Derrick Cherrie
2 - 28 November 2009
Starkwhite is pleased to present an
exhibition of new work by Derrick Cherrie in the gallery's Project
Space from 2 to 28 November 2009.
Smeared paint, random material gestures,
pasted images from bridal wear advertisements, snatches of text,
signs of peace and love, plastic chains, ash and cigarettes, all
come together in this exhibition of recent collaged works on
paper.
The interest in gesture and physical
immediacy evident in these new works brings to light qualities that
are not readily associated with Cherrie's better known sculptural
practice to date. Cherrie's new work, sampled here, appears to be
the result of the artist responding to appropriated images and
materials in a way that both acknowledges and dismisses a range of
societal aspirations that they may have gathered to them. The bland
conservatism of the wedding dress alluringly draped over the bodies
of young, predominantly European, models is both worshipped and
trivialised. The subjectivities of the paint-veiled models are
confused with that of the viewer and artist.
With their obscuring skeins and gestural overlays of paint,
silicon, cigarettes and decorative chain, these collages present us
with a tangled and confronting image of societal
dysfunction.
Derrick Cherrie is an Associate
Professor at the Elam School of Fine Art, National Institute of
Creative Industries, Univeristy of auckland. Well
known for his modernist consumer culture-referencing furniture
sculptures, he has a substantial record of exhibitions and
representation in thematic shows including: Blind Glass,
Starkwhite, 2008; The Big Sleep, Starkwhite, 2005;
Small World, Big Town: Contemporary Art from Te Papa, City
Gallery, Wellington, 2005; High Chair, St Paul's St,
Auckland University of Technology, 2005; Pressing Flesh: Skin,
Touch, Intimacy, Auckland Art Gallery, 2004; Studio,
Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, 2001; Island to
Island, Cheju International Biennale, Korea, 1005; Art
Now, Body/Site/Material Sign, National Art Gallery,
Wellington, 1994; Headlands: Rethinking New Zealand Art,
MCA, Sydney, 1992; and Supralux Suite, Govett-Brewster Art
Gallery, New Plymouth, 1992.
Located in New Zealand on Auckland's
Karangahape Road, Starkwhite presents a programme of artists'
projects, solo shows, independently curated exhibitions and
occasional forays into new music and other interdisciplinary
practices. Starkwhite also represents artists from New Zealand,
Australia and the Pacific rim.
Please contact the gallery for further
information and images.
Starkwhite
510 Karangahape Road, Auckland, New Zealand
Tel. +64 9 3070703
Monday to Friday: 11.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 5.00pm
starkwhite@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.blogspot.com
www.starkwhite.co.nz
