© Laura Ford Dynamic Entropy Laura Ford, Kounosuke Kawakami, Robert Platt, Hiraki Sawa The artists in "Dynamic Entropy" fizz with a thirst for surreal connection and dreamlike, entropic creation. In the heat of a thermodynamic art-historical reaction, surrealism, illustration, romantic-expressionism and pop-art appropriation combine to create a heady mix of explosive art, that satisfies our sophisticated taste for visual confusion, whilst offering a biting satirical and referential commentary. Airplanes and horses roam silently around Hiraki Sawa's apartment, whilst a psychedelic cuckoo clock shimmers on top of a wood grain effect canvas, in a painting by Robert Platt. Platt's imagery, from decorative patterns of wallpaper and Royal Dalton, suggest his own predilection for a non-cool, anti-contemporary taste and yet the inverted colours and mind-blowing pixilation speak of the impossibilities of photoshop and video jockeys from 90s raves. It is as if Grandma is on acid, staring bleary-eyed at her mantle piece clock full of knick-knacks. Sawa's displacement is magical and whimsical, yet he is not wandering lonely as a cloud along river banks, but floating as lonely as a plane across the bland interior of his cramped London flat. The animated rocking horses which move around Sawa's plain bathroom suite, seem to be the poignant hallucinations of someone who has spent too much time alone within four walls. Both Sawa and Platt convey a sense of magnitude through textured manipulation; painted montage, still image as moving plane. Muybridge's horses run through Sawa's videos and off Platt's canvases whilst being closely watched by Laura Ford's new Bunny Boys. These anarchic little figures look set to jump on to the scene, rucksacks on backs, as we contemplate their intentions - zealous fanatics or children enjoying playtime? In the main space, Ford's motorcyclist has come to a cataclysmic halt, kneeling, stumbling, not quite man, not quite animal, in bikers leathers, collapsed without the security of his machinery. Terrorism, not as political tinder, but as a foil for Ford's ongoing investigations into our fear and attraction towards the unfamiliar and the misunderstood, has become the loci of her recent sculptures. Ford's works are at once victims, as they are nightmarish phantasmagoria, inducing discomfort and sympathy in equal measure. A fine balance between the picturesque and the bombastic gives an immense power to Kounosuke Kawakami's melting landscapes. Working in collage and painting, Kawakami shifts between a delicate romantic style and a bold computerized surrealism. The unpopulated landscapes hint at a sci-fi view of a world, whereas the strange shapes moving over the works are somewhere between Japanese wallpaper and surrealist flotsam. Somehow this combination works with finesse, as a silent metaphor for a mediated view of the world. Displacement in all the work is profound, the resultant wanderings beguiling and provocative. These images act as a palimpsest for our visually conflated culture; wiping away one set of values with the shifting sands of another. Laura Ford's recent solo exhibitions include 51st Venice Biennale, Camden Arts Centre, Arnolfini, Bristol, Centre of Contemporary Art, Salamanca, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh and currently New Art Centre, Roche Court. Also exhibited at Rohkunstbau, Berlin; Miami Art Museum; Aldrich Museum, Connecticut and ICA, London. Works in collections of Tate Britain; Arts Council; Contemporary Art Society; Government Art Collection; New Art Gallery, Walsall; Miami Art Museum and Museum of Art, Iowa. Houldsworth is delighted to have taken on representation of talented young Japanese painter Kounosuke Kawakami. He will have a solo exhibition at Houldsworth in 2007. Robert Platt ex Royal College of Art, London, now lives and works in Kyoto, Japan. He was a prizewinner in the Vision of Contemporary Art at the Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo in 2006, and was also part of Practically Sublime, El Hanappe Underground, Athens. Platt is represented in Japan by Gallery Koyanagi. Hiraki Sawa's solo exhibitions include Hirshhorn Museum, Washington; Saint Louis Art Museum; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Firstsite, Colchester, Hayward/Bloomberg Commission at Hayward Gallery, and James Cohan Gallery, New York. Was recently part of Yokohama Triennial, Japan, the Valencia Biennial and Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan and will participate in Seoul International Media Art Biennale later this month. Exhibition: 11 October - 18 November 2006 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 10am - 5.30pm, Sat 10am - 4pm Houldsworth Gallery 50 Pall Mall Deposit 124-128 Barlby Road UK-London W10 6BL Telephone +44 (0)20 8969 6166 Fax +44 (0)20 7434 3636 Email gallery@houldsworth.co.uk www.houldsworth.co.uk |
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