Reconstructing the Old House

The Nunnery Gallery
Private View: Friday, 3rd April, 6 - 9pm
Open: 4 - 26 April 2009; Thurs - Sun, 12 - 5pm

Artists: Jo Addison, Gordon Cheung, Adam Gillam, Julian Hughes Watts, Kounosuke Kawakami, Max Mosscrop, Steven Rendall, Danny Rolph and Benet Spencer

Curated by Benet Spencer

Reconstructing the Old House is as a touring exhibition, featuring artist’s who take architecture or the urban environment as a starting point. The approaches are multiple, some directly referencing architecture as an iconographic form, others sitting on the edge of fully adopting architecture as a theme, yet freely and willfully plundering the territory for inspiration. The utopian pipe dreams of fantasy landscapes sit next to experiments in playful construction; mixed media collages of synthetic ephemera alongside a purity and elegance that echoes modernist ideals.

In essence, the architectural reference can be seen as a starting point for a broader investigation of materials, process or ideas. The highly subjective nature of the artist’s relationship to an urban context, and the diverse strategies that result, places the emphasis on the making of things - objects or images - and the relationship between two separate areas of construction: the artist’s studio or the man-made world outside.

Following the exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery, the exhibition will travel to the Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, 9 - 31 October 2009. A catalogue with an essay by David Ryan accompanies the exhibition, published by Anglia Ruskin University.

Generous support has been given by Arts Council England, the Bow Arts Trust and the Nunnery Gallery, Anglia Ruskin University and the Ruskin Gallery.