 Chris Hammond: Treachery as Strategy, 2002 Video still Imaging London David Adjaye and Lyndon Douglas, Tim Brennan, Cornford and Cross, Kate Grieve, Chris Hammond, Brandon LaBelle, Mally Mallinson, Hadrian Pigott, Elizabeth Price, Dallas Seitz, Floyd Varey, Laura White Houldsworth is proud to present "Imaging London", a unique collaboration with the ground-breaking London Consortium programme at Tate Modern. The programme combines top writers, such as Marina Warner and Iain Sinclair, curators and critics, including Mel Gooding and James Putman, and artists and architects, among them Hadrian Pigott and David Adjaye. Houldsworth plays host to some of the most influential artists and directors from Hackney and the East End, as well as artists working currently to reshape London through architecture and artistic intervention, in projects with such diverse institutions as the British Museum, Selfridges and the LSE. However, there is a sinister and often mocking edge to the work, which includes a burning Tate Modern and a self-referential image of a griffitied Cork Street sign. The exhibition becomes as much a celebration of the London art scene as a subversive move to unsettle its expectations. Through these personalised attempts to recreate the city and to be creative within it, an imaginary London emerges. David Adjaye will be showing photographic images of Dirty House, the studio/gallery/home designed for Tim Noble and Sue Webster, taken by photographer Lyndon Douglas. He also designed the Elektra House in London and New York's Museum of Contemporary Art. He designed this year's British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and has recently completed a jewellery room at Selfridges London. He describes his work as emotive architecture, in which he refuses to idealise the intervention of the architect in urban spaces. Lyndon Douglas is an architectural photographic artist who in his work, focuses on emotion before light and space. Lyndon's work has been published in architectural journals such as DOMUS, The Guardian, New York Times, and Time magazine. He was also responsible for the installation images published in Chris Ofili's Gold book which marked the Freedom One Day exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery. David Adjaye and Lyndon Douglas are currently in their third year of working together. Tim Brennan is currently artist in residence at the British Museum. Finding references to angels in the Museum he has created an alternative tour called Museum of Angels. In "Imaging London" Brennan will take viewers on a journey through the work that led up to the final tour. Brennan will be running the tour throughout August and has reproduced it as a publication, which was launched at the Venice Biennale. He will also be in discussion with writer/curator Iain Sinclair at the British Museum later this year. With this piece Brennan continues his ten-year project "Manoeuvres", creating new meaning to familiar places. Cornford and Cross will be showing a photographic presentation of "The End of Art Theory"; a proposal for Liverpool Biennale, which was seen as unsuitable. The project involved commissioning a Group 4 private security vehicle and uniformed crew to give "free" tours to visitors. Their project "Childhood's End", produced by Film and Video Umbrella was purchased by the Contemporary Arts Society. Cornford and Cross had a solo show at Nylon Gallery in London, titled "Unrealised: Projects 1997-2002". They are exhibiting "The Lost Horizon" at LSE until 27 June. Kate Grieve is the co-founder and director of 1000000mph in East London. For "Imaging London" she has created a sound piece that is to be installed on night bus routes as a palliative to the experience of the lonely late night journey. In 2002 Grieve showed at the Liverpool Biennale with the radio project "Wish you were Here" and a collection of talks and music titled, "A Little Bit of Not Very Much". She was in Tippi Hedren at VTO and has given a number of talks at institutions including the Serpentine Gallery, London. Chris Hammond's video piece "Treachery as Strategy" presents fictitious footage of a burning Tate Modern, as if from a 50's B movie. Hammond has been a major player in East London's art scene, co-founding various alternative spaces including most recently MOT in London. He has curated numerous exhibitions and recently exhibited in "Nowhere to run nowhere to hide" at Powell Gallery in London. Originally from Los Angeles, Brandon LaBelle is a sound artist, whose work aims to draw attention to the dynamics of sound as it is found in spaces, objects and interactions. In "After Gordon", he takes a cue from the creative destruction of Matta-Clark to create a video piece of a futile attempt to dig a hole in a pavement. He co-edited, "Site of Sound: of Architecture and The Ear", published by Errant Bodies and curated the "Beyond Music" Series at Beyond Baroque Center, Los Angeles. LaBelle has also exhibited at the ICA. Mally Mallinson's Derelict Wendy Pub creates a poignant image of British childhood altered to affect a stunning dystopian reality of London reminding us of an East-End that is fast disappearing. Mallinson has had solo shows at MOT and Void in London, while also exhibiting in Red Yellow Grey no Brown at the ICA, London. He has designed for various magazines and book covers including "Primal Screamer" for Nick Blinko. Hadrian Pigott will be showing "Artist Unknown", a life size photographic work of an actual griffitied Cork Street road sign. Here Pigott presents graffiti artist as the original curator, whilst he becomes documenter, furthering the themes of this exhibition and issues of anonymity in the city. Pigott's work was included in 97 "Sensation" exhibition at the Royal Academy. He also had a solo exhibition, "Hypergienics", at Victoria Miro Gallery in 1998. Elizabeth Price works with documentation, beginning often with found text and a remote or anonymous instruction. Her procedure is labour intensive, acting out the logic of her subject and the appropriate course of action. In "Trophy" she removes the exhibition as the final goal of the artwork and makes it part of the artistic process, as each place at which it is shown is inscribed on the piece. Recently her solo exhibition, "Denmess" was at Mobile Home. Previous projects, include the Chalmers Bequest and the exhibition Cool Green at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Washington DC. Dallas Seitz is co-founder and director of one of Hackney's newest art spaces, 1000000mph. For this exhibition, he has fused together the burnt ends of recorded film cine footage, presenting a personalised response to the question of documentation. Seitz was artist in residence at The Banff Centre for Arts, Alberta, Canada and has had several solo exhibitions including "Video Spin" at the Photographers gallery. Floyd Varey works in paint and mixed media to produce work that is often humorous - with images of pissing monkeys and a disturbing Santa Claus - yet these images are often unsettling and as awkward as mental illness in the everyday world. Varey has had solo shows at MOT in 2003 and in 2002 Sex Death and Magic at Dickies Art Room, New York. Laura White views the moment that the utopia enters reality as the moment that they "quickly slip into dystopia". Through her ephemeral projected images and use of architecturally clean lines, White plays with these "aspirational fantasies" and at the same time cleverly deceives the viewer. She has taken part in many shows, recently appearing in "Amplifying Silence/Magnifying Stillness" curated by Roy Exley at the Fondation D'Art Contemporain Daniel & Florence Guerlain, France. 16 July - 8 August 2003 Hours: Mon-Fri 10 - 5.30, Sat 10.30 - 1 Houldsworth Gallery 33-34 Cork Street UK-London W1S 3NQ Telephone +44 (0)20 7434 2333 Fax +44 (0)20 7434 3636 E-Mail gallery@houldsworth.co.uk www.houldsworth.co.uk |
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