Duncan Marquiss, Grey Test,
16mm,
2010
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Ersatz Objects: Julika Gittner - Tommy Grace -
Duncan Marquiss
A group exhibition of new
and existing work selected from S1 Associates proposals.
Preview: Thursday 20th
May, 6 - 8pm
Continues until 19th
June
Open Wednesday - Saturday, 12 - 6pm
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S1 Artspace presents Ersatz Objects, a group exhibition of
new and existing works by London based artists Julika Gittner, Tommy Grace and
Duncan Marquiss. For three years, Gittner, Grace and Marquiss have shared a
studio in Hackney Wick, London, yet this will be their first opportunity to
formally present their work together. The exhibition explores the nuances of
artistic influence within the context of communal production space - akin to the
open plan studio culture adopted by S1 Artspace.
The term ersatz denotes a copy or replacement,
perhaps made from artificial materials. It implies that a superior
original already exists but is missing in this instance. This
lack and substitution may be recurring factors in the otherwise disparate work
of Gittner, Grace and Marquiss.
Gittner’s interactive
sculptures and performances derive from her background in architecture and an
interest in its social impact. Despite employing a systematic approach of
working to a brief (devised from job descriptions or disability benefits tests)
her sculptures have an anthropomorphic pathos in their ramshackle functionality.
They appear as lumpen figures whose adapted organs await an absent operator,
their recycled materials understudies for more permanent concrete or aluminium.
Grace’s hybridised newspaper collages
appear to be born out of his work as a graphic designer yet they reject the
communicative function of the printed word and remain stubbornly mute. Lorem
Ipsum is a substitute text invented by typesetters to mock-up
p
ages awaiting content. Grace employs this nonsensical ‘dummy’
script to construct impenetrable op-abstracts that defy black and white
reading.
Marquiss’ rubbings of his clothes on
fabric resemble flattened doppelgangers, frozen in suspended animation.
Paralleling Gittner’s sculptures they suggest absent figures or objects
endowed with life. Frottage replicates objects as uncanny images but like
photography it can exaggerate tones. Marquiss' black and white 16mm film
portrait of Grace in his studio, Grey Test, considers the subtle tones
lost in representation. Attempts to catch a spectrum of greys by over and
underexposing the film fail to replicate a human grey area.
Julika Gittner Cologne,
Germany
. Studied at Goldsmiths College 1997 and Bartlett School of Architecture,
UCL 2001. Recent exhibitions include; Showinshow, Flattime HO,
London. Homo Economicus, Paradise Row Gallery, London 2009.
Updating Germany, La Biennale di Venezia 2008. Product of
Their Labour, solo exhibition, TiKi’s Salon, London 2008.
Tommy Grace (Born Scotland
1979) studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art, 2002, co-founder of The
Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh. Recent exhibitions include; Dummy,
solo exhibition, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh 2009. Jerwood Contemporary
Painters 2010, Jerwood Space, London. Transmission, Grey Area
Gallery, Brighton 2010. Separates, Limoncello Punctuation
Programme, London 2009.
Duncan Marquiss (Born
Scotland 1979) graduated from the MFA course at Glasgow
School of Art 2005. Recent exhibitions include; There is no you,
solo exhibition, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich 2009. Running Time.
Artist Films in Scotland: 1960 to Now, Dean Gallery, Edinburgh 2009.
The Associates, Dundee Contemporary Arts 2009. The Clay
Wall, solo exhibition Dicksmith Gallery, London 2007.
For further information please contact Rob Lowe at
'press@s1artspace.org' or 0114
2493386
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