Tim DaviesFigures in a Landscape
29 February to 6 April 2008 V22 Dalston
Figures in a Landscape, brings together recent work by Tim Davies shown for the first time in London. Making film, installation and drawings, Tim has been nominated for the prestigious Artes Mundi prize.
Much of Davies' work involves some form of performative content. The action, the task, the ‘performance' of making the work is often an integral part of the reading of the work itself. In Cadet we see a young soldier, somebody's son, back turned to the camera quietly stationed by a monument to remember the fallen. Then the artist hopelessly circles the monument just as the service comes to an end and, camera in hand, documents his futile and exhausting action. We witness confusing and chaotic moving images that overwhelm the senses, building in intensity and emotion.
Davies' approach to making work also involves repetition of task. Belaboured installation is finally transformed. In Scatter, hundreds of pieces of cloth are carefully inserted into the wall and appear like crude flowers, exploding outward from a centre. This micro-universe is a snapshot in time, an uneasy pause for contemplation and remembering things that have long since passed.
The themes of displacement of the individual and community are ongoing in Davies' work. Figures in a Landscape is a series of postcards collected by the artist that depict people in national costume (This work lends its title to the show). The artist has cut away each individual to leave a simple outline of what was before, and, raised from the background, these negative silhouettes cast ghostly shadows on the surface behind.
Venue info
V22 Dalston
10–16 Ashwin Street
Dalston
London
E8 3DL
Overground: Dalston Junction, Dalston Kingsland
Bus: 30, 38, 56, 67, 76, 149, 236, 242, 243, 277