ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART - LONDON Giovani Scultori alla Galleria 27AD
A CURA DI NICOLA SCAGLIONE
ITA: La vita a volte ci mette di fronte a cose non previste, così mi sono trovato ad essere totalmente coinvolto dalle opere di alcuni giovani scultori viste in un pomeriggio a Londra. Non posso giudicare se è la Royal College of Art a selezionare degli ottimi artisti e a farli crescere artisticamente in 2 anni di corso, o se sono gli artisti che scelgono la prestigiosa scuola londinese ad avere già il talento che gli consente di sceglierla come percorso per consolidare quello che già hanno in embrione, ma sicuramente questa esposizione di fine anno 2010 ha dato qualcosa di importante. Dopo averli scelti mi sono chiesto il perché e mi sono dovuto spiegare quale collegamento io davo ai loro lavori per portarli in mostra insieme.
Non è stato facile. Il primo pensiero è stato intuitivamente sensoriale. Sono stato coinvolto immediatamente dalla loro differenza tattile intuita.
Nelle sculture di David Buckley, pesanti ed embrionali forme di bronzo sono appoggiate su soffici tappeti di organica e rosea gommapiuma sostenute da sottili strutture metalliche o da trasparenti vetri;
Lucy May, attraverso le sue forme barocche, confessa la violenta impressione dei suoi studi di anatomia realizzando forme con materiali somiglianti alle visceri animali, molli ed elastiche, vicine alla sensibilità di Marc Quinn, realizzando contemporaneamente la vita e la morte, nei colori e nelle forme utilizzate, fiori finti e colori vivaci, artificiali che rappresentano contemporaneamente monumenti funebri e forme biologiche.
Nella sua semplicità Marcus Foster usa materiali d’altro impiego come fondamenta del suo lavoro:
bastoncini di lollipop sono il colore che unito alla forma levigata di legno wallnut creano una spagnoletta di fili immaginati per una macchina del tempo che unisce giochi passati e schermi videoludici contemporanei; coloratissimi freesby di plastica, sono le molle per un paradisiaco, cilindrico sgabello di legno .
Estremamente opposte sono le impressionanti opere di Rose Gibbs. I suoi lavori sono incubi transgenici, la sua Mountain una visione di un nuovo girone contemporaneo femminile dell’inferno dantesco, i suoi vasi una lotta continua tra la nascita, la maternità e la morte. I suoi corpi si contorcono nel dolore delle trasformazioni che la vita impone soprattutto alla donna. Una commistione tra il potente femminismo di Louise Bourgeois e le atroci orrendità dei fratelli Chapman sembrano l’archetipo del suo lavoro. La sua montagna è fatta di bronzo bruciato, incenerito, arido e morto, le sue figure di bronzo lucidato sembra riflettano la luce di un rogo.
John Nielsen ci riporta alla sintesi , in un gioco tra estetismo e forza bruta, tra il selvaggio ed il potere.
L’utilizzo di materiali differenti ci sorprende guardando “still life with enchyclopedia”, E non possiamo non guardarlo immediatamente perché l’artista volutamente ha creato una quinta con un pannello azzurro squillante dietro al monumentale e selvaggio cinghiale di cemento grezzo. Quasi con civetteria l’animale posa la sua zampa su di un libro appoggiato ad uno scaffale di legno creando lo “still life”.
Il contrasto non è solo nei colori e nei materiali, ma anche nell’enciclopedia che cataloga e costringe l’animale selvatico ad essere dominato dall’uomo.
“Ladies and gentlemen it does look different” è uno stendardo che indica la conquista di un territorio, i materiali usati sono un vecchio mobile riciclato che supporta un pesante busto di cemento. La sua opera è insieme potente ed ironica, casuale e progettata.
Il lavoro di Mimi Norrgren è fatto di natura.
E di solitudine. Il suo “Tree è una poesia crepuscolare, sembra la rappresentazione di un villaggio alle origini della società, le piccole case uguali non hanno finestre e sembrano dividere più che unire. Sono ognuna isolata dall’altra. Servono per fornire protezione, rappresentano un po’ la paura. La struttura dell’opera è leggera, i rami dove sono appese le casette di cartone sono fragili. I suoi “shell” sembrano megaliti o pietre arcaiche, ma sono fatte di cenere e sono leggerissime. Il suo “globe” appoggiato su di un’asta è fatto da fasce di ferro arrugginito e si muove con il vento. Sembra il racconto della condizione umana, con la corrosione del tempo e la leggera instabilità del suo movimento.
La scultura ha immediatamente in sé qualcosa di archeologico, di primitivo. Occupa uno spazio, diventa una presenza. Ogni volta che ho chiesto agli artisti di parlarmi delle loro opere mi hanno sempre risposto iniziando a parlarmi dei materiali che hanno usato e dell’influenza che hanno ricevuto mentre li lavoravano. Lo scultore ha una relazione fisica con la sua opera, lui stesso ne viene trasformato. Questa mostra porta qui, alla galleria 27ad, opere di 6 giovani scultori assolutamente diverse tra di loro con l’obiettivo di offrire una interessante panoramica di ricerca sulle diverse realtà espressive contemporanee.
CURATED BY NICOLA SCAGLIONE
ENG: Sometimes in life we find ourselves in front of unexpected things, this was the case when I found myself totally engrossed in the works of some young sculptors that I saw one afternoon in London.
I cannot judge if it is the Royal College of Art that select the best artists and encourage them to grow artistically during a two years course, or if it is the artists that choose the prestigious London school and already have the talent that allows them to choose it as a way to strengthen that which already exists in its embryonic stage, but surely this exhibition at the end of 2010 has given them something of importance.
After having chosen them I wondered why I had done so and I had to reflect on and understand why I had connected their work in order to bring this exhibition together. It was not easy. The first thought was intuitively sensory. I was immediately drawn by their difference of tactile intuition.
In David Buckley’s sculptures, heavy and embryonic bronze shapes, rested on soft rugs of organic and rosy foam rubber supported by thin metal structures or by transparent glass.
Lucy May, through her baroque shapes, admits to the violent impression of her studies of anatomy producing shapes with material similar to animal entrails, soft and elastic, close to Marc Quinn’s sensibility, achieving contemporaneously life and death, in the colours and shapes used, the artificial flowers and lively colours, artificial which represent contemporaneously burial monuments and biological forms.
With simplicity Marcus Foster uses materials with other functions as the base for his work:
Lollipop sticks are the colour that combined with the polished form of walnut wood create a spool of thread imagined for a time machine that connects old games and video games screens at the same time; brightly coloured plastic Frisbees, are the incentive for a paradisiac, cylindrical wooden stool.
The impressive works of Rose Gibbs are completely opposite. Her works are transgenic nightmares, her Mountain is a vision of a new contemporary feminine circle of Dante’s Hell, and her vases are a continual battle between birth, motherhood and death.
Her bodies contort in pain at the transformation that life imposes above all on women. A blend of the powerful feminism of Louise Bourgeois and the atrocious horrors of the Chapman brothers seem to be the archetype of her work. Her mountain is made of burnt bronze, incinerated, arid and dead, her polished bronze figures seem to reflect the light of a blaze.
John Nielsen brings us back to a synthesis, in a game between aestheticism and brute force, between savage and power. The use of different materials surprises us looking at “still life with encyclopedia”,
And we are unable to not look at it immediately because the artist has willingly created a backdrop with a sharp blue panel behind the monumental and wild boar made of rough cement. It is almost with coquetry that the animal places its hoof on a book set on a wooden shelf creating the “still life”.
The contrast is not only in the colours and materials, but also in the encyclopedia that labels and forces the wild animal to be dominated by man. “Ladies and gentlemen it does look different” is a banner that indicates the conquest of a territory; the materials used are an old recycled piece of furniture that supports a heavy cement bust. His work is at the same time powerful and ironic, random and planned.
Mimi Norrgren work is made of nature.
And of solitude.
Her“Tree”is a crepuscular poem, it seems to be the representation of a village at the origins of society, the small identical houses do not have windows and seem to divide more than unite.
Each one is isolated from the other. They are needed to provide protection, they somewhat represent fear.
The structure of the work is light; the branches on which the little cardboard houses are placed are fragile.
Her“Shells”seems to be megaliths or archaic stones, yet they are made of ash and are very light.
Her“Globe”placed on a pole is made of strips of rusty iron which move in the wind. It seems to be the tale of the human condition, with the corrosion of time and the slight instability of its movement.
The structure has at once something archaeological and primitive about itself.
It occupies a space, it becomes a presence.
Every time that I have asked the artists to talk to me about their work they have always answered beginning by talking of the materials that they have used and of the influence that they have received during their working. The sculptor has a physical relationship with his work; he himself becomes transformed by it.
This exhibition, at galleria 27ad, brings together the work of six young sculptors all completely different with the objective to offer an interesting panorama of research into their different expressive contemporary reality.
DAVID Buckley
Degrees 2010 MA in Fine Art- Sculpture
Royal College of Art, London; 2005 BA in Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London;
Solo Exhibitions 2006 Voyages, Tou Vindu, Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway, September 2006;
Selected Group Exhibitions 2009 Spraytan, Tim Pritchard, London, November
Over and Out, Munster Austellunghalle, Munster, Germany; 2009 Sculpture Show, Bank of America, Canary Wharf, London;
2009 Impronptu, Fred London, Vyner Street, London; 2006 Sterling – New London Artists, Factory Gallery, Obershoeneweide, Berlin; 2006 I’d Rather Starve, Broadstone Studios, Dublin;
Writings
Peintures Noires, for catalogue McDermott and McGough, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris;
Residencies 2009 Cite des Arts, Rue de l’Hotel de Ville, 75004 Paris; 2007 Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Lumsden, Aberdeen, Scotland; 2007 SIM ( Association of Icelandic Artists) Reykjavik, Iceland;
Awards 2010 Remet Sculpture Award;
Bibliography 2006 Trond Borgen, “Room with a view (in)”, Stavanger Aftenbladet;
2002 Aidan Dunne, “Painting and the power of memes”, Irish Times;
MARCUS Foster
Education 2009 MA Sculpture, The Royal College of Art; 2005 – 2008 BA Hons Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design; 2004 – 2005 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design;
Group Exhibitions 2010 Newspeak: British Art Now, The Saatchi Gallery, London; 2010 New Sensations, Selfridges, London; 2010 Degree Show, The Royal College of Art, London; 2010 RCA/Weisensee Exhibition, Weisensee University, Berlin; 2009 Survey, Ott’s Timber Yard, Tufnell Park, London; 2009 Summer Show, The Royal College of Art, London; 2009 Interim Show, The Royal College of Art, London; 2008 Degree Show, Chelsea College of Art ad Design, London; 2008 Frankly, my dear I don’t give a damn, Et Cetra Gallery Hackney, London; 2008 The Great Exhibition, Project Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London; 2007 Sculpture House, Kingston upon Thames, London; 2007 The Royal Marsden Hospital Show, London;
Works in Collections 2010 The Saatchi Collection; 2010 Fab Landing, Private Collection, London; 2008 City Financial Investments London, permanent installation;
ROSE Gibbs
Education 2008 – 2010 Royal College of Art, MA Sculpture; 2000 – 2003 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, BA Ceramic design London; 1999 – 2000 First Year Studies, Edinburgh College of Art and Design, Edinburgh;
Exhibitions 2007 The Royal College of Art MA show, London;
2009 The Uneasy Landscape, Fold Gallery, London; 2009 The Free Art Fair, The Barbican, London; 2008 The Free Art Fair, Seymour Place, Portman Village, London; 2008 ‘00 Nature, Contemporary Art Projects, London; 2008 How Women Are, Sartorial Contemporary Art, London; 2008 Ode to Sartorial, Sartorial Contemporary Art, London; 2007 The Free Art Fair, Portman Village, London; 2007 Stranger Geography, Palazzo Vaj, Prato Italy; 2007 Collect, Contemporary Art Projects, London; 2006 Summer Show, Foster Art, London; 2006 Chicago Art Fair with Rosy Wilde Gallery; 2006 People Like Us, nomoregrey, London;
Publications 2003 Elle Decoration Magazine; 2004 World of Interiors Magazine;
LUCY May
Education 2008 – 2010 MA Sculpture The Royal College of Art, London; 2002 – 2005 BA Fine Art The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford; 2000 – 2001 Foundation The Arts Institute at Bournemouth;
Selected Exhibitions 2010 Suburban Baroque, Edel Assanti / Wallis Gallery, London; 2010 MA Degree Show, RCA Sculpture Department, London; 2010 A Race Against Myself, Tim Pritchard, RCA Sculpture Department, London; 2009 Both Ends Burning, WW, London; 2009 Travelling Light, WW / Pharos, London and the Venice Biennale; 2009 Untitled group exhibition, Bank of America, London; 2009 Wallis Dies and Goes to Paradise, Paradise Row, London; 2008 Basement Projects, Fred, London
I Saw Three Ships, WW, London; 2008 Conglomerates (Part 3), Gone Tomorrow, London; 2008 Conglomerates (Part 2), Crimes Town, London;
2007 Iota, Cell Project Space, London
2007 A Shady Outpost, APT Gallery, London;
Education 2008 – Current Artist assitant to Sir Anthony Caro; 2007 BA fine art, Falmouth College of Art; 2010 MA fine art, Royal College of Art;
Exhibitions 2010 ‘start point’ Gask Museum of modern art, kutna hora, chech republic; 2010 ‘summer show’ Royal College of Art, London 2010; 2010 ‘designing the future’ Victoria and Albert museum, London; 2009 ‘spirits’ Testbed gallery, London
‘work in progress’ Royal College of Art, London;
2009 ‘Revolver’ Penzance art gallery, cornwall;
MIMI Norrgren
Degrees 2008 BA (Hons) Sculpture, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University;
2004 Foundation Art and Design, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design;
Experience 2007 Assistant, Brian Catling, Oxford; 2005 – 2006 Invigilating artists’projects, Frieze Art Fair, London; 2005 Studio Assistant, Steve Pippin, London; 2004 Assistant, Levin Haegle, London;
Exhibition 2009 Summer Exhibitionists, Wilson Williams Gallery, London; 2009 Red Mansion Art Prize Exhibition, Slade School of Fine Art, London; 2008 Box Ladder, Moder Art Oxford, Oxford;
2006 Back from the Boot, Ginza OS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan;