Beech / Huston / Rockenschaub / Mercier

CCNOA center for contemporary non-objective art is pleased to announce the presentation of a large site-specific installation entitled NOHOW by British/American artist John Beech (in the main space. The program in our project and multimedia spaces will change every two weeks and will present works by the artists listed above.

MAIN SPACE Using the humblest of materials, from car floor mats to raw plywood, John Beech (*1964 in Winchester, UK; lives & works in Brooklyn, NY, USA) creates objects that are at the same time rough-hewn and elegant, intricately designed and straightforward, dead serious and subtly humorous. His work straddles the categories of painting and sculpture. Beech is interested in "the object quality of things." He is interested in letting the form and materials demonstrate themselves. Another important element in Beech’s work is his choice of materials. "I’m interested in fusing the visual vocabulary of utility and abstract art," he says. Ordinary objects such as dumpsters and patched subway platforms catch his eye and provide the basis for nuanced works of art. He acknowledges the influence of contemporary masters such as Donald Judd, but sees his own aesthetic as "street level" and engaged, as opposed to the polish and detachment of many reductionists. His aim is to take the ordinary and create an extraordinary experience for the viewer. Spontaneity is essential for Beech. A piece may change radically during the process of fabrication; accidents and obstacles are viewed as opportunities rather than sources of irritation. In his view, letting go of expectations can often lead to something much more interesting than the original conception. This easy attitude meshes well with Beech’s attraction to things that are odd, edgy, even a bit awkward. The combination imparts a subtle humor to many of his works, an attitude that nudges us to realize that art can be made (sometimes even unconsciously) of the most ordinary of materials, materials that we see around us all the time but usually fail to recognize as art. (www.johnbeech.com)

PROJECT SPACE Joyce Kim’s (*in Korea; lives & works in New York, USA) work examines the practice of modernist painting, questioning the idea of “decorative,” the relationship between painting and language as well as the attendant gender issues that emerge from various hierarchical alignments in painting. Past installations and projects have explored painting's emotional ambiguity as an object in the context of cultural relevance and relationship to other contemporary art practices. Kim will create a new site-specific installation for the project space. Kim will create a site-specific installation for the project space.

Kyle Jenkins’ (*1959 in Sydney, Australia; lives & works in Sydney) working methodology uses ratios of 1, 3 and 6 which are utilized to make paintings, architectural models, furniture and buildings. The canvas and wall paintings are used in the same way that a plan or design is formulated for the construction of a building, as a blueprint. Such a methodology involves the reduction of visual phenomena to their constituent elements, and the subsequent systematic elaboration of those elements enables an ongoing methodology to be maintained and implemented on each subsequent project. Jenkins will present a selection of artist books.

Andrew Huston (*1969 in Watsford, UK; lives & works in Brooklyn, USA) works with industrially fabricated mirrors from which he creates geometric shapes that are then assembled together into dynamic patterns. As with other mirror works, Huston painstakingly removes part of the silver on the back of the object and then paints over it in various primary and pop colors, creating seamless planes and illusionistic space that engages and distracts the viewer. By superimposing and interlocking the shapes into vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, these vibrant objects transcend the boundaries of paintings and sculpture. Huston’s work is rooted in and committed to the history of painting and simultaneously engages with the realm of the decorative. The constructions are made of straight shards of glass and some comprise part of a broken round-edged mirror traversed by a slender plane of glass, which lends the piece a soft sensuality. His playful floating pieces here seem to have broken away from their frames and hark back to Kasimir Malevich’s austere suprematist works. Huston will create a site-spefic installation for the project space.

MULTIMEDIA SPACE In the mid-80s Gerwald Rockenschaub (*1952 in Vienna, Austria; lives & works in Berlin) was one of a group of young, international artists concerned with the formal language of the abstract avant-garde. »Neo Geo« permeated the reduced formal language of Minimal Art with Pop Art's permissive and consumerist approach. Rockenschaub's model-like, small-format works produced in the eighties appropriated abstraction without wishing to confer a historical quality on it. They do not lead to any sort of discourse in terms of content, nor does their cool neutrality link up with questions relating to painting on the formal plane. He sees them as a »form of representation and play, as a possibility for making artistic statements in model form«. (G. R.). His video installations/animations translate a constructive and synthetic pictorial language into colorfully »poppy« computer animations. The standardized, static compositional principle of abstraction are animated, refracted by means of combination and variation and transferred into a crossover of graphics and techno-music. Rockenschaub’s video work makes it clear how strongly the pictorial reservoir of art has now been taken over by the mass media. The abstract and geometrical art of the 20th century becomes a model supplier for fashion, graphics, and design, and enjoys a great deal of popularity, but paradoxically it remains alien to most people as art. Rockenschaub will present his work 6 Animations (2002).

Dutch artist Klaas Kloosterboer (*1959 in Noord/Zuid Schermer; lives & works in Amsterdam) will present his new video Red, Green, Black and White (2007): It seems more interesting to work with the performance of the object than to work on the object itself. Also to work with things that are not objects but forces that shape, like rules and rituals. I set up a test or a situation and then it unfolds itself. The camera registers. In this video, the drama of selecting and choosing is shown with a little dance and song, and is turned around. (K.K.)

Matthieu Mercier’s (*1970 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France; lives & works in Paris) work explores the relationship between contemporary mass-produced consumer objects and their aesthetic origins in early 20th Century art and design. He frequently employs common household and industrial materials to create his sculptural, photographic, and wall-based works. Mercier’s work often refers to utopian movements such as De Stijl and Russian Constructivism. One series of sculptures, titled ‘Drum and Bass’, recreates classic Mondrian compositions out of black DIY shelving and primary-colored household objects such as plastic bins, extension cables, and stationary folders. In ‘Plastic Anchors Wall’, Mercier again traces the use of primary colors from early Modernist art, through to their function as color-coding for different sizes of screw anchors. By creating a dialogue between utopian art and design icons and contemporary mass-produced objects, Mercier highlights the evolution of the meaning of “modernity”, from a social project, to a capital gain. Mercier will present five 3D-animations entitled Red and Blue Blast (2002).

Exhibitions

Main Space:
John Beech (Uk/Usa)
Nohow
15/02/2008 – 13/04/2008

Project Space:
Joyce Kim (Kr/Usa) 15/02 - 24/02
Kyle Jenkins (Aus) 29/02 - 16/03
Andrew Huston (Usa) 21/03 - 13/04

Multimedia Space:
Gerwald Rockenschaub (A) 15/02 - 24/02
Klaas Kloosterboer (Nl) 29/02 - 16/03
Mathieu Mercier (F) 21/03 - 13/04