Obsolete Desire exhibition (London)

The term obsolete refers to something whose function has been improved on or superseded by a more functional version. Yet aspects of the obsolete object remain a source of fascination by those who admire it, see the beauty of it, find cultural significance in it or radicalise it.

11 Market Way, E14 6AH
15-28 December 2016
Private view 15th Dec, 6-9pm

Open daily 11-5pm except sundays and public holidays.
An exhibition of sound, painting, 3D, installation and drawing by artists:

Clare Mitten
Jon Purnell
Lisa McKendrick
Zoe Anspach
Graham Dunning
Mandy Hudson
Tim Drage

Clare Mitten makes numerous versions of a tech object which arouses her curiosity. She flips between two-dimensional and three-dimensional, between collages and painting. The result is a new object based on older versions of the same object which has gone through a process of change and influence.

Jon Purnell imitates expressionist style painting marks using digital software to create drawings of a wasteland of scenarios. His computer generated and deliberately anti-romantic line-work give the viewer the idea that it is the artists hand which is obsolete.

Lisa McKendrick finds images to work with amongst slide collections and home-made videos from the 1960’s – 1980’s. Here we find an undetailed glimpse of the road trip and different models of outdated automobiles as they occupy landscapes which are desert like and dystopian. In her paintings elements of figuration seem to be eaten up by abstraction as they form drips and clumps of paint which disappear off the canvas edge in all directions.

Zoe Anspach makes sculptures and collages which are photographed, unmade and remade. During this process new configurations emerge, are documented, disassembled and reintegrated. By incorporating her work as a graphic designer into her art practice she considers the visual language of news, media and advertising and how this is presented to us via design, packaging and logos.

Graham Dunning is known for his use of analogue and obsolete mechanisms to create music. Appreciating their inherently delicate and clumsy attributes he makes use of the accidents and unpredictability that are particular to them. He has created a sound piece using field recordings of brutalist building Balfron Tower during his residency in 2016.

Mandy Hudson provokes questions about our surroundings and the things we may not normally notice. She carefully prepares the surface of the canvas and adheres to formal issues such as lighting, shading and colour. Here we feel safe amongst the quiet marks which give us the satisfaction of observing the skill and craftsmanship of the painter. Yet she brings our attention to the contents of a skip or a congregation of door buzzers hinting that in a crowded city space has become obsolete.

Tim Drage is a sound and animation artist using a recursive application of effects in the 1989 software LightningPaint. He generates digital drawings of dense op-art pixel-scapes which he has published in a book consisting entirely of drawings reaching the outer edge of the paper on both sides. Recently he has been exploring similar approaches in video to create dizzying dives into infinite, fractal-like glitch patterns.

About the Curator: Lisa McKendrick has curated painting, installation and sound exhibitions including: Hey Days! At the Bermondsey Project (2014), Candy Mountains at Arbeit (2011), In an Age of Aeroplanes You May Fly at Servant Jazz Quarters (2010), A Point Between Two Destinations at Seven Seven Gallery (2003)