Starkwhite / John Reynolds at ART HK
May 14 - 17 2009
Starkwhite will present Table of
Dynasties by John Reynolds at the Hong Kong International Art
Fair (ART HK), from 14 to 17 May 2009.
This is a significant move on two counts
for Starkwhite. First, despite the global economic downturn the
gallery will continue to participate in selected art fairs during
2009. Starkwhite made its first off-shore moves this year,
presenting two artists projects at ART39BASEL - Dane Mitchell's
Conjuring Form in Art Statements and et al.'s
altruistic studies in Art Unlimited. This was followed by
ShContemporary08, the Shanghai international art fair, where the
gallery presented a group show of four artists working with video,
animation and digitally manipulated images - Gavin Hipkins, Hye Rim
Lee, Jae Hoon Lee and LA-based, Australian artist Grant
Stevens.
Second, it brings John Reynolds
into a formal relationship with Starkwhite, building on occasional
past collaborations. These include two large-scale earth/planting
works - Snow Tussock and Golden Spaniard -
commissioned by the gallery for an outdoor park in East Otago and
his WORKS END project staged in Starkwhite's downstairs space in
June 2008. While Reynolds will continue his longstanding
relationship with his New Zealand galleries he will work with
Starkwhite internationally, beginning with representation in ART HK
09.
Table of Dynasties
is a further development of Reynolds' work on the visual
consideration of text, often utilizing words from dictionaries. The
words in these works are presented in the artist's hand on
ready-made 100 x 100 x 40mm canvas blocks. The first major project
to emerge from the artist's studio was Cloud, commissioned
by Charles Merewether for the 2006 Biennale of Sydney and presented
in the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South
Wales.
Like Cloud, the title Table
of Dynasties is a reference to its organising strategy and a
term from the dictionary Reynolds will draw on for the work,
presenting another visual consideration of a text. The book is The
Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms, by Edward Lucie-Smith,
designed to serve as a field guide to the arts. From 'abacus' and
'adhocism', to 'ex-voto' and 'eye-catcher', and 'terrazzo' and
'Ting ware, Ting yao', the book covers the vocabulary of visual art
in all its forms. Its 2000 or so entries include non-Western
terminology and tracks contemporary approaches to art.
Unlike previous text-driven wall works
like Cloud or its sister work, Looking West, this
work will be staged as a heap of words mounded up or littering a
group of table tops - a sort of tableau or study, operating and
viewed from between floor and walls. A broad spectrum of colour
grounds will differentiate the sweep of references appearing in
handwritten silver text and randomised in stacks of canvases. The
work will read as a collision of competing words, terms, periods
and materials [not unlike the art world itself], a tabletop
architecture of polyglot terminologies. These art terms will appear
without definitions and the cacophony of display will ensure a
shifting flux of revealing and concealing.
John Reynolds lives and works in
Auckland, New Zealand. Over the past three decades he has
established a reputation as a painter who employs aspects of
drawing (sketches, plans, charts, doodles) and different types of
representation (expressive marks, symbols, patterns, writing) for
poetic effect. Not content to be pigeonholed as a painter, he also
incorporates sculpture, installation and site-specific outdoor
works into his practice.
Solo shows and representation in recent
events and group exhibitions include: John Reynolds: Under Milk
Wood by Dylan Thomas, a collaboration between the artist and
actor/director Geraldine Brophy, Christchurch Art Gallery (2008);
Speaking Truth to Power, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland
University (2007); Zones of Conflict, 15th
Biennale of Sydney (his work Cloud was commissioned for
the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales), curated
by Charles Merewether (2006); 54321: Auckland Artists
Projects, curated by Ngahiraka Mason, Auckland Art Gallery
(2006); Nine Lives: The Chartwell Collection, curated by
Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery (2003); HEVN: NOT TO
SCALE, curated by Sophie McIntyre, Adam Gallery Victoria
University, Wellington (2002): and From K Road to Kingdom
Come, curated by Gregory Burke and Robert Leonard,
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2001). Reynolds is the
recipient of a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New
Zealand and one of four artists selected to re-stage a project in
the 2008 Walters Prize exhibition at the Auckland Art
Gallery.
Located on Auckland's K Road, Starkwhite
presents a programme of artists' projects, solo shows,
independently curated exhibitions and occasional forays into new
music and other interdisciplinary practices. The gallery represents
a stable of artists from New Zealand and the trans-Pacific region
and also works with guest international artists, staging projects
and exhibitions that enrich the gallery programme.
Please contact the gallery for further
information and images.
STARKWHITE
510 Karangahape Road
Auckland
PO Box 90897 AMC
New Zealand
Phone +64/9 307 0703
starkwhite@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.co.nz
