LONDON.- Leftovers, waste and residue are the themes of Is This Living?. Dealing with the cyclical nature of commercial production and use, the show uses food consumption as its primary allegorical device. Here we see the works of nine artists who engage with consumables or their repellent yet strangely compelling by-products.
Stuart Cumberland’s painting Gas Burner, provides the essential kitchen equipment used in the preparation of food. From the simplified black and white stovetop, emanates the painted blue flame of a lit gas burner, offering an incendiary preface for the exhibition. Hayley Tompkins’ bucket, Picture Pail, a receptacle potentially filled with waste or liquid, transcends its use as a tool for cleaning-up. From the bottom peers the face of a model on a torn out page of a magazine- alluding to a different type of commercial consumption. Cardboard fruit boxes have been repurposed as surfaces for Charles Mayton’s painted works, Ort. Each depicts a grimacing bacchanalian character with mouth wide open, seemingly ready to devour whatever it encounters.
Human presence is conspicuous in its absence in the paintings of Helene Appel, Untitled (Sweepings) and Shin. The physical remnants, traces of dirt and meat indicate cleaning and food preparation tasks left midway through. Appel’s absent figure is akin to the invisible characters, drinking invisible wine on an endless loop in Oliver Sutherland’s video, Drinking Drinks. Over-excess is also evident in Stuart Cumberland’s oversized bottle of champagne, marking the beginning of the end of a narrative punctuated with Puppies Puppies ice tea bottles filled with the urine of the artist and his gallerist.
Jack Lavender’s vinyl banner, depicting a spent campfire littered with half burned packaging, is evidence of the detritus of consumerism found in every modern wasteland. The banner doubles as both image and framing device for a selection of sculptural objects cast or found by the artist. Similarly, Holly White’s hanging transparent pocketed sheet displays types of discarded objects that point to the everyday use of commercial goods. In comparison, Hannah Lees’ hanging bone works utilise traces of consumption from the past. Combed by the artist from the banks of the Thames River and recycled into hanging sculptures, these works make visible remnants of life that might have been buried and forgotten.
Helene Appel (b. 1976, Karlsruhe, Germany. Lives & works in Berlin). Recent exhibitions include: Painting Show - Part One, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany (2015); Helene Appel, Olga Balema, Simon Logan, Galerie Luis Campaña, Berlin, Germany (2015); Helene Appel, James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA (2014); SOME / THINGS, Projectos Monclova, Mexico City, Mexico (2014).
Stuart Cumberland (Born 1970, Wokingham, UK. Lives & works in London). Recent exhibitions include: July, The Approach, London, UK (2014); Synesthesium, Ana Cristea Gallery, New York, USA (2013); British School in Rome, Fine Arts Mostra, Rome, Italy (2013); Maruani & Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium (2011); Bloomberg Space, London, UK (2010).
Jack Lavender (b. 1983, Canterbury, UK. Lives & works in London). Recent exhibitions include: When We Look Outwards in Space We Look Backwards in Time, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2014); A Hardcore Stomping Flashback, The Approach, London, UK (2014); Teen Paranormal Romance, The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, USA (2014); Jack Lavender, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2014).
Hannah Lees (b. 1983 Kent, UK. Lives & works in London). Recent exhibitions & projects include: An Englishman’s House is His Castle, Global Committee, New York, USA (2015); Local Object, IKEYAZHANG, Milan, Italy (2015); May I Have Ease of Being, Cairn, Fife, UK (2015); Ever- New Oldness /|\ Ever-Old Newness, The Sunday Painter, London, UK (2015); m-Health, Cell Project Space, London, UK (2015).
Charles Mayton (b. 1974, Florida. Lives & works in New York). Recent exhibitions include: Tableau Table Tavolo, American Academy, Rome, Italy (2015); A Moveable Feast - Part XII, Campoli Presti, Paris, France (2014); Ô,TÄPSE, David Lewis, New York, USA (2014); Hypothesis for an Exhibition, Dominique Levy Gallery, New York, USA (2014); Five Red Herrings, Campoli Presti, London, UK (2013).
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Oliver Sutherland (b. 1985, Cornwall, UK. Lives & works in London). Recent exhibitions include: Palace Dice, Roper Gallery, Bath, UK (2015); Paste, Leeds City Centre, UK (2015); C~C, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, UK (2015); ATF14, Opening Times, otdac.org (2014); After/Hours/Drop/Box, Hackney Picturehouse, London, UK (2014); FOAM, Pro Numb, London, UK (2014).
Hayley Tompkins (b. 1971, Leighton Buzzard. Lives & works in Glasgow). Recent exhibitions include: British Art Show 8, Leeds Art Gallery, UK (2015); Walks and Displacements, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, USA (2015); Electric Magnetic Installation, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, UK (2015); Technicolor Hamburger, Drawing Room, Hamburg, Germany (2015); Eat Abstractedly, Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK (2015).
Holly White (b. 1985, London UK. Lives & works in London). Recent exhibitions include: No one is going to go there anymore, Evelyn Yard, London, UK (2014); Young London 2013, V22, London, UK (2013); Ocean Living, Arcadia_Missa, London, UK (2013); Net Narrative, Carlos Ishikawa, London, UK (2012); The New Deal, LimaZulu, London (2011).
