SCULET & GUNSMOKE
Dispossessed and Borrowed Forms
Alex Head at the Green Lens Studio/Gallery
A sculptural exhibition of shifting identities, found objects and cinematic experience, Alex Head presents clay models orphaned by their creators - a collection of re-worked, re-fired and re-framed misfits. Abandoned sculptures are referred to by the artist as Sculets, a term originally used by his father to describe a neglected item of cutlery found at the bottom of the kitchen sink.
Drawing on the radiant mystery of first encounters this imaginative space is fed by a world of shadows and make-believe born from the zoetropic installation Gunsmoke.
Driven by his fascination with the concept of identity the artist asserts that one's sense of self must naturally shift and morph in order to survive changing situations and expectations. It is therefore his belief that misidentification is the inevitable consequence of this ever evolving, increasingly virtual sphere, where contradiction, false signifiers, adaptation and irony become fair game in the all consuming, all producing city of London.
Masks mirrors, abandoned personalities, characters illuminated in shadow, all conspire to deceive us while each plays their part in the public conceit of fixed individual identities. The paradox of individual identity remains as the other plays a crucial role in the formulation of the self if only in an opposing sense, for without the experience of otherness where would we begin to define ourselves?
This will be the first solo show to emerge from an artistic practice that has been characterised over the past three years by group activity, events and workshops. It also marks a final show in the UK before emigration to live in Berlin, Germany.
SCULET & GUNSMOKE has been partially funded by the online arts group Number 1 Mate, providing small grants for North London artist-activists.
The artist would like to thank The Institute Arts Centre for support in this project.
