The Modern Institute

Michael Wilkinson

20 Apr - 07 Jul 2012

Installation view, 'Dresden', The Modern Institute Aird’s Lane, Glasgow, 2012
MICHAEL WILKINSON
Dresden
20 April - 7 July 2012

Michael Wilkinson’s third exhibition, ‘Dresden’ at The Modern Institute will also be the inaugural show of the gallery’s new exhibition space at Aird’s Lane, Glasgow. A former glass factory Aird’s Lane will be a new permanent space for The Modern Institute housing a flexible programme of shows each year alongside its Osborne Street space.

'The fire-storm that resulted from the bombing of Dresden in 1945 is the most sensitive issue in any examination of English conduct in the Second World War. Its use as a basis of the shop’s design indicates McLaren’s increasing ambition to take on the Establishment.'
England’s Dreaming, Jon Savage, Faber and Faber, 2005, p 284

'The economic crises of the early 1980s recreated mass-unemployment for the first time in 40 years, at all events in Europe. In some ill advised countries the crisis
produced a veritable industrial holocaust, Britain lost 25% of its manufacturing industry in 1980-1984.'
The Age of Extremes 1914-1991, Eric Hobsbawm, Abacus, 1995 p 304

Failing to source the original images of Dresden used by Malcolm McClaren for the interior of his shop Seditionaries, Michael Wilkinson has recast Liverpool as the bombed German city. A series of details showing damage around the Victoria Monument, during the 1941 Liverpool blitz, are displayed on canvas that also includes acrylic, bees wax, verdigris and string.

Michael Wilkinson’s solo exhibitions include, ‘Never Works’ Le Temple, Paris, 2011, 'Lions After Slumber', The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd (2009) and Wrong Gallery, New York, 2004. Recent group exhibitions include 'Rubble Stir', The Glue Factory, Glasgow, 2010; 'Wayfinders', 135 Castlebank Street, Glasgow, 2006; and ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, 2004. His book 1979- was published by Blackdog Publishing, London.
 

Tags: Michael Wilkinson