John Wood & Paul Harrison
29 May - 25 Jul 2009
JOHN WOOD & PAUL HARRISON
“No Time”
Vera Cortês, Art Agency
Opening reception on the 28th of May at 22h
From the 29th of May to the 25th of July of 2009
Tuesday to Friday from 11h to 19h
Saturday from 15h to 20h
No Time is the first solo show in Portugal of the British collaborative duo John Wood & Paul Harrison. This exhibition is one of the exercises that results from the project presently being developed at the Ikon Gallery, in Birmingham, under the title “Some words. Some more words”, which will last around one year. Several presentations are foreseen.
If the traditional view of an artist is that of a solitary figure in their studio, then the collaborative practices that have proliferated in recent contemporary art promote the idea of dialogue as a source of creation. John Wood (born 1969) and Paul Harrison (born 1966) have worked together since 1993. Their partnership epitomises collaboration as intrinsic to the process, both mutually supportive and antagonistic, a dynamic where one plus one equals much more than two.
Their work arises out of a curiosity with the world around them, as the outcomes of recurrent questioning: “What if we did this?” and “Why not?” Initial ideas take the form of experiments with objects or people – the artists themselves. Characteristically humouris derived from choreographed events, the artists, like the objects, subjected to assorted actions and tests. Sequences of exchanges could be construed as a form of play: both as a joyful activity without immediate outcome other than a thing in itself, and as a physical performance, for the camera.
The development of new work starts with sketches as a means to exchange ideas. While the final outcome may be a video, print, photograph or sculpture, the notion of drawing as a means of planning, mapping space or representation remains at the core of their practice. Wood and Harrison’s practice often involves an engagement with the materiality of objects and the force of gravity, the phenomenon that shapes the way things – or us – stand and fall.
Such investigations of time and space are often shot in purpose-built environments that could be compared to a laboratory. Their experimentation follows a pseudoscientific method: the artists set the scene, define the starting point and control the conditions and parameters of action. Then, they set things in motion. Often chance can play a role in defining what actually happens; even when conditions are carefully controlled there is room for surprise.
Wood and Harrison’s practice engages with notions of pictorial or cinematographic illusion, visual plays on frame, scale and perspective. That the viewer is not able to see what happens outside the picture evokes a series of ideas enabling a variety of tricks and magic to be suggested.
The videos sometimes use the language of animation, the technique of showing successive still images to create an illusion of movement. These situations resemble deadpan incidents from silent films such as those acted out by Buster Keaton. Episodes have a gravitas, a seriousness created by the absence of any outward emotion which becomes a source of pathos, a melancholic humour.
Wood and Harrison use art as a platform to subvert reason and the functionality of things, while retaining direct connections to everyday life. They play futility against utility, creating space for innovation.
“No Time”
Vera Cortês, Art Agency
Opening reception on the 28th of May at 22h
From the 29th of May to the 25th of July of 2009
Tuesday to Friday from 11h to 19h
Saturday from 15h to 20h
No Time is the first solo show in Portugal of the British collaborative duo John Wood & Paul Harrison. This exhibition is one of the exercises that results from the project presently being developed at the Ikon Gallery, in Birmingham, under the title “Some words. Some more words”, which will last around one year. Several presentations are foreseen.
If the traditional view of an artist is that of a solitary figure in their studio, then the collaborative practices that have proliferated in recent contemporary art promote the idea of dialogue as a source of creation. John Wood (born 1969) and Paul Harrison (born 1966) have worked together since 1993. Their partnership epitomises collaboration as intrinsic to the process, both mutually supportive and antagonistic, a dynamic where one plus one equals much more than two.
Their work arises out of a curiosity with the world around them, as the outcomes of recurrent questioning: “What if we did this?” and “Why not?” Initial ideas take the form of experiments with objects or people – the artists themselves. Characteristically humouris derived from choreographed events, the artists, like the objects, subjected to assorted actions and tests. Sequences of exchanges could be construed as a form of play: both as a joyful activity without immediate outcome other than a thing in itself, and as a physical performance, for the camera.
The development of new work starts with sketches as a means to exchange ideas. While the final outcome may be a video, print, photograph or sculpture, the notion of drawing as a means of planning, mapping space or representation remains at the core of their practice. Wood and Harrison’s practice often involves an engagement with the materiality of objects and the force of gravity, the phenomenon that shapes the way things – or us – stand and fall.
Such investigations of time and space are often shot in purpose-built environments that could be compared to a laboratory. Their experimentation follows a pseudoscientific method: the artists set the scene, define the starting point and control the conditions and parameters of action. Then, they set things in motion. Often chance can play a role in defining what actually happens; even when conditions are carefully controlled there is room for surprise.
Wood and Harrison’s practice engages with notions of pictorial or cinematographic illusion, visual plays on frame, scale and perspective. That the viewer is not able to see what happens outside the picture evokes a series of ideas enabling a variety of tricks and magic to be suggested.
The videos sometimes use the language of animation, the technique of showing successive still images to create an illusion of movement. These situations resemble deadpan incidents from silent films such as those acted out by Buster Keaton. Episodes have a gravitas, a seriousness created by the absence of any outward emotion which becomes a source of pathos, a melancholic humour.
Wood and Harrison use art as a platform to subvert reason and the functionality of things, while retaining direct connections to everyday life. They play futility against utility, creating space for innovation.