Talisker Black, Edwin Burdis, Chris Jones, Clare Kenny, Harry Meadows, Fiona Sarison, Sarah Kate Wilson and Vicky Wright
A group exhibition exploring the fundamental and fatal unbalance between reality and the imagined, knowledge and desire. Slavoj Žižek tells a story he recalls from a British lager advert: A young lady walks along a river, sees a frog, picks it up and sets it on her lap. She kisses it, and... of course, the frog transforms into a beautiful prince. The prince however, a hungry and greedy looking man, pulls her close and kisses her - she morphs into a beer bottle, which the man triumphantly holds in his hand. The love of the lady changed the frog into a beautiful man, a full phallic presence. The man needs to reduce the woman to an object of his desire. Because of this asymmetric layout, Žižek argues, there will never be harmonic relationship between sexes. Either we have a woman with a frog or a man with a bottle of beer: the phantasmic counterpart of this ideal couple would therefore be the figure of a frog, who hugs a bottle of beer - an incongruent picture, which underlines a ridiculous discord as opposed to a harmonious union.
The eight artists in ‘Asymmetric Dance Class’ are alike in their expression of theoretical juxtapositions via surprising, and often opposing, combinations of materials. Harry Meadows’ wall based textile assemblages are made from digitally-rendered silk woven through laser- engraved manhole covers and have the look of someone caught mid-reverie. The process hovers between two states of being: the aspiration and the limits of the materials.
Talisker Black’s bio-chemical sculptures of heads made from un-fired clay and found objects are speculative investigations into idiosyncratic cult thinkers and psychological states. The sculptures are spray- coated with liquid LSD which implies both the toxicity of psychonautic exploration and its potential to create fictions from reality.Wall prints by Fiona Sarison are reproductions of early op art. The prints give the impression that they have been lost for several decades, awakening our desire to discover the author of these lost masterpieces before revealing their inherent deceit - the works are fabulous but fake. The inherent histories in the textile floor pieces of Clare Kenny provide us with no such revelation. The works have been spray-painted and rolled to hint at several past lives, possibly as rags or stencils. The suggestive remains of a previous activity are both casual and sinister, implying in the object a provenance or mystery.
Chris Jones’ three-dimensional collages are made from the pages of used magazines and encyclopedias. Layers of these everyday images are reconstituted to form phantasmic realities that negotiate the real and the fictional. Edwin Burdis’ sound piece circles around recordings and samples of expressions of delectation from chefs featuring on the TV program Masterchef, applying new meaning - or mystery - to visual material that we experience on a daily basis. The clips are sensually layered against a garage backbeat, creating a humorous paradox between visual and audio before revealing a repulsive hidden surprise.Vicky Wright’s reversed paintings on panels and crates propose a hidden back-story where spectral forms and painterly illusions allude to processes such as mining and mineralogy. Implied through ambiguities, marks and textures, these histories are realised as excavations into the back of the panel. Meanwhile, Sarah Kate Wilson’s acrylic plexi-glass mirror ‘Snoozing Yellow’ slumps against the wall. Mirrored panels become receptors to the action that occurs in front of them. The piece highlights the importance of the physical space between the viewer and the work, which exists in an eternal state of flux.
Curator Vicky Wright
Vicky Wright (born in Bolton) lives and work in London, UK. Forthcoming group show, Asymmetric Dance Class at VITRINE Bermondsey, London (2014). Recent solo exhibitions include: 'The Garments of the Dominators', Josh Lilley Gallery, London (2012), 'The Informants', Josh Lilley Gallery, London (2010), 'Comma 14', Bloomberg SPACE, London (2009). Selected group exhibitions: Women Artists | Women Collectors, Lloyds Club, London (2013), 'The Hecklers', New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall (2013), 'MUTAGEN', ASC Gallery, London (2013), 'The Dorian Project', Second Guest, New York(2012), 'Making Familiar', Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (2013), 'This Is London', Shizaru, London (2013), 'Paintings', Max Wigram Gallery, London (2012), 'Hallogallo', Sir John Cass Gallery, London (2012) Among Flesh, Alison Jacques Gallery, London (2011), 'Gifted', Josh Lilley Gallery, London (2010).
Fiona Sarison was born in Rosedale, Toronto, Canada. in 1964 Fiona completed her Bachelor of Cinema Studies, This was followed by four years at the Slade School of Fine Art where she became close friends with the filmaker Derek Jarman and the Printer Dorothea Wight. In the late 70s Sarison developed a unique performance style that combined the influence of Thellusson theology and contemporary dance and performance art. Remaining outside of any one artistic identity, Sarison considered her work to be performative madcap celebration of esoteric identity of the object.
Sarah Kate Wilson (born 1982, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) lives and work in London, UK. Forthcoming group show, Asymmetric Dance Class at VITRINE Bermondsey, London (2014). Recent solo projects include: 'Tinted', Camden Peoples Theatre, London (2013), 'Mintmuffle', Open Draw Residency, London (2010). Recent group exhibitions include: 'Show-Off', presented by LeandKateLouise, London (2014), Sophia Starling / Kate Terry / Sarah Kate Wilson, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall (2014), 'TORTOISE', Presented by LeandaKateLouise, WW Gallery, London (2014), 'Embrace', FORT Gallery, London (2014), 'At Home', Hackney, London (2013), 'Creekside Open', Selected by Paul Noble, APT Gallery, London (2013), 'Uncle Vern's Dog', Gallery North, Newcastle (2013), 'COPY', Paper Gallery, Manchester (2013), Assemble, Liquid Courage Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas (2012), Jerwood Drawing Prize, (short-listed), touring to Jerwood Space, London, (2012).
Harry Meadows is a London based artist who received an MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2008 and a BA (Hons) from Wimbledon College of Art in 2003. Forthcoming group show, Asymmetric Dance Class at VITRINE Bermondsey, London (2014). Awards and residencies include Spike Island: Studio 36 artist in residence (2013), London Metropolitan University AA2A artist in residence (2011/12), Warden's Purchase Prize (2008). Recent exhibitions include: Supernormal Festival, Brazier's Park (2014), 'Pre-Pop to Post Human: Collage in the Digital Age', Galway International Arts Festival (2014), Whitstable Biennale (in collaboration with Force Majeure) (2014),'Post-Net:Bad Romance', Bearspace, London (2014), 'Pre-Pop to Post Human: Collage in the Digital Age', Hayward Touring (2013), 'Robo con fracture', LOCAL Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago (2013), 'Before and After, [space], London (2013), 'The White Van Man', The South African Print Gallery, Woodstock, South Africa (2013), 'Labroke Terrace Collective', London (2012), 'Hoopla', Sugarhouse Studios, London (2012).
Chris Jones (born 1975 in Preston, UK) lives and works in London and NYC. Forthcoming group show, Asymmetric Dance Class at VITRINE Bermondsey, London (2014). Recent solo exhibitions include: MARC STRAUS, New York, NY (forthcoming), The Engine Room, Preston Bus Station, Preston (2013), Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY. Group shows include: 'The Order of Things', Charlie Smith Gallery, London (2013), 'The Body Metonymic, Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester MI (2013), 'New Sensations' and 'The Future Can Wait', The Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4, B1, Victoria House, London, England (2013), 'The First Cut: Paper at the Cutting Edge' Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England ( this exhibition toured throughout Nottingham and to the Southampton City Art Gallery in 2013).
Talisker Jim Black (born 1976, Ayrshire, UK) lives and works in Glasgow and is undertaking his PhD at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London having completed his MLitt in Journalism at University of Glasgow and BA Hons at Glasgow School of Art. Forthcoming group show, Asymmetric Dance Class at VITRINE Bermondsey, London (2014). Recent performance works: No.80 Lethaby Gallery, London (2014), No.50 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (2014), No.33 Trongate 103, Glasgow (2013), No.43 Kunsthause Tacheles, Berlin (2013), No.16 Monosyllabic, Glasgow (2012), No.21 Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle (2012), No.38 Princess Street Gardens, Edinburgh (2011), No.27 Arndt Galerie, Berlin (2011), No.48 Citylights, San Francisco (2010), No.81 The Changing Room, Stirling (2010). Selected book works: Vacant Retail Park Euphoria (2014), The Sound of Objects (2012), Who the Fuck is Moss Black (2011) The real Virtual Me (2009), Boom (2008).