’ to a treatment of the individual arts. In a novel treatment of conceptual art, he argues that the ‘hard cases’ are better treated by asking ‘To what art kind does this belong?’ He argues forcibly that ‘First, any item is a work of art if it is a work in an art kind – if it is a work of music, architecture, dance or the like… Second, there is nothing that is a work of art and yet does not belong to an art [kind].’ New art kinds, film, computer games, digital art, installation etc., attach to older forms or are emergent from non-art forms. But their understanding (and hence, appreciation) relies upon their integration within a medium. Media need not be physical – as is the case with conceptual art. Yet, whilst conceptual art emerges from visual art, it has now come to fulfil its potential as an art kind in itself.But each art in itself has edges; and can learn from what lies just beyond those edges. So that ice-dance (a non-art) can have features that are called upon by ballet. Installation art can learn from – and even situate itself inside – the window displays of department stores. Arte Poveracan appropriate its collage material from the city’s junk-yards and trash cans.
EDGE OF ORDINARY
Lopes’ looking beyond art provides a counterpart to Wittgenstein’s looking beyond language. Artists are foragers. They notoriously borrow and steal. We are used to them borrowing from other artists in the same art kind, but less used to them stealing from the street or borrowing from non-artistic sources. Additional to Lopes’ account is an interest that has taken hold of contemporary visual artists – Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project. This introduced ‘the art of display’ into fine art – and it is with such an art (if Lopes would countenance display as a ‘medium’) that we can make sense of Tracy Emin’sMy Bed, Ed and Nancy Kienholz’ various tableau, ClaesOldenberg’sRay Guns, Joseph Cornell’s assemblages, and, indeed, Duchamp’s readymades. Nothing in the ‘art of display’ discounts other work in established individual arts and Lopes’ ‘buck-passing’ theory of art accommodates this.
The work of the artists who contribute to this show, curated by Gail Olding, is diverse in its nature and calls upon different strands of connection to art kinds and to their non-art relatives. However, each is committed to the fineness of art and the combination of work in this ‘arcade’ is a celebration of that diversity.
On Thursday 14th May, 19:00 – 21:00, Dr Edward Winters will speak on Lopes’ Beyond Art with relevance to the current exhibition.
Exhibiting artists are: Dom Chastney, Olivia Davis, Charlie Dillon, Pam Gerrie, Graeme Messer, Gail Olding, Luca Pisano, Jane Price, Bettina Stuurman, Edward Winters.
Exhibiting Artists:
Gail Olding - Through sexualised forms this body of work investigates issues of maleness and femaleness using the body as a vehicle to discuss the complexity of power, religion and sexuality. gailolding.com
Olivia Davis -
Black on black is the basis of my new collection of work. After travelling to Australia I was completely enthused by modern Aboriginal artists. I found their work so inspiring and I immediately saw how I could add a new dimension to my existing style of motor sport paintings which embrace geometric shapes and chequered flags. The results can be sen in my latest collection of abstract paintings which I hope give the viewer a real feeling of three dimensions of colour.. www.oliviadavisart.com
Black on black is the basis of my new collection of work. After travelling to Australia I was completely enthused by modern Aboriginal artists. I found their work so inspiring and I immediately saw how I could add a new dimension to my existing style of motor sport paintings which embrace geometric shapes and chequered flags. The results can be sen in my latest collection of abstract paintings which I hope give the viewer a real feeling of three dimensions of colour.. www.oliviadavisart.com
Bettina Stuurman - through Wandering about, lost, guessing her way through city and nature sceneries, she capture moments, odours and colours and us attracted to odd happenings. Those experiences are allowed to ripen to become intense feelings and emotions which are then spread on the canvas. Her wandering becomes painted stories to be imagined, adventures to lose yourself in”. www.bettinastuurman.com
Pamela Gerrie - Although I am a Londoner, the natural world inspires me as well as people - their personal stories and lifes adventures.
I was elected President of Cambridge University Pottery Society in 1996. My CV is varied but there's usually colour, fire, or people involved somewhere. I love ceramics and because I like to travel (in a camper van) I have to make my own kilns. In Britain I tend to use Propane gas, but my kiln is designed and constructed by myself. If I'm in the Mediterranean it could be a hole dug in the sand and fired with driftwood and eucalyptus leaves. In the Australian Outback I have used empty termite mounds.
I was elected President of Cambridge University Pottery Society in 1996. My CV is varied but there's usually colour, fire, or people involved somewhere. I love ceramics and because I like to travel (in a camper van) I have to make my own kilns. In Britain I tend to use Propane gas, but my kiln is designed and constructed by myself. If I'm in the Mediterranean it could be a hole dug in the sand and fired with driftwood and eucalyptus leaves. In the Australian Outback I have used empty termite mounds.
Gianluca Pisano - – Gianluca’s images emerge from a deep black background, lack of light makes shadows, the end of knowledge, the place where mystery irresistibly excites the mind with the presence of the unknown. His intention is for his paintings to make powerful visual statements, images that a spectator can't ignore. www.gianluca-pisano.com
Dom Chastney– Dom is interested in imagery and pattern which develops from a simple range of marks and techniques. Using variations of dots, blobs, lines, drips/slashes, shapes/symbols and washes, he explores the sensory quality of colour and repeated forms as well as different applications of paint with brushes, fingers etc. It is not his intention to depict anything directly and his paintings grow and spread with successive layering.
Charlie Dillon - Charlie makes work concerned with structure and the logic that informs arrangement. He makes work in a variety of media using techniques that draw attention to the material presence of the work. His work is contextualized by the everyday media of internet graphics and the media of communication and his minimal style has a balanced personal feel.
Graeme Messer
Combining searing honesty with a wry humour, Graeme Messer's autobiographical work is an offbeat take on a dysfunctional childhood and the issues that followed. Graeme draws on his background in theatre to call on a variety of media – from performance, hotography and puppetry through to collage, assemblage and painting – to create an art that is direct, shocking, funny and moving.
"My aim, in exploring and exposing the personal, is to evoke a deep connection and intimacy with the viewer. I am keen to be as open and honest as possible, even in areas that are often hidden or considered shameful” Awards include special commendations from the Royal Portrait Society and the Royal Portrait Sculptors society and a Fringe First Award for outstanding new drama at the Edinburgh Festival. www.graememesser.com
Combining searing honesty with a wry humour, Graeme Messer's autobiographical work is an offbeat take on a dysfunctional childhood and the issues that followed. Graeme draws on his background in theatre to call on a variety of media – from performance, hotography and puppetry through to collage, assemblage and painting – to create an art that is direct, shocking, funny and moving.
"My aim, in exploring and exposing the personal, is to evoke a deep connection and intimacy with the viewer. I am keen to be as open and honest as possible, even in areas that are often hidden or considered shameful” Awards include special commendations from the Royal Portrait Society and the Royal Portrait Sculptors society and a Fringe First Award for outstanding new drama at the Edinburgh Festival. www.graememesser.com
Jane Price
My recent work is based around public signage that has common features across all countries, sometimes to a universal format other times uniquely peculiar to a location. Viewed as glimpses, often subconsciously, they have a leveraged power of recall when played back as a part of a whole story. www.janeprice.org
My recent work is based around public signage that has common features across all countries, sometimes to a universal format other times uniquely peculiar to a location. Viewed as glimpses, often subconsciously, they have a leveraged power of recall when played back as a part of a whole story. www.janeprice.org
Edward Winters
Edward Winters studied painting at Portsmouth Polytechnic and at The Slade School of Fine Art. His work as a Systems Artist presumed a particular philosophical outlook which, after taking a PhD in Philosophy at UCL, he found unsustainable. He now works with narrative depiction and assemblage. edwinters.webplus.net
Edward Winters studied painting at Portsmouth Polytechnic and at The Slade School of Fine Art. His work as a Systems Artist presumed a particular philosophical outlook which, after taking a PhD in Philosophy at UCL, he found unsustainable. He now works with narrative depiction and assemblage. edwinters.webplus.net
Excerpt from lecture given by Dr. Edward Winters on "Beyond Art" by Dominic McIver Lopes