DJ Simpson
22 Sep - 19 Nov 2009
DJ SIMPSON
September 22nd 2009–19 November 2009
Opening hours: 11 am - 2 pm & 4:30 - 8:30 pm.
Opening: Tuesday September 22nd 2009 at 8:00 pm
It is with DJ Simpson ́s unique language that one becomes immediately seduced and drawn to investigate. On first appearance these works fall somewhere between the realms of painting and sculpture capturing the intrigue of the viewer. For his upcoming exhibition Simpson brushes, planes, punctures, carves, loops and cuts onto mirror laminated transparent Perspex creating heterogeneous landscapes.
Usually working on an immense scale pieces has shifted his focus back to a more intimate scale. Gesturing with a routing tool rather than a paintbrush he is recognized for working with formica laminated to Plywood and multicoloured acrylic sandwiched together. Once forms appear on these monochromatic surfaces, a toxic organic-like fusion is revealed, reminiscent of Pollock for his unconventional use of medium to seemingly Dionysian compositions. However therein lies the dichotomy of Simpson ́s practice as there are fields of tranquility and order, of control versus chaos.
The forms realised in the works by the gesture of the routing and an axonometric tool are used to create ovals in the work which are formally used in architectural drawings, causing the fraught tension between the structured in the latter and fluid forms in the work. Shadows and figure are an important aspect within the composition as they constantly vascillate in the structure between the perspective shapes
The use of wall paper becomes a backdrop for the works and perhaps a tool as a counterbalance between a repetitive system and the art historical and class associations with the use of wall papers. An Op Art reign descends as with the works of Bridget Riley, pulsing in a contemporary canonization of the baroque. After close inspection as with most wallpapers the walls reveal a pattern consistency, a planned structure, a mathematical system. The works hung on these wall reiterate the systems within themselves the constant being the material and the forms and patterns the variables, partially governed by the composition of the material. Like the wall paper there are variables as the technique used in surface printing are not always precise, this is visible in the mark left by the ink. Almost baroque, the installation of the works is reminiscent of the mirrored room in the palace at Versailles.
It is no surprise that as one engages with Simpson ́s work one is compelled to investigate and categorize this mark making process on this artifice, as a sculpture, a painting or drawing and where does it fit into the art historical modern art and abstraction. Simpson ́s forges a reinterpretation of modernist abstraction and while the performative aspect of the works commands a visceral response.
David Simpson (Lancaster, 1966) has shown in exhibitions in the Bloomberg Space, London (2009), Centre de Cultura de Palma, Palma de Mallorca (2008), MIMA, Middlesbrough (2007), Centre Contemporary Art Centre, Athens (2004), Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen (2003); Ausstellungsraum, Münster; (2002),The Saatchi Gallery, London (2001)
September 22nd 2009–19 November 2009
Opening hours: 11 am - 2 pm & 4:30 - 8:30 pm.
Opening: Tuesday September 22nd 2009 at 8:00 pm
It is with DJ Simpson ́s unique language that one becomes immediately seduced and drawn to investigate. On first appearance these works fall somewhere between the realms of painting and sculpture capturing the intrigue of the viewer. For his upcoming exhibition Simpson brushes, planes, punctures, carves, loops and cuts onto mirror laminated transparent Perspex creating heterogeneous landscapes.
Usually working on an immense scale pieces has shifted his focus back to a more intimate scale. Gesturing with a routing tool rather than a paintbrush he is recognized for working with formica laminated to Plywood and multicoloured acrylic sandwiched together. Once forms appear on these monochromatic surfaces, a toxic organic-like fusion is revealed, reminiscent of Pollock for his unconventional use of medium to seemingly Dionysian compositions. However therein lies the dichotomy of Simpson ́s practice as there are fields of tranquility and order, of control versus chaos.
The forms realised in the works by the gesture of the routing and an axonometric tool are used to create ovals in the work which are formally used in architectural drawings, causing the fraught tension between the structured in the latter and fluid forms in the work. Shadows and figure are an important aspect within the composition as they constantly vascillate in the structure between the perspective shapes
The use of wall paper becomes a backdrop for the works and perhaps a tool as a counterbalance between a repetitive system and the art historical and class associations with the use of wall papers. An Op Art reign descends as with the works of Bridget Riley, pulsing in a contemporary canonization of the baroque. After close inspection as with most wallpapers the walls reveal a pattern consistency, a planned structure, a mathematical system. The works hung on these wall reiterate the systems within themselves the constant being the material and the forms and patterns the variables, partially governed by the composition of the material. Like the wall paper there are variables as the technique used in surface printing are not always precise, this is visible in the mark left by the ink. Almost baroque, the installation of the works is reminiscent of the mirrored room in the palace at Versailles.
It is no surprise that as one engages with Simpson ́s work one is compelled to investigate and categorize this mark making process on this artifice, as a sculpture, a painting or drawing and where does it fit into the art historical modern art and abstraction. Simpson ́s forges a reinterpretation of modernist abstraction and while the performative aspect of the works commands a visceral response.
David Simpson (Lancaster, 1966) has shown in exhibitions in the Bloomberg Space, London (2009), Centre de Cultura de Palma, Palma de Mallorca (2008), MIMA, Middlesbrough (2007), Centre Contemporary Art Centre, Athens (2004), Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen (2003); Ausstellungsraum, Münster; (2002),The Saatchi Gallery, London (2001)