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Monday, September 08, 2014
Enclosures
Thursday, May 15, 2014
NEWS FROM NOWHERE
Benjamin Bridges, Matthew Cowan, Annabel Dover, Debbie Lawson, Cathy Lomax, William Morris, Laura Oldfield Ford, Alex Pearl, Alli Sharma, Mimei Thompson, Mark Titchner, Joel Tomlin
Alex Pearl, Bungalow, found photograph with transfer, 2014
Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith W6 9TA
8 June – 26 July 2014
Private View: Thursday 12 June, 5-9pm
Opening Hours: 8-15 June open daily 2-5pm for ArtsFest, then Thurs and Sat afternoons 2-5pm until 26 July
‘… if others can see it as I have seen it, then it may be called a vision rather than a dream.’ William Morris
News from Nowhere takes its title from William Morris’ utopian novel and vision for a future free from capitalism, alienation and industrialisation. In our current climate of political uncertainty, ‘disappearance’ of the working classes and shifting populations, Morris’ longings for a better world seem more pertinent than ever. Morris became increasingly involved in political activism and founded the Hammersmith Socialist Society, which held Sunday evening lecturers in the Coach House at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith. The location is directly referred to in News from Nowhere and the exhibition will take place in the historic meeting room. Morris also set up carpet looms in the Coach House before moving to Merton Abbey in 1881 and the small rugs and carpets made here are known as Hammersmith rugs.
Morris’s uncompromising desire to see an end to mass production and return to small-scale local production seems like a very modern view. His socialism was imbued with environmentalism and understanding of the brutalising nature of the modern city. Whilst his idealised vision may be flawed (in the novel the women do all the housework, bring up the children and serve the men with food), his passion is inspiring and the exhibition will bring into focus his vital message, to dare to dream. Incorporating works from the William Morris Society collection, News from Nowhere picks up the dialogue where ideas about the environment, idealised society, personal longings and dreams for the future continue to yearn, seethe, simmer and provoke.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Blondin at the Falls
Blondin at the Falls is part of a series of works recreating exploits of daring and spectacular escape. Often I have found that postcards commemorating such events have already been produced and occasionally, like mine, a degree of fakery has gone into their making.
Blondin first tightroped across Niagara in 1859 cooking an omelette and lowering it to be eaten by the passengers on the Maid of the Mist below. Like so many adventurers there is often a sort of mundanity to their exploits to which I am attracted.
My father collects and deals in postcards. He thinks he has about 60,000, my mother says its closer to 100,000. He is not too keen on people knowing this. Shelves of archive boxes edge his study, each filled with scenes of: grim northern towns, famous stars of stage and screen, and dubious humorous sketches. I act like a gleaner picking up the doubles, the damaged and the not so valuable. Often I phone up, asking for airliners of the 1970s, cliff-top hotels or street scenes in Barnsley into which I insinuate a meteorite, a bowling ball, a sub-Cretaceous explosion. Blondin, the blonde 'boy wonder' survived threats of prison, travelled with Barnum and Bailey and died of diabetes in Niagara House; a simple terrace in Ealing.
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As well as Niagara, Blondin also performed his act at Edgbaston Reservoir.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The past is another planet. They do things differently there.
I remember reading, or being told, that as we stare into space we are looking into the past, that the light reaching us is centuries old. I had something of this feeling when reviewing my grandfather’s footage. I also recalled images from Star Trek in which the Enterprise would encounter Earth’s past through a viewscreen. I am almost certain that this happened on more than one occasion.
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| Star Trek |
I decided to project the images from my father’s past onto polystyrene spheres creating new planets or perhaps images reminiscent of the opening scenes of Flash Gordon in which Ming the Merciless targets earth for eventual destruction. Or perhaps I was remembering the camera obscura from A Matter of Life and Death, 1946. Both these images and the many more circular viewscreens of science fiction create a feeling of separation from their imagery.
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| Alex Pearl, Earth, Digital video, 2013 |
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| Flash Gordon |
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| A Matter of Life and Death |
Sunday, December 29, 2013
“I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.”
Apropos of nothing, I have long been thinking of making a short film about the hair that regularly sprouts from my nose. In the end I decided to make it in the form of a gif. Things are going roughly to plan for Mothra vs. Gozilla though I have only just learned the lesson (at least where projectors and media players are concerned) that it is foolish to throw good money after bad.
Friday, December 06, 2013
CANAL
I have a date for Mothra vs. Godzilla which will definitely be the title for my solo at Monika Bobinska's new gallery CANAL in Haggerston
60 De Beauvoir CrescentLondon N1 5SB
0786 606 3663
1st Feb to 8 March,
pv on Saturday 1 Feb 4-6pm
I quickly dashed out a mailout to special folks with the following rather unrefined text.
My father is a collector, my mother is constantly clearing things away. Recently my mother is gaining the upper hand. They have begun to discard more and more things so as not to be a burden to my brother and I when they die. My grandfather's film reels and father’s baby reins are just two of the objects I have saved from the bin. Seeing my dad when he was younger than I am now, was a strange experience for me, akin to the paradoxes of time travel. The images of him in a different era also made me aware of our vulnerability. We are at the mercy of unseen powers. The title of the show references a spate of Japanese monster movies released in the 50s and 60s.
It speaks of a futile conflict between ridiculous forces. In addition from the jetsam of my parents’s life the show also gleaned from abandoned objects rescued from a neighbouring derelict house. Its owner, recently deceased, left a lifetime of objects which nobody wanted.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Wading
It is slow progress here at Pearl Towers. I am putting together a proposal for a solo show. It is a process that causes immense self doubt. I regularly consider shovelling the whole lot into the road. I am blessed that I live in an area that if anything is left for more than a minute unattended I can be certain it will disappear. There is great community spirit here and a drive to recycle, upcycle or just plain steal anything that is not just screwed down but security bolted to a large concrete block. The house next door, which was being renovated, has stood quiet for a while now. Much of the materials have been carried away by hungry eyed men or my beloved who I found the other day levering up the quarry tiles.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Godzilla vs. Mothra
I often write down phrases that I think might be good titles for exhibitions. The list isn't too long but contains such classics as:
Godzilla vs. Mothra, a film I have never seen except in stills but one which, I think, is clear about its intentions and content.
Smart Casual, a phrase which embodies the absolute terror of uncertainty in two confident words.
Let's Go, I've used this, they were Yuri Gagarin's words just before he became the first human in space. He was a master of understatement.
It's all gone wrong - this is one of my own personal phrases along with "I must run a bath" and "I should get up" If one day they make an action figure of me pulling the cord in its back will certainly result in a squeaky rendition of one of these haikus of failure.
I think I may have been channelling the first title when I made this thing. Crocodile vs Hairbrush
Godzilla vs. Mothra, a film I have never seen except in stills but one which, I think, is clear about its intentions and content.
Smart Casual, a phrase which embodies the absolute terror of uncertainty in two confident words.
Let's Go, I've used this, they were Yuri Gagarin's words just before he became the first human in space. He was a master of understatement.
It's all gone wrong - this is one of my own personal phrases along with "I must run a bath" and "I should get up" If one day they make an action figure of me pulling the cord in its back will certainly result in a squeaky rendition of one of these haikus of failure.
I think I may have been channelling the first title when I made this thing. Crocodile vs Hairbrush
Monday, September 09, 2013
Prerogative
I have changed my mind already. Today I have decided to look at the idea that the human is revealed in the failure of the machine. I think I am probably inspired by science fiction (again) and especially those moments when, in breaking down, machines suddenly become more human.
Friday, September 06, 2013
One of my video cameras has started filming as if it is under water. I am quite taken with it and may dress up as a frogman and wander the streets of Ipswich. Right now I am trying to do one of three things.
Write magazine article on the theme of machines helping us to give up.
Write a Phd proposal on avoiding responsibility for artistic production.
Write more blogs.
The third thing is benefitting from my unwillingness to do the first and utter self confusion at even starting the second. As avoidance techniques go, its a good one. Following on from this I am becoming more and more interested of late in self sabotage. Not long ago my gorgeous partner wrote to a number of residencies, projects and commissions for which I had been unsuccessful. The unanimous response was that I appeared in turn flippant, diffident or down right sarcastic. I found this quite shocking as it was certainly not my intention, though a little project making really bad applications does occur to me.
Anyway, I am soon to be attending CBT classes so all this could change.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
The Function of Not Planning
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
The End of the Future - images
Growing moss vignettes at Transition Gallery's ace show The End of the Future
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The End Of The Future
Clive Brandon, Matthew Houlding, Sam Knowles, Alex Pearl
Under
the bricks and rubble of the grand Olympic project lie the broken
dreams of past utopias. From Ballard to Boris, the grand advance of
modernism has been abandoned beneath the dystopian shards.
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Our
collective current state of affairs is highlighted by past optimistic
proposals such as The Festival of Britain (1951) and post-war building
programmes with essentially socialist drives to improve society which
are in stark contrast to the regeneration schemes and public finance
initiatives, which now embody the failures of both late capitalist
Conservatism and New Labour.
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The End of the Future
coincides with the London Olympics, for some a positive affirmation of
the highest ideals, for others a cynical corporate scheme with the
veneer of regeneration. The four participating artists look back at lost
ideals and eras of optimism and present these though a haze of
nostalgia for a future that never materialised and a knowing acceptance
of failure.
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Friday, May 11, 2012
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
November Pavillions
The Link
NORWICH
An exhibition of work for sale
by over 50 contemporary artists
Preview
Friday 18 November 6 – 9pm
Open
Saturday 19 – Sunday 27 November
12noon – 6pm
Pitt Street
Norwich
NR3 1DE
NORWICH
An exhibition of work for sale
by over 50 contemporary artists
Preview
Friday 18 November 6 – 9pm
Open
Saturday 19 – Sunday 27 November
12noon – 6pm
Pitt Street
Norwich
NR3 1DE
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