WORK IN PROGRESS

WORK IN PROGRESSMark Beattie Roane Bensch-Duff

Minna Georgieva Ruxandra Gutu Chantelle Purcell

22 March 2011Core Gallery

TAKING THE CUE FROM AN OFFSITE LEARNING TRIP TO ZURICH THE ARTISTS COLLECTIVELY MAP THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH A SERIES OF INDIVIDUAL WORKS; (PHOTO-GRAPHS, TEXTS, SCULPTURES, FILMS & COLLATED DOCUMENTS). THE SUBSEQUENT PRESENTATION OF WORKS HAS EMERGED FROM THEIR ONGOING DIALOGUE THAT BRINGS INTO QUESTION, THE UNRESOLVED NATURE OF AN ARTWORK, THE ROLE OF THE INSTITUTION, PRESERVATION, THE RELATION TO TIME AND THE ROLE OF DOCUMENTATION.

THIS PUBLICATION CONSIDERS THE ‘EMPHERAL’ NATURE OF THE ARTWORK AND ITS CONTEXT WITHIN THE EXHIBI-TION FRAMEWORK. DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM CU-RATOR, SUSANNE NEUBAUER’S TEXT ‘EMPHEMERALIA’, WHICH EXAMINES THE OUERVE OF PAUL THEK’S ONGOING PRACTICE.

CONtENtS:

ChaNtEllE PuRCEll 6-18RuxaNDRa Gutu 22-37MINNa GEORGIEva 40-55ROaNE BENSCh-Duff 56-69MaRK BEattIE 72-81

CHANTELLE PURCELL

film stills from Monologues of annie Palmer, 2011, DvD, 01:20

film stills from Monologues of annie Palmer, 2011, DvD, 01:20

Installation shot of Monologues of annie Palmer, 2011, projected film on plastic sheeting and icing sugar, core gallery

untited, 2011, mud & buried sugar transcripts, 100cm x 100cm

unearthed, Recovered narratives on fondant paper, 2011

Installation view: Cacophony of Gospel truths, 2011, DvD, 01:05 at Core Gallery

this series of work takes it cue from a tradition-al legend in the Caribbean ‘the White Witch of Jamaica’. Working from original manuscripts dating back from 1855 of annie Palmer, Purcell presents these three films to question the ‘fabulative’ narrative that surrounds the legend. Within the work there is a continual rewriting and revising of image and text, that works together to create a cacophony of meanings that explore the authenticity within historical representation. the emphemeral nature is inherent within the work through utilising materials that are impermeable.

film stills from ‘Sugar arrangements’, 2011, DvD, 04:20

RUXANDRA GUTU

“untitled I” (Beyond the Pale), 20x20x14 cm

“untitled II” (Beyond the Pale), 20x20x24 cm

“untitled III” (Beyond the Pale), 20x20x23 cm

BEyOND THE PALE

Over the past few decades, the number of artists working with ephemeral and perisha-ble materials, especially food, has increased. What is it that makes food so appealing as a medium to work with? In my view, the appeal comes from the fact that food is an essential aspect of human existence and it touches our lives in many different ways: it provides nourishment, it is used in rituals that bring people together, and now it is being used as a medium for human creativity. Contemporary artists do not only use food as a subject matter, depicting it in painting or sculpture, but they also use the edibles as materials to convey their concepts. the use of food, and other

perishable materials, enables the artist to bet-ter capture the ephemeral nature of ideas and emotions related to subjects such as life, love, and death. the material itself acts as a metaphor for these existential concepts. While visiting Zurich, I met Costa vece, an art-ist who works with bread as material. vece en-joys working with media that contain a certain degree of changeability and instability. his se-ries of “Breadheads” depict small “ghostly” characters that are an outcome of the artist’s inner turmoils and personal fears. the use of bread as medium emphasizes the feeling of ephemeral in Costa vece’s art, the feeling of a world

that is constantly changing and with unpredictable turning points. vece’s bread pieces inspired me to start experimenting with unusual materials, which I found fascinating - thinking about the process and not the out-come, never concerning about how every-thing will turn out to be. a work of art made of bread certainly takes on a life of its own. the idea of a work in progress, with unexpected results, has developed within me a sense of curiosity. By going beyond the limit of creating a work of art with a certain finality, I tried to ex-periment and play with the idea of a work in progress, of art as a living, decaying process.

the bread hands are a symbol of today’s society and of contemporary art that is con-stantly changing and reinventing itself. the film,”Beyond the Pale” documents the reac-tions and curiosity of a pigeon to the bread sculptures. It refers to the contemporary artist, lost in the idea of transience, on the verge of losing his way, his hope, struggling against the restrictions of modern life. the artist must go beyond the sense of obvious, beyond the pale and explore life in the very complexity of its process, by shifting from the creator to the witness of a work in progress.

film stills from “Beyond the Pale”, 2011, DvD, 05:50.

INK AND PLAy

MINNA GEORGIEVA

Reverse fountain, 2011, 3.5 min film projection using collected recycled footage, Core Gallery

Reverse fountain, 2011, 2.5 min film documentary projection of live performance with Ice cubes , Core Gallery

Reverse fountain, a Selection of documentary photographs, Core Gallery 2011

ROANNE BENSCH-DUFF

EDIBlE hIStORy - a work consisiting of a small fridge; within stacked sections of choc-olate engraved with historical dates viewers are invited, through the declaration ‘Eat Me’, to participate by consumption.

Below is a list of the dates carved into the chocolate with their corresponding sig-nificance.

1971 = the year swiss women gained the vote

26,000 = bunkers and fortification throughout the Swiss alps, containing artillery and defence military systems

1885= the year the first bunker was built

2 = the Swiss flag and that of the vatican are the only square flags (the Swiss guard are responsible for the protection of the Pope)

= Every two years, able bodied men from the age from 19 to 20 must return for two weeks conscription refresher training

400,000 = the government is able to mobolise an army of four hundred thousand within 24 hours

171,283 = Is the number of assault rifles kept at home by conscripts during military service

27,831 = the number of semi-automatic pistols kept at home

2,000 = fortified constructions with the capacity to protect 100,000 Swiss citizens

23 = the average pound weight of chocolate eaten annually by each Swiss citizen

1950 = the year it was made unlawful to pull a girl’s teeth out before she was mar-ried

MARK BEATTIE

untitled. 2011. Graphite Drawings with animation. 20cm x 2m. 32 seconds in length.

above - untitled. 2011. Paper and Plastic. 45cm x 45cm x 45cm. far Right - untitled. 2011. Cast foam. 40cm x 20cm x 40cm.

untitled. 2011. Plaster and foil. 40cm x 50cm x 30cm