Currency
13.01.01–04.02.01
Private View: January 12 2001, 7.00-9.00 pm
The city is a mythical place. The product of people’s interaction with and intervention in its architecture. It can be seen as symptomatic of some of the dysfunctional aspects of modern life. Nick Stewart’s work telescopes the viewer’s gaze in on details and forgotten corners of the urban fabric. A search is implied - but nothing is found.
Particular buildings and places, in London have given rise to Stewart’s recent works; “Stealing Light”, 1998 derived from a performance walk around the walls of the Bank of England shown at Chisenhale Gallery. “Curtain Call”, 2000 commissioned by the Royal Festival Hall. and more recently ‘Face Up, 2000’, a large scale video projection, at the Round Chapel in Hackney, East London.
The two works included in this exhibition are the result of a 3 year fascination with the City of London’s streets and alleys. A number of video sequences have resulted from this study. “Currency”, is the first work from this long term project. The multiple videos which compose the installation are tightly framed observations. Each video is derived from an architectural ‘situation’. In particular, Stewart depicts men in these environments. They inhabit his work, caught up, as if subject to forces outside their control., in an a mechanised relation to urban space. Each video fragment is a seamless loop which suggests an endlessness - a metaphor for a state of mind as much as a physical, social situation.
“Endless Park” depicts aspects of some of London’s less loved green spaces. A long series of fixed shots show details of old parks. Avoiding the grand view, it focuses on the foreground and is shot at sunset including only a hint of human presence. The sequence gradually retreats into the dark of night leaving only the glow of a single park light as comfort to the gallery visitor.
For more information please contact Sheila Lawson on 0171 375 2973.
The gallery hours for this show are Thursday-Sunday 12-6pm, or by appointment.
