Claire Hooper
05 Feb - 12 Mar 2016
CLAIRE HOOPER
Clay As Bread And Dust As Wine
5 February – 12 March 2016
Hollybush Gardens is delighted to present:
Clay as Bread and Dust as Wine
Claire Hooper
The main gallery hosts a 1:1 scale copy in watercolour of the frescoes in the altar room of the sanctuary of Ereshkigal in Kutha, circa * -2094 BCE
This temple was replaced by a temple to Nergal by King Shulgi (ca. 2094-2047) which eventually fell into terrible disrepair and was completely rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II (ca. 605-562)
The site was excavated in 1881 for four weeks by Hormuzd Rassam, little was discovered, mainly some inscribed bowls and a few tablets.
The gatekeeper entered and spoke to Ereshkigal:
“Ho! here is thy sister, Ishtar ...
Hostility of the great powers ...
When Ereshkigal heard this,
As when one hews down a tamarisk she trembled,
As when one cuts a reed, she shook:
“What has moved her heart? what has stirred her liver?
Ho there, does this one wish to dwell with me?
To eat clay as bread, to drink dust as wine?
I weep for the men who have left their wives.
I weep for the wives torn from the embrace of their husbands;
For the little ones cut off before their time.
From Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World (Nineveh, ca.911-612BC) trans. M Jastrow 1915
***
Claire Hooper is best known for her videos: Beginning with those which depict underground, interior and/or imagined spaces; Auditorium, World of Interiors (2006) and Nach Spandau (2008) - and moving into using characters from ancient Greek myth; a loose trilogy comprising Eris (2012), Aoide (2011) and Nyx (2010).
Hooper describes her work as ‘essentially literary’, using a particular text and its inherent structures as a framework for new production, and exploring the porous boundary between a close reading and personal projection, the interior or underground space is associated with the psyche or dreaming mind. Although the themes are recurring, this new body of work presents a departure from video and into installation, using watercolour techniques to construct large-scale wall panel works on paper. One could say that this is like a theatrical backdrop using a set of ideas as actors, making an imagined space for the action to unfold. The space could be a room that might belong to part of a temple, raised to Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld in ancient Kutha, Mesopotamia; a temple which perhaps never existed.
Recent solo exhibitions and events include Fig 2, no. 7 (with Maria Loboda), ICA, London; Ziggurat (w Paul Simon Richards), Chandelier Projects at Edel Assanti, London; Claire Hooper Bonner Kunstverien, Bonn (solo), Eris: The Path of ER, a live performance with Lioness at the ICA, London as part of the LUX Biennial of Moving Images; Nyx, Aoide, Eris at MUMOK, Vienna; and Aoide at Lothringer 13, Munich. She has also exhibited at the; Whitechapel Gallery, London; the Serpentine Gallery, London; Kunst Werke, Berlin; Portikus, Frankfurt; and IT Park Gallery, Taiwan; and has shown her films at the Rotterdam and Oberhausen film festivals. She is the recipient of a 2010 Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Jarman Award.
Clay As Bread And Dust As Wine
5 February – 12 March 2016
Hollybush Gardens is delighted to present:
Clay as Bread and Dust as Wine
Claire Hooper
The main gallery hosts a 1:1 scale copy in watercolour of the frescoes in the altar room of the sanctuary of Ereshkigal in Kutha, circa * -2094 BCE
This temple was replaced by a temple to Nergal by King Shulgi (ca. 2094-2047) which eventually fell into terrible disrepair and was completely rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II (ca. 605-562)
The site was excavated in 1881 for four weeks by Hormuzd Rassam, little was discovered, mainly some inscribed bowls and a few tablets.
The gatekeeper entered and spoke to Ereshkigal:
“Ho! here is thy sister, Ishtar ...
Hostility of the great powers ...
When Ereshkigal heard this,
As when one hews down a tamarisk she trembled,
As when one cuts a reed, she shook:
“What has moved her heart? what has stirred her liver?
Ho there, does this one wish to dwell with me?
To eat clay as bread, to drink dust as wine?
I weep for the men who have left their wives.
I weep for the wives torn from the embrace of their husbands;
For the little ones cut off before their time.
From Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World (Nineveh, ca.911-612BC) trans. M Jastrow 1915
***
Claire Hooper is best known for her videos: Beginning with those which depict underground, interior and/or imagined spaces; Auditorium, World of Interiors (2006) and Nach Spandau (2008) - and moving into using characters from ancient Greek myth; a loose trilogy comprising Eris (2012), Aoide (2011) and Nyx (2010).
Hooper describes her work as ‘essentially literary’, using a particular text and its inherent structures as a framework for new production, and exploring the porous boundary between a close reading and personal projection, the interior or underground space is associated with the psyche or dreaming mind. Although the themes are recurring, this new body of work presents a departure from video and into installation, using watercolour techniques to construct large-scale wall panel works on paper. One could say that this is like a theatrical backdrop using a set of ideas as actors, making an imagined space for the action to unfold. The space could be a room that might belong to part of a temple, raised to Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld in ancient Kutha, Mesopotamia; a temple which perhaps never existed.
Recent solo exhibitions and events include Fig 2, no. 7 (with Maria Loboda), ICA, London; Ziggurat (w Paul Simon Richards), Chandelier Projects at Edel Assanti, London; Claire Hooper Bonner Kunstverien, Bonn (solo), Eris: The Path of ER, a live performance with Lioness at the ICA, London as part of the LUX Biennial of Moving Images; Nyx, Aoide, Eris at MUMOK, Vienna; and Aoide at Lothringer 13, Munich. She has also exhibited at the; Whitechapel Gallery, London; the Serpentine Gallery, London; Kunst Werke, Berlin; Portikus, Frankfurt; and IT Park Gallery, Taiwan; and has shown her films at the Rotterdam and Oberhausen film festivals. She is the recipient of a 2010 Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Jarman Award.