Variant Emblem, 2005 Wax, oil paint and markerpen on wood, 189 x 153 x 6 cm Andrew Bick Memory Club Andrew Bick's solo show at Hales Gallery encourages the viewer to reassess his considered and crafted approach to abstract painting. Bick's blobs, squares, grids and squiggles have been disrupted on this occasion by the introduction of a series of dynamic angular forms which act as wedges both propping up and splitting open the recurrent shapes in the paintings. The calm of his 90's paintings has all but vanished and has been replaced with precariously balanced heaps and splinters over wonky grids and cloudy grounds. Taking time with Bick's paintings can be rewarding. With each painting Bick does his utmost to slow down the process of looking. Their layering means we have to work through things to get somewhere, adding together information from one plane to the next until we eventually achieve something approaching overall sense. Some layers may be transparent, others so milky and opaque that they are almost impenetrable. "Memory Club", the title of the show, is appropriated from a flashing neon above a dubious looking cellar club Bick saw on a recent trip to Switzerland. This title serves as a convenient hook upon which he can hang a whole plethora of ideas dredged from his vast reserve of modernist devices. Andrew Bick's recent shows have included "PLAN D" at Palacete Viscondes de Balsemao, Porto and Model::Niland Sligo, Republic of Ireland. (group show which included works by Sherman Sam, Diana Cooper and Thomas Nozkowski among others: Catalogue available.) "Sight Mapping" at Rekalde Bilbao (including work by Pia Fries, A.K Dolven, Ben Ravenscroft, and Linda Besemer: Catalogue available). "Memory Club" is accompanied by a publication with an essay by J.J.Charlesworth. The publication can be purchased from Hales Gallery. ISBN 0-9551182-0-4. Exhibition: 1 September - 8 October 2005 Gallery hours: Thu-Sat 12 - 6 pm, and by appointment Hales Gallery Tea Building 7 Bethnal Green Road GB-London E1 6LA Telephone +44 20 7033 1938 Fax +44 20 7033 1939 Email info@halesgallery.com www.halesgallery.com |
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