Lowry's work gets extra Shelf life
Lowry’s work gets extra Shelf life
Inspired by Lowry
Something and something and something else by John Wood and Paul Harrison
Sat 26 April – Sun 21 September
New exhibition opens this weekend Shelf, a video which continuously tracks a fixed shelf and the objects that appear on it including a toy boat, animal figures on a record player and a desert island is just part of something and something and something else, a new exhibition created by John Wood and Paul Harrison.
The exhibition is the second in the series Inspired by Lowry, in which contemporary artists have been commissioned to create new work in response to the LS Lowry collection.
Especially interested in Lowry’s seascapes, Wood and Harrison have taken the horizon line in Lowry’s seascapes and the geometric nature of much of his work as their starting point.
Paul Harrison explains: “In ‘Shelf’ what we wanted was to make the video like a very long drawing where we’re thinking about the whole picture but the viewer can only see a small section at any one time. These objects, in sequence, form a type of landscape, which subtly changes:”
Other new works in the exhibition include Toothbrush and Pencil/Line. An electric toothbrush, placed on a white surface and left running, continuously rotates through 360 degrees. This everyday object, carelessly left behind, performs a function for which it was not intended, producing an invisible drawing of a circle.
During Pencil/line, a line is drawn by a pencil held in a right hand. The line is rubbed out, by an electric eraser held in a left hand. The paper, upon which the line is drawn is scrolled through the frame whilst the drawing and erasing implements remain static. A horizon line appears and disappears.
Known for their off beat humour, Wood and Harrison have worked together since 1993, producing video works for single screen and installation. They have exhibited widely in Europe and North America and have works in the permanent collections of Tate, London; MOMA, New York and Centre Pompidou, Paris. This exhibition is supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.
Posted on Monday, 12 May 2008 under Press Galleries Press