Problem Solving: Espress Yourself(Uplands group show) 14 May 2009 - 13 June 2009
















Group exhibition

Problem Solving: Espress Yourself

14 May 2009 - 13 June 2009

including Kain Picken & Rob McKenzie, A Constructed World, Claire Fontaine, Ester Partegas, Jota Castro, Hany Armanious, Steve Carr, Koji Ryui, Raquel Ormella, Pat Foster & Jen Berean, Liv Barrett, Christopher LG Hill, James Deutsher, Matthew Griffin, Renee So, Poklong Anading, Tony Garifalakis, Huseyin Sami, Guy benfield, Jon Campbell, Ida Ekblad

This show has been inspired by a sculpture we exhibited in May 2008 by artists Kain Picken & Rob McKenzie called Espress Yourself (Briony). At the beginning I was considering the concept of espress[ing] yourself, in life and in the art world, and why they chose that title. Why they chose to put an espresso machine on a plinth on a rug on a coffee table, so I conceived a project show of artists who make sculpture in order for me to reveal the private side of curating. One aim of this project is for us to think about curating as a personal/private act rather than a didactic one, to remove the moral and intellectual instruction implicit in many group exhibitions. As a result I personally hope to learn more about all the pieces in the show. So you can see this project as my very own art dealer master-class where I arrange an invited group of artists in a room with one particular work in order to learn more about an object I represent, and in-turn what it means to represent something.
The idea of curating a show around one artwork in an attempt to learn more, or find a new context for that work is more appealing to me than putting together a show of sculpture in order to make a weak half-claim to what is 'happening' in art right now. Some of the works in the show I have selected from existing pieces, the rest will be new work made for the show.
Jarrod