Heather & Ivan Morison
05 - 12 Dec 2007
HEATHER & IVAN MORISON
“The Land of Cockaigne”
Wednesday 5 - Wednesday 12 December. Open daily 11am - 6.30pm.
Finale Tuesday 11 December 6 - 9pm. All welcome.
Late night opening Thursday 6 December till 9pm.
Bloomberg SPACE, 50 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1HD
W www.bloombergspace.com E gallery@bloomberg.net T + 44 20 7330 7959
Heather & Ivan Morison's new commission for Bloomberg SPACE The Land of Cockaigne is the latest in a series of works which explore the commercial flower industry.
The installation of tens of thousands of individual stems, tightly packed into towering rows of industrial trolleys, will slowly bloom over the duration of the exhibition into a dense carpet of vivid colour. The opportunity to walk amongst such a huge mass of flowers creates an intense visceral experience. However, the overwhelming beauty of the sculpture, coming directly out of a process of production as harsh and industrial as the international flower trade, is tainted with far harder and darker qualities. Superficially intoxicating, the work which begins as a simple formal gesture unfolds to reveal more complicated implications of consumption, containment and fragility.
The piece can be viewed as a painting, becoming an abstract field of colour, or a sculpture, as the viewer moves in to and through the formally arranged rows, and at once a situation, one which traces a path from far off countries to the living rooms of those participating in its dispersion.
Ivan and Heather Morison work with a range of media for both public and private effect.
Whether cultivating a personal arboretum of trees from across the world or staging a jack-knifed lorry spilling its precious cargo of flowers in the centre of Bristol, a fascinating element of their work is a reluctance to over control or determine.
For example, at the finale on Tuesday 11 December, when the flowers will be at the height of their splendour, they will be free for visitors to take for uncharted distribution throughout London.
A moment of conspicuous public consumption in the true spirit of Cockaigne - a medieval mythical land where food was plentiful, sexual liberty was open and the restrictions of society were defied; where buttered larks fell from the sky, people were arrested for working and nuns shopped gratuitously giving goods to everyone...
Ivan and Heather Morison are based in Wales and represented by Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, London. They are currently undertaking a RSA Arts & Ecology Residency and recently represented Wales at the Venice Biennale. Solo exhibitions include: Earthwalker, Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, London, 2006; I lost her near Fantasy Island. Life has not been the same.Commissioned by Situations, Bristol, 2006;Camden Arts Centre Tree Tour, Camden Arts Centre, London, 2006.
“The Land of Cockaigne”
Wednesday 5 - Wednesday 12 December. Open daily 11am - 6.30pm.
Finale Tuesday 11 December 6 - 9pm. All welcome.
Late night opening Thursday 6 December till 9pm.
Bloomberg SPACE, 50 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1HD
W www.bloombergspace.com E gallery@bloomberg.net T + 44 20 7330 7959
Heather & Ivan Morison's new commission for Bloomberg SPACE The Land of Cockaigne is the latest in a series of works which explore the commercial flower industry.
The installation of tens of thousands of individual stems, tightly packed into towering rows of industrial trolleys, will slowly bloom over the duration of the exhibition into a dense carpet of vivid colour. The opportunity to walk amongst such a huge mass of flowers creates an intense visceral experience. However, the overwhelming beauty of the sculpture, coming directly out of a process of production as harsh and industrial as the international flower trade, is tainted with far harder and darker qualities. Superficially intoxicating, the work which begins as a simple formal gesture unfolds to reveal more complicated implications of consumption, containment and fragility.
The piece can be viewed as a painting, becoming an abstract field of colour, or a sculpture, as the viewer moves in to and through the formally arranged rows, and at once a situation, one which traces a path from far off countries to the living rooms of those participating in its dispersion.
Ivan and Heather Morison work with a range of media for both public and private effect.
Whether cultivating a personal arboretum of trees from across the world or staging a jack-knifed lorry spilling its precious cargo of flowers in the centre of Bristol, a fascinating element of their work is a reluctance to over control or determine.
For example, at the finale on Tuesday 11 December, when the flowers will be at the height of their splendour, they will be free for visitors to take for uncharted distribution throughout London.
A moment of conspicuous public consumption in the true spirit of Cockaigne - a medieval mythical land where food was plentiful, sexual liberty was open and the restrictions of society were defied; where buttered larks fell from the sky, people were arrested for working and nuns shopped gratuitously giving goods to everyone...
Ivan and Heather Morison are based in Wales and represented by Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, London. They are currently undertaking a RSA Arts & Ecology Residency and recently represented Wales at the Venice Biennale. Solo exhibitions include: Earthwalker, Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, London, 2006; I lost her near Fantasy Island. Life has not been the same.Commissioned by Situations, Bristol, 2006;Camden Arts Centre Tree Tour, Camden Arts Centre, London, 2006.