DNA

DNA is the new multi media ArtHertz  group exhibition inspired by the world of electronic music pioneer and critically acclaimed artist, John Foxx.  It brings together an exciting collection of artwork inventiveness. From typography etched on copper to beautiful large botanical digital prints on aluminium, an embroidered ‘My Sex’ on canvas, a computer installation representing, ‘Mr No’, a metallic portrait of the man, a ‘futurist’ motorised tombola with a window-clinging man trapped in a pointless, repetitive cycle, hints at some of the meaning behind the man’s many song titles. Foxx also takes his place presenting a new series of prints and an installation from the new project, ‘The Quiet Man’ 

In reflection of the collaborative spirit of Foxx’s career, participants for the exhibition have included a wide range of practises including fine art, photography, typography, architecture, filmmaking and music. The lyrics, the words, the images, the music and philosophy of John Foxx take on a life of their own at this unique event which this year previews alongside the Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival  - recognised as a leading platform for the short film genre both nationally and internationally.  This year the Soho Shorts Film Festival will exclusively present an excerpt of The Quiet Man – the long awaited new book by John Foxx in a live performance involving Foxx himself against a backdrop of visuals from leading VJ / artist, Karborn, at the Apple Store on the 24^th July later followed by the accompanying exhibition, DNA on Monday 27^th July at The Horse Hospital  Bloomsbury. The 5 day event will form part of the Soho Shorts Film Festival and will feature DNA screenings every day with a Private View on Monday 27^th followed by a Futurist themed after party to commemorate 100 years of Futurism with live performances by John Foxx and DJ / VJ performances by Dennis Da Silva, Roger Spy  and Karborn

John Foxx has made an idiosyncratic journey through popular music since the mid 1970s having earlier experimented with tape recorders and synthesizers whilst on a scholarship at the Royal College of Art.

In 1979, he used synthesizers and drum machines to record Metamatic, the first electronic album by a British solo artist. The album is now credited as providing a blueprint for the evolution of popular music to the present day and he has been name checked by acts the likes of Klaxons, Ladytron, Afrika Bambaataa, Gary Numan and Duran Duran . Some of his work was recently showcased to a sell out audience at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art. There are also currently plans for a major Foxx event involving large-scale projection on Battersea Power Station in September 2009. This year he also releases music collaborations with Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Steve Jansen (Japan) and Paul Daley (Leftfield).

Parallel to his music he has also pursued a career as a filmmaker and graphic artist.  As well as gallery exhibitions and installations in major international cities, his photographic images have graced numerous book covers over the last 10 years, including novels by Anthony Burgess and Salman Rushdie.

                                                                     Dennis Da Silva  - CURATOR

RetroFuture

Retrofuture was a group show that investigated the relation between old and new. The setting for the exhibition was considered carefully and intends to utilize the history and architecture of this old palace as a key reference to the exhibited works. There is a beauty is this recognition that any future is impossible without having first a past, and it is this juxtaposition between tradition and modern-media and thought that brings this exhibition together.

 At a time when aspects of media, urban life and communication seem intent on rapid acceleration, British electronic music pioneer and acclaimed digital artist, John Foxx, presents an antidote in Cathedral Oceans III – A project which resulted from many years of visual investigations by Foxx into rendering modern technology to create a montage made-up of photographs, found objects, litter and images of industrial landscapes over-imposed by overgrown gardens. The visuals, stained-glass window like, collected over thirty years on journeys throughout Britain, USA and Europe are reminiscent in their construction of the techniques of Impressionism and Cubism and are enhanced by a beat-less soundtrack that draws from Gregorian chant. 

By contrast, Australian artist GMary presents traditional photographic portraiture with face-shots similar in format to passport pictures. The snippets of random expressions create a narrative, a description of a sitter, a portrait, in a surprisingly intimate fashion. In a society apparently obsessed by quick moving-images GMary’s work is a storyboard, a film about a character, made of stills. This series of photographs also assures us that in spite of our recent obsession with technology and rapid imagery, simple face-expressions will always remain most capturing of all.

This link between the past and future is further explored in the work of German-born Thomas W. Kuppler who is exhibiting mixed-media collages on canvas, three-dimensional works and a video. His pieces, constructed of found-objects, bring together a selection of recycled elements to create a new image, thus establishing new out of old. Kuppler emphasizes our dependency on the past (or retro) and alludes that the future cannot exist without reference to it. Multi-tasking and utilizing a wide-range of practices, Kuppler’s “do it all” attitude recalls of Renaissance apprentices who had to specialize in many disciplines during their training.

In the East Courtyard British artist Adrian Lee is exhibiting Banderole C21, a vinyl banner, lavishly decorated. Lee demonstrates how the use of signage and graphic techniques communicate a visual message, detached from the literal meaning. Combining illuminated letters, old-style typeface and gold-leaf, the piece transforms the humble and ubiquitous “Bingo and Car Boot Sales” banner into a beautiful and precious object of desire.

On the grounds of the Palace by the walled garden British artist, Nick Ferguson, reinstated the tradition of the dovecote which in Medieval times would have been used as a source of meat, eggs and manure, as well as a decorative piece and a status symbol. Ferguson’s retro-future hybrid is a model that draws on early Modernist architectural styles such as Art Deco as well as more utopian projects like Geogril Kuitikov’s 1928, ‘Flying City Apartment Complex’. Its features, however, are entirely compatible with a pigeon’s requirements.  Particularly the balconies that provide convenient perches as well as the supporting pylon that raises the living quarters clear of predators. Other details, such as the copper roof and stained-glass fanlights present a more burlesque version of these earlier projects.

Retrofuture is a group project from ArtHertz – an international art agency encompassing a wide range of contemporary practices fused with alternative music. The participating artists have chosen art as a secondary or parallel career with diverse backgrounds in music, athletics, international hotels, teaching and lecturing. These ‘outsiders’ have gathered together to create the “new” in a second life, inside this historic space. This “second coming”, this union of the ancient and modern, has influenced the artists’ work.

Dennis Da Silva – Curator

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