When objects or documents are forced to exist within a stream of steadily increasing stuff, are they destined only to be compromised and their voice drowned out? Or, can they affect a transformation where their subservience and a surrounding chaos fosters new possibilities?
A certain irrational dialogue is created through accretion. Objects – which themselves are drawn from a polyglot and multilayered experience of the world – have the potential to behave in more than one way. As the context changes, so too does an object's reactive logic.
Surfeit, excess and abundance seem characteristic of a developed and comfortable life. But only when the abundance relates to some thing that has the potential to be consumed. If excess relates to something unwelcome – such as rising tides or spreading pestilence – too much quickly becomes intolerable. Even more benevolent surfeit - too much comfort - has the power to create anxiety or landfill.
and if a double decker bus… is a show that builds slowly and chaotically throughout its 5-week run using the loose categories: Studio matter, Virtual spaces, Domestic lives and Narratives. In week one, 2 artists will install works together. This exhibition will then be open to the public from Thursday through Saturday. In week two, 2 further artists arrive and install more works among the show made the previous week, which then opens to the public from Thursday through Saturday. This repeats two further times, and so by the final open period, there exists four 2-person shows installed on top of and among each other.
As the title suggests, this show understands collision as being a vehicle for release as much as it is for destruction.
Week 1 | Phillip Allen & Joe Packer
and if a double decker bus...
2 March - 1 April 2017
a cumulative exhibition of 4 two-person shows, each one installed on top of the last...
Week 1 | Phillip Allen, Joe Packer
2nd March – 4th March (launch Thurs 2nd, 6-8pm)
Week 2 | Alex Gene Morrison, Mark Siebert, Phillip Allen, Joe Packer
9th March – 11th March (launch Thurs 9th, 6-8pm)
Week 3 | Helen Hayward, Seb Thomas, Alex Gene Morrison, Mark Siebert, Phillip Allen, Joe Packer
16th March – 18th March (launch Thurs 16th, 6-8pm)
Week 4 | Alex Baker, Kit Poulson, Helen Hayward, Seb Thomas, Alex Gene Morrison, Mark Siebert, Phillip Allen, Joe Packer
23rd March – 1st April, (launch Thurs 23rd, 6-8pm)
Front to back: Joe Packer, Greengate, 2017, oil on canvas Joe Packer, Ghostwood, 2016, oil on canvas All images by Tim Bowditch
Joe Packer, Greengate, 2017, oil on canvas
Joe Packer, Heartland, 2016 Oil on canvas
Front to back: Joe Packer, Greengate, 2017, oil on canvas Joe Packer, Ghostwood, 2016, oil on canvas All images by Tim Bowditch
Week 2 | Alex Gene Morrison & Mark Siebert
Installation view
Left to right: Mark Siebert, Any Given Moment #174 (Gmail), 2015, watercolour on paper Joe Packer, Greengate, 2017, oil on canvas All images by Tim Bowditch
Centre: Alex Gene Morrison, BANDIT, 2016 Mark Siebert, Any Given Moment (Selected works), 2015 - 2017
Installation view
Week 3 | Helen Hayward & Seb Thomas
Installation view
Front to back: Untitled 2017 (soft sculptures), Helen Hayward; Domestic Lives, 2017, Seb Thomas (floor work); Greengate, 2017, Joe Packer; Plasticine Patisserie, (wallpaper), 2017, Helen Hayward
Front: Domestic Lives, 2017, Seb Thomas
Installation view
Week 4 | Alex Baker & Kit Poulson
Installation view
Plasticine Patisserie (wallpaper), 2017, Helen Hayward; pyramid (plan), 2017, Kit Poulson & Alex Baker; Domestic Lives, 2017, Seb Thomas
Left to right: Heartland, 2017, Joe Packer; pyramid (door), 2017, Alex Baker & Kit Poulson; Calenture (projection), 2017, Alex Baker & Kit Poulson; Francesca (wallpaper), 2017, Helen Hayward; Ghostwood, 2016, Joe Packer; Domestic Lives, 2017, Seb Thomas
Installation view
xxxxxx