PAULNACHE presents... 'JAMES R FORD, Something or Something Else'. Film by Damon Meade; Music by Junk Shop Star. PAULNACHE Productions © 2015 - View the exhibition
Something or Something Else; A film by Damon Meade & PAULNACHE Productions
Scoop
James R Ford's inaugural solo with Gisborne dealer PAULNACHE
James R Ford in conjunction with PAULNACHE, Gisborne, NZ presents...
lol·ly·gag
- intransitive verb \ˈlä-lē-ˌgag\
- : to spend time doing things that are not useful or serious : to fool around and waste time
Forever playfully exploring the intimate relationships between physical media and everyday life: James R Ford’s investigations into, and reflections on, existential nature and the use of conventional materials and modes of presentation reveal countless nuanced contradictions as well as a fascination with process and the filling in of time. While mostly a creator of laboured drawings, well considered objects and videos, Ford also provides us with scenarios that have us pondering over the mundane and/or acting out the absurd as he invites us to look deeper into his works and what is taking place around us.
There are several strands to the concept behind these works, but all question the nature of the artwork and our perception therein. The exhibition title, Lollygag, was chosen as the works on show may appear to be foolish or useless on first glance. The idea here is to look at how we spend our time, what is considered a waste of time, and how thought alone can bring worth to something seemingly “worth nothing”. Nothing as in empty, or the act of doing nothing (being idle, waiting, worrying), or the relative importance of an gesture or the worth of the artwork itself (nothing to offer, waste of time, pointless).
Bertrand Russell, from the essay “In Praise of Idleness”, says “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” This can be applied to the time spent producing the artworks, or the time used by the viewer in looking and contemplating them. Where do “wastes of time” sit in your hierarchy of needs? Maybe we all need some things we don’t need for the subsequent virtue or pleasure they can bestow. The exhibition will consist of a new body of work including film, drawing and object assemblage. With Hat Stand (Waiting for Godot) Ford invites viewers to try on and swap the hats on display, assuming other identities or personas, especially if you find yourself waiting for something.
- Opening: Friday, 4th of July, 6:00PM at PAULNACHE Upstairs 89 Grey St Gisborne, NZ
- Exhibition: 4th-26th July 2014
James R Ford (b. 1980, UK) studied at Goldsmiths College in London and currently lives and works in Wellington. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and overseas and in 2013 was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist's Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. In 2014 Ford published a book of selected works, with accompanying texts, interviews and essays from 2008-2013, entitled Fail Better.
2014 London Biennale Pollination in Las Vegas
Jevijoe Vitug's 'VIVAYLAN' and Anothony Bondi's 'Iron Curtain'. Photograph: JK Russ
The London Biennale project was founded in 1998 by David Medalla, a Filipino conceptual artist based in London, who assigns the theme for each year’s biennale. The event aims to challenge and transform the notion of the art world ‘biennale’ as a large state or corporate-sponsored event with artists selected by curators based on their geographical location, citizenship, nationality, race and ethnicity by throwing open borders and encouraging a more intimate and community-based dialogue between the artists and audiences. Over the years, the London Biennale has expanded with simultaneous satellite events taking place in Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Berlin, New York, Boston and Las Vegas.
At this year’s London Biennale Pollination in Las Vegas, attendees literallyget lost in art. The multi-artist constructed exhibition, emerging as a satellite event from the London Biennale, features the theme “Maps, Mazes and Mysteries” writes Eleni Parashos for vrated.com.
Amongst those involved are Matthew Couper, JK Russ and Jevijoe Vitug. Couper, a New Zealand native and local [Las Vegas] artist, curated the London Biennale Pollination in Las Vegas with fellow artist and writer Vitug. He says the theme, although developed as an international concept by London Biennale creator David Medalla, has deep roots in Las Vegas.
“Vegas changes often, to the point where a map becomes useless after a few months,” Couper said. “It’s a city that operates as a changing structure and generates a lot of mystery for the people who come here. It’s an easy place to get lost.”
Parallel Lines
'All I want is 20-20 vision / A total portrait with no omissions' - Blondie, ‘Picture This’, Parallel Lines LP, 1978
Parallel Lines brings together the seemingly disparate works of artists represented by PAULNACHE in Gisborne, New Zealand. The installation of artworks create a visual representation of timelines, slipstreams, jet-steams, tracks and paths alluding to the variable ways that artists interact visually, conceptually, locally and globally. Much like Jorge Luis Borges’s seminal short story The Garden of Forking Paths, where a multiplicity of narratives run together to create a hypertext structure, Parallel Lines traces multiple narratives around the perimeter of the gallery walls and in turn creates a wider narrative pursuing concepts of glocalization - a newly coined term, blending globalization and localization referring to the concept of individual, group organization, product or services that reflect not only global standards but also local aspects. The artists represented in the exhibition and by PAULNACHE act on this premise of glocalization with artists living throughout New Zealand and abroad in Berlin, Melbourne, Las Vegas, Manila and Mumbai, but all returning to the provincial East Coast city of Gisborne in New Zealand to test and trial their art in the context of PAULNACHE.
The exhibition features artists Evan Woodruffe, Star Gossage, Matt Summers, Justin Jade Morgan, Mark Braunias, Brian Campbell, Matt Arbuckle, Scott Gardiner, Valerie Bos, Jevijoe Vitug, Rob McLeod, Ben Pearce, Ria Camp, Sanjay Theodore, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Clive Kelly, John Pule, John Walsh, Arie Hellendoorn, Geoff Tune, Bill Riley, Dion Hitchens, James Ormsby and Matthew Couper.
Tools of the Trade grand opening in Gisborne
Justin Jade Morgan. Photo courtesy of Paul Nache
We are excited to officially welcome Auckland based artist Justin Jade Morgan into the ‘Family’. Morgan’s practice dovetails between group collaborations, individual pieces and extended projects. Developing performative pieces, installations, drawings, audio and photographic works that explore the relationship between physical objects and life as performance. His personal projects have featured in the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, The Dowse, Lopdell House Gallery (NZ), the Border Museum (Slovenia), Digital Fringe 08 (Melbourne), 3rd ‘Arhipelag’ International Contemporary Arts Festival (Solvenia & Italy), International Museum of Collage, Mexico and ‘ArtColle’, France with residencies and other temporary projects taking place in France, Germany, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand. Morgan’s inaugural exhibition ‘Tools of the Trade’ opens at PAULNACHE on First Friday 7 March 2014, 6:00PM. He plans to attend the opening.
NO MORE LOL·LY·GAGGING
James R Ford, Twiddling My Thumbs (still a), 2014, HD digital video transferred to Blu-ray, silent, 1 sec (looped)
James R Ford was born in 1980 in the United Kingdom. He studied at Goldsmiths College in London and currently lives and works in Wellington. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and overseas and in 2013 was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist's Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. This year, Ford self-published a book of his selected works, with accompanying texts, interviews and essays from 2008-2013, entitled 'Fail Better'. After featuring in several curated exhibitions, PAULNACHE is pleased to announce his upcoming inaugural solo exhibition with the Gisborne Gallery, opening Friday 4th of July 2014. The artist will attend his opening.