IAN WHITTLESEA – A BREATHING BULB

Posted on 2014-08-11

A single bulb in the centre of the space repeatedly fades up to an intense brightness and back down to black. The slow pulse of the bulb is that of meditation and transformation, the light strengthening in the same way that an abdomen rises during inhalation and then dimming as it falls during exhalation. During the day it is quietly present but at night it transforms the gallery into a lighthouse, visible from the street below.

With this new work Whittlesea continues his examination of how conceptual art can directly change the physiological and psychic state of the viewer. It is an extension of his exploration of the esoteric Mazdaznan breathing exercises that artist Johannes Itten taught at the Bauhaus, the renowned art school founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar.

A Breathing Bulb also relates directly to a sentence taken from the writings of scientist and alchemist Isaac Newton that Whittlesea has used as the basis for one of his recent series of text paintings:

The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very comfortable to the course of Nature, which seems delighted with transmutations.

Exhibition runs through to September 6th, 2014

Marlborough Fine Art
6 Albemarle Street
London W1S 4BY
United Kingdom

marlboroughcontemporary.com

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AMANNY AHMAD – PERPETUAL MOTION

Posted on 2014-08-11

This exhibition of new work spanning a range of media, which explores concepts of universality and flux within cultural systems of language and commodity. Through photography, painting, and found objects, the meanings of iconic symbols within economy-based societies are investigated and framed for the viewer to reconsider. Whether found in the ubiquitous athletic swoosh, or in a simple kinetic gesture that resists classification and economy, such as pouring, pulling, or massaging, the universality of these symbols is clear. In this simultaneously expanding and shrinking world, the rate at which things change is immeasurable, and this is especially evident in rapidly transforming systems of language. These works lend the viewer an opportunity to meditate on signs that are embedded into the developed language of human exchange. Photographs serve as a vignette through which one can approach minimal sculptural representations of the universal qualities of being.

According to Aristotle, motion is understood as any kind of change, or, the actuality of a potentiality. Still images posses a kinetic energy through their capture of the essence of motion, or the possibilities of motion. In these photographs, motion is unavoidable, as it is found in the squeeze of a bottle, or more subtly in the growth of a cactus over time. The movements and growth of systems of language (spoken, physical, visual) through time are directly related to the transience of the cultures they serve. These forms of communication are in constant flux, as are the meanings we come to identify with the wordless images and gestures we experience. These paintings, utilizing airbrushing and decals, become amalgamations of colors, signs, and icons, re-appropriating bootleg imagery in yet another form. These transformations of icons across media are further evidence of the perpetual nature of motion and change within systems of language.

Exhibition runs through to August 30th, 2014

Slow Culture Gallery
5906 N. Figueroa St
Los Angeles
CA 90042

slowculture.com

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