Sorcha Dallas

‘On any day of the year it is summer somewhere in the world’

In the celebrated documentary ‘The Endless Summer’ (1966), Bruce Brown followed two surfers around the globe in their quest for the perfect wave. Shot on 16-millimeter film, with post-synchronized sound, it captures a short-lived period in American popular culture. This proudly unpolished movie became synonymous with hardcore surfing, youthful freedom and nomadic attitude.

In the same way, this group of artists uses a series of signs where different languages and cultures are intertwined in a continuous redefinition of the concept of form. These heterogeneous shapes will be redefined and expanded as an extensive reservoir underneath the canonical levels, regardless of the codified structures.

The various elements associated together are always presented as a completely new starting point in which their origin is unimportant. This interaction of visual references creates a simultaneity of shapes in which the relationship with geometry does not represent a determined form; it is not about a systemisation of it that is more valid than others. The original module can be seen as a preliminary constriction of formal nature; a stance that points to the charm of the rule in its equidistance between constraint and freedom.

In working with vernacular aesthetics all the artists play with the line between the staged and the un-staged; the action or event, inducing an audience into a position of uncertainty. Despite their varied cultural backgrounds, the artist’ works share the ambiguity of apparent beauty laced with an ironic subversion; the often attractive and skilfully rendered artwork at second sight reveals an insurgent edge.

The Endless Summer offers a turbulent view, where no phenomenon can be seen to develop in a simple linear, progressive or hierarchical manner; building chaos into forms supposed to be stable. All their different praxis and attitudes are related to the concept of ‘abstract matter’, which rather than being constituted in fixed entities, is made up of movements, of endless crossing and re-crossing of lines of stratification. It represents a living organism, a fluid network of signs, the matrix and result of a series of codes in which each artist inserts his own.

‘The Endless Summer’ at westlondonprojects Guest curator: Gyonata Bonvicini

Private view Thursday 27 April, 6-8pm Exhibition runs 28 April – 28 May, Open Saturday 12-6pm, or by appointment

westlondonprojects is pleased to present a show curated by Gyonata Bonvicini. The Italian curator based in London is the first of guest curators who, at times, will be invited to westlondonprojects, adding a further dialogue to the exhibition programme.

Using the 1966 surfing documentary ‘The Endless Summer’ as a metaphor Bonvicini has brought together a group of young international artists for the exhibition. The movie by Bruce Brown, which follows two surfers around the globe in their quest for a perfect wave, became synonymous with hardcore surfing, youthful freedom and nomadic attitude. In the same way, this group of artists uses a series of signs where different languages and cultures are intertwined in a continuous redefinition of the concept of form. In working with vernacular aesthetics, all the artists play on the borderline between the staged and the un-staged; the action or the event, inducing their audience into a position of uncertainty. Despite their varied cultural backgrounds, the artists’ work shares the ambiguity of apparent beauty laced with an ironic subversion; the often attractive and skillfully rendered artwork at second sight reveals an insurgent edge.

Richard Aldrich, New York (1975), Peter Coffin, New York (1972), Sean Dack, New York (1976), Kate Davis, Glasgow (1977), Christian Frosi, Milan (1973); Claire Harvey, London & Amsterdam (1976), Camilla Low, Glasgow (1976); Mai-Thu Perret, Geneva (1976); Eileen Quinlan, New York (1972), Egill Saebjornsson, Berlin (1973); Michael Sailstorfer, Berlin (1979); Nicole Wermers, London (1971)

Gyonata Bonvicini (Milan *1972) studied Art History in Parma, Bonn, and Milan. He has written numerous articles and catalogues texts both for individual artists and institutions and started independent curating in 2003. His most recent exhibitions are ‘Three Cities: Berlin” (AC Gebbers Bibliothekswohnung, Berlin, March 2006), in collaboration with Anna-Catharina Gebbers and Paolo Zani, ‘Jaybird’ (Galleria Zero, Milan, November 2005), ‘Take It Further! Part 1 & 2’ (Andrew Mummery Gallery, London, July/September 2005)