February 1 – March 24, 2013
This group exhibition featuring a new generation of British artists diversely posits a schism between the Modern and Contemporary through the spectacle of redevelopment, urban shrines, sexuality, and celebrity culture. With allusions to the grotesquely beautiful and exploring the darker side of kitsch, Are You Alright? reveals a trend of disillusionment with contemporary British society. Curated by Canadian artist Derek Mainella and British artist Elizabeth Eamer, the works in this exhibition emerge from the darkness as a unique articulation in art itself, granting passage to coherence by virtue of a kind of introspection that is anything but Postmodern. Yet somehow, among the splenetic observations of the mores and fascinations in contemporary life, the work may also be seen as a kind of paean to art as cultural critic. These artists, in whatever way they may be affected by the cultural environment, no longer seek to simply expose the external elements, they seem to express an interest in how these external elements are revealed in the work – either through process or concept. Following the YBAs, this next generation of artists work with their own hand – there are no armies of art-slaves under their charge. Instead, we see a collection of artists working obsessively in quiet studios, diligently researching and examining strategies of expression in art history and redeploying them in a complex response to the assault of contemporary culture.
Boo Saville/ Caroline Achaintre/ Clem Crosby/ Dawn Mellor/ Elizabeth Eamer/ Graham Dolphin/ Harry Burden/ James Unsworth/ Jonathan Baldock/ Justin Mortimer/ Laura Oldfield Ford/ Tom Gidley
Curated by Derek Mainella and Elizabeth Eamer
Installation images: Walter Willems
Opening Reception
Friday February 1, 8 pm
Programming
Curator and Artist Talks
Saturday February 2, 1 – 2 pm
Boo Saville will be speaking on the topic: “Here, There, and Elsewhere,” followed by a Q&A with curators Derek Mainella & Elizabeth Eamer and artists Boo Saville, Dawn Mellor, Harry Burden, and James Unsworth.
