David Burrows - NEW LIFE

Disaster, terror and hysteria are at the heart of David Burrows' major new installation at Chisenhale Gallery. The gallery's ex-industrial space is strewn with what appears to be debris from a recent catastrophe or frenzied celebration. Collapsing structures, ripped shoes and fragments of clothing are arranged against a backdrop of large-scale photographs and architectural constructions. This aftermath is introduced at the entrance of the gallery by a fresco of a burst heart emblazoned with the slogan 'The Modern Spirit is Never Again. ' However, the wreckage in New Life is brightly coloured and sparkling. The installation's initial impression of devastation is interrupted by immaculate attention to detail and saturated colours. Burrows meticulously cuts his objects from soft materials such as foam and rubber, lending an air of optimism and joy to the ruins of New Life. New Life fuses the formal qualities of scatter installation with the aesthetics of shop window dressing, resulting in a contradictory and complex visual language. Burrows sees the project as the equivalent of the nouveau roman, a form of French literature in which the chronology and causes of events are displaced or erased, creating a heightened sense of ambiguity. New Life is David Burrrows' first solo exhibition in a public gallery in London. New Life tours to: Collective Gallery, Edinburgh: 10 July - 7 August 2004 Mead Gallery, University of Warwick: 29 September - 2 December 2004 Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth: January - March 2005 In 2001 David Burrows exhibited in Beck's Futures 2 (ICA London & touring). Previous solo exhibitions include Praz-Delavallade, Paris (2001); fa projects, London (2002); Fredericke Taylor Gallery, New York (2002); Note, Arezzo (2002). Burrows' practice also includes collaborations, most recently with DJ Simpson at Artspace Sydney as part of an Arts Council England International Residency in 2003. Burrows received a Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Artists in 2002. Pressetext

David Burrows - NEW LIFE