2013/14 - LISTE 18 | The young art fair in Basel

Bartlett0/8/1Laura Bartlett GalleryLaura BartlettMadeleine Martin4 Herald StreetGB-London E26JTT +44 20 3487 0507M +44 777 180 3606mail@laurabartlettgallery.comwww.laurabartlettgallery.comShown at LISTE:Lydia Gifford, 1979, UKAlex Olson, 1978, USAOther Artists of the Gallery:Becky Beasley, UKNina Beier, DKJohn Divola, USSimon Dybbroe Møller, DKHarrell Fletcher, USCyprien Gaillard, FRIan Law, UKMarie Lund, DKElizabeth McAlpine, UKMartin Skauen, NONina Beier and Marie Lund, DKAlex OlsonInstallation View,Bravo ZebraLaura BartlettGallery, London,2013(bottom left)Lydia GiffordShore, 2013Wood, canvas,gauze, pigment, oilpaint, paint166 × 26 × 18 cm(bottom right)Lydia GiffordShore, 2013Wood, canvas,gauze, pigment, oilpaint, paint166 × 26 × 18 cm60 / 61Alex Olson’s paintings are built usingmultiple layers. The works place anemphasis on painting as surface, proposingexteriors that engage with a viewer’spresumptions and projections. Workingwith oil paint and very thin stretchers, Olsoncreates her marks using highly indexicaltools, such as trawls, window scrapers,palette knives, plastic wrap, and low gradebrushes. She points to the surface itselfthrough dragging and rubbing paint into theface of the painting, exposing each scratchand mark embedded within it. Collectivelythese graphic and material marks competeagainst one another as they vie for theviewer’s attention through their conflictingsignals. Viewed from different angles anddistances, the paintings yield new sets ofinformation, so that the encounter is oneof negotiating and reevaluation. The worksoffer the viewer an unfolding experienceof visual signs that highlight the process bywhich we encounter, translate and assignmeaning to surface information.With physical and spatial considerationsat the core of her work, Lydia Gifford testspainting processes and the limitationsof media. The fundamental relationshipbetween sight and touch is central to thework. The conflict of plane and form isembodied in a makeshift carpentry. Gifford’swooden structures are wrapped in canvasand paint layers are employed in a sculpturalmanner to reveal, conceal or de-form thisunderstructure.Their placement is determined byphysical references such as the constantrepositioning of the viewer. This movementcontinues within the works’ contingencyfor reconfiguration, as the interplay of surfaceand texture, image and object, emits a visualrhythm in which floating, falling or risingsigns both come together and drift apart.Just as a new composition becomes visible,that which was seen before continuesto linger, reminding the viewer of what nowremains hidden.