Roland Roland

39 Pages·2009·3.41 MB·English

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The iCa is proud to present the second issue of Roland,
which has been produced to accompany our summer exhibi-
tion, entitled Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. The first half of the
magazine contains a guide to the exhibition and its associ-
ated events, while the second half contains a wider range of
texts and images, creating a more expansive context for the
current project.
Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
Poor. old. Tired. Horse. ian hamilTon finlay

room one
Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. is an exhibition of separate initiatives by swiss and Brazil-
art that verges on poetry. The exhibition ian writers, and it went on to become an
starts with work from the 1960s, and with international phenomenon in the 1960s,
a group of artists who are associated with gaining adherents in many countries and
the Concrete poetry movement that flour- extending out of the literary sphere and
ished during that decade. The movement into the art world.
can be taken as a symbol of the cross- The first room in this exhibition
pollination between art and literature concentrates on the work of the scottish
that was a feature of the 1960s, but the artist and writer ian hamilton finlay,
exhibition goes on to look at other artistic who was a key figure in the Concrete
practices from this era that explored the poetry movement in Britain. moreover,
intersection of the graphic and the poetic, the exhibition takes its title from a peri-
and concludes with a group of younger odical that finlay ran from 1962 to 1968, Poor. Old. Tired. Horse.
no 18, Wild hawthorn press
artists who place such concerns at the and which featured his own graphic and
heart of their work. literary experiments alongside those of
as a genre, concrete poetry is other artists and poets.1 finlay, in one of
understood as poetry in which the visual his aphoristic assertions, maintained that
ian hamilton finlay’s associations with the Concrete in 1966 he began to work directly in the landscape at
manifestation of words is as impor- “stupidity reduces language to words”.
poetry movement begin in the early 1960s, around his home in stonypath, in the hills outside edinburgh.
tant in conveying the intended effect as The current exhibition challenges this the time that he founded Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. finlay’s most famous creation is his garden, little
finlay would go on to become the most important sparta, a fusion of poetic and sculptural elements with
the more conventional elements in the reduction and, like finlay and his col-
concrete poet in Britain, with work that paid homage the natural landscape, and which employs the classical,
poem. The genre has ancient roots, and laborators, seeks to demonstrate the rich to the Japanese haiku, and to the Carolingian revolutionary and martial imagery that would be a
scholar-poets, as well as to the modernist avant- feature of his later work.
notable examples were created in the possibilities of language when mani-
garde. he would also become one of the key
early twentieth century by the french fested not only as poetry but as image. promoters of the Concrete poetry movement in this ian hamilton finlay was born in the Bahamas in 1925,
country, through his publishing and correspondence. but spent most of his life in scotland. he published
writer guillaume apollinaire, and by the
The exhibition features a display of printed his first volume of short stories in the early 1950s, and
dadaists. however, as a movement Con- mark sladen ephemera by finlay—including copies of Poor. in 1961 he founded the Wild hawthorn press, which
Old. Tired. Horse.—and two of his concrete poems printed his prolific output of poems, cards and booklets
crete poetry had its roots in the 1950s, in iCa director of exhibitions
realised as wall paintings.1 as well as Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. his career was long
finlay would come to feel confined by the and varied, and included a solo exhibition at the iCa in
acceptance of the Concrete poetry movement by a 1992. finlay died in 2006.
wider public, and would disassociate himself from
it in the later 1960s. his own practice was constantly
1. in his later career, finlay often chose to realise texts as wall
developing, however, and he continued to experiment paintings, recreating his older poems or creating new pieces.
1. The phrase “poor. old. Tired. horse.” originated in a poem by with the idea of giving form to syntax. in the early The wall paintings were often made in partnership with les edge,
Robert Creeley. who has executed the installations at the iCa. one of the works
1960s, finlay made a number of ‘poem objects’,
at the iCa is sea Poppy i, which is based on a concrete poem
which frequently took the form of stone pieces, and from 1968 that uses the codes of shipping boats.
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Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
room Two dom sylvesTeR henRi feRdinand
houÉdaRd Chopin KRiWeT
The second room in the exhibition con- dom sylvester houédard—or ‘dsh’, as he called henri Chopin is a key figure within experimental ferdinand Kriwet is a multimedia artist who has
himself—is, with ian hamilton finlay, one art and literature in the post-war years, as an artist engaged with text, language and concrete poetry
tains work by a number of artists who,
of the two principle founders of the Concrete and writer, but also as a highly active curator, editor, since the 1960s. Kriwet’s Text signs, 1968, a set of
like finlay, were associated with the poetry movement in Britain.1 houédard began designer and publisher. in 1958, Chopin founded which are shown in the iCa’s lower gallery, are
experimenting with what he called ‘typestracts’ in the review Cinquième saison, which became Ou in made from stamped aluminium. The format implies
Concrete poetry movement, demonstrat-
the 1940s, and developed a highly distinctive style of 1964 and ran until 1974. over the course of its life, a commercial function, and the pieces resonate with
ing some of the range of positions that it typewritten visual poetry, using coloured typewriter this journal brought together figures associated advertising culture. however, Kriwet’s circular use
ribbons and carbon papers. When Concrete poetry with dada, surrealism, lettrisme, fluxus and Beat of text also has strong associations with the mandala,
embraced. This room also features other
emerged as an international movement in the early poetry, as well as innovators of Concrete poetry— an indian form imbued with spiritual significance
artists who emerged in the 1960s and 70s 1960s, houédard became—through his legendary including ian hamilton finlay. in Buddhism and hinduism. moreover, it has the
letter writing—one of its most active participants, Chopin was an advocate of interdisciplinary function of disrupting the linear process of writing,
and who—though sometimes known for
advocates and theorists. production and multi-sensory art, echoing Raoul as words and names join together or are juxtaposed
very different affiliations—created work The work of houédard is notable for its hausmann’s view that “We are able to speak and to suggest a clashing and fusing of ideas.
extraordinary formal discipline, for its exploration write, because we hear with our eyes and we see Kriwet’s signs, like finlay’s landscape pieces
that offers interesting parallels to that
of the multiple combinations of letterforms and with our ears.”1 Ou was notable for its inclusion and wall paintings, were an attempt to move
of the concrete poets. We now associate words, and for its examination of the spatial of recordings of sound poetry—the area in which concrete poetry quite literally into the world.
possibilities of the page. he saw Concrete poetry Chopin himself is probably most famous as an artist. The use of the sign form to contest subjects such
the deployment of text in 1960s art with
as an extension of an ancient tradition of shaped This exhibition includes a number of Chopin’s as militarism and sexuality, and to co-opt the public
the use of written instructions or records verse, and his works are allied to notions of mystical ‘typewriter poems’ from the 1960s and 70s, which inscription of power, is also an interesting precedent
contemplation. his interest in mysticism also reflect another key aspect of the artist’s work: a for the work of Jenny holzer and other artists in
within Conceptual practice, or of adver-
encouraged him to explore Buddhism and hinduism, fascination with the relationship between order the 1980s. The circular form is further explored in
tising language within pop, but these and some of his works echo the mystic-psychedelic and disorder, a preoccupation deeply rooted in his Kriwet’s Text dias and Text sails, 1970, giant signs
imagery of the hippy era. experience of war. printed on pvC, a group of which are displayed in
artists, just like the concrete poets, sought
the iCa’s Concourse.
to explore the poetic or expressive possi- dom sylvester houédard was born in 1924 on henri Chopin was born in paris in 1922. deported
guernsey, and studied at Jesus College, oxford, and to germany in 1943, he spent periods in prison and ferdinand Kriwet was born in düsseldorf in 1942,
bilities of language.
at st anselmo, Rome. in 1949, after serving in British in hiding before being repatriated, and subsequently and lives in dresden. as well as his text works, the
army intelligence he became a monk at prinknash enlisted as a solider. in the 1960s in paris he worked artist has also produced ‘sound-picture-collages’
abbey in gloucestershire, and was ordained as a as a radio and television producer, but he left after the and experiments in radio, television and publishing.
priest in 1959. houédard made many contributions failure of the uprisings of may 1968, and moving to Kriwet was included in the seminal concrete poetry
to religious life, becoming a champion of the england, settled in essex. Chopin’s solo exhibitions exhibition at the iCa, Between Poetry and Painting,
ecumenical movement in the 1960s, and working as a in the uK include Ceolfrith arts Centre, sunderland, curated by Jasia Reichardt in 1965; more recently, he
theologian and as a translator of the Bible and other 1972, norwich gallery, 1998, and Cubitt, london, had a solo show at The modern institute, glasgow,
religious texts. houédard died in 1992. 2008. Chopin died in 2008. in 2008.
dom sylvester houédard 1. houédard, like finlay, was galvanised by a letter celebrating 1. Cited in alicia drweski, ‘henri Chopin’, in Henri Chopin,
FOr THe 5 VOWels (1), 1976 the movement written by the portuguese poet de melo e Casto exh. cat., Coelfrith arts Centre, sunderland, 1972 (n.p.).
to the Tls in 1962. The two British poets would share a
long correspondence.
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Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
liliane viTo CaRl andRe
liJn aCConCi
in a text from 1968, liliane lijn wrote, “WoRds vito acconci began his artistic career as a writer and
= viBRaTions = eneRgy”.1 over the past a poet, concerned less with the meaning of words
forty years, lijn has explored this idea through than with the way in which they could be arranged
numerous kinetic artworks. in the early 1960s, she across a page. seeking to demolish the functionality
began experimenting with painting horizontal lines of the word, in the late 1960s he made a series of
on revolving cylinders. having decided to put words works using pre-existing text. sourced from a
on the cylinders, she collaborated with the poet variety of material, acconci’s ‘found poetry’ was
and filmmaker nazli nour, who had asked lijn if relocated to the left or right margin of the page, thus
she could “make her poems move”.2 lijn extracted disconnecting the words from a context that could
words and phrases from nour’s poems and used establish meaning. Taken from Four Book, 1968, the
letraset to apply them to her cylinders. pages on display at the iCa constitute one graphic
around this same time, lijn also began to collage poem, each page juxtaposing a photocopied
experiment with truncated cone shapes inscribed image of a page of the manhattan phone book with
with words in rhythmic circles and ellipses that a column of phrases or words.
visually recalled the sound of the text. The cones acconci’s objectification of language echoed
were placed on revolving record turntables. lijn first the anti-referential principles of minimalism,
showed her Poem Machines in la librairie anglaise which began to dominate the new york art scene
in paris, a popular spot for Beat artists and writers. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. as acconci cut,
in 1968, she was commissioned by the iCa to make spliced, moved and displaced words, he performed
a work for the exhibition Guillaume apollinaire many of the principle actions of the new sculpture.
1880–1918: a Celebration. The result, exhibited again These actions became increasingly performative, as
here, is Poemkon=d=4=Open=apollinaire. The cone acconci asked himself: “if i’m so interested in this
has remained an important formal consideration for question of space and movement over a page, why
lijn throughout her career, and she continues to am i confining this movement to an 8 x 11 inch piece
investigate the notion of words, sub-atomic particles of paper?”1 from here, he began to operate in a
and reality in flux. variety of media, exploring the real space of human Carl andre, i i i left met was, 1975
interactions, and creating some of the foundational
liliane lijn was born in new york in 1939. after works of performance art.
Carl andre is today best known as one of the eyewitness accounts of the bloody encounter, i have
studying archaeology at the sorbonne and art
founders of minimalism, but he has also engaged created a clastic reweaving of voices. The result is a
history at the ecole du louvre in paris, she has vito acconci was born in the Bronx, new york, in
in a parallel practice as a poet. andre’s poems are Cubist-fugue rendition of the homicidal episode that
spent periods of time in greece before eventually 1940. he studied literature at holly Cross College,
characterised by the way in which they isolate reduces the orderly recollections of the witness to
settling in the uK. in 2005, lijn became the first Worcester, massachusetts, and received an mfa in
words from syntax, and from larger sets of words the panic and chaos of the event itself.”1
artist in residence at the space sciences laboratory, creative writing from the Writers’ Workshop at the
(often derived from a particular historical source).
university of California, Berkeley, where she university of iowa in 1964. in the early 1970s his
These isolated units are subjected to repetition, Carl andre was born in 1935 in Quincy, ma. he
experimented with aerogel, a material developed performances were supplemented by film and video;
gridding and other arrangements, emphasising their studied art at phillips academy, andover, ma, and
by nasa. thereafter his practice became centred on installation;
materiality; andre is especially drawn to nouns and moved to new york in 1956. andre first showed his
and at the end of the 1980s he moved into design and
proper names, words that emphasise their properties sculpture publicly in 1965, and in 1966 his work was
architecture and formed acconci studio.
as ‘things’. There is a clear relationship between included in the seminal show of minimalist art at
andre’s poetry and his sculpture of the mid-to-late the Jewish museum in new york, entitled Primary
1960s, the period in which he was developing his structures. andre’s poems became widely exhibited
material language of stacked, gridded and modular only later, and were the subject of an exhibition at
structures. lisson gallery, london, and the museum of modern
shown here are five pages from a seventeen- art, oxford, in 1977.
page poem by andre entitled shooting a script, a
1. lijn, liliane, ‘poem maChines = vision of sound’, 1. Kotz, liz, ‘poetry from object to action’, art and language, project he began in the mid-1970s. in andre’s words, 1. Carl andre, quoted in press release for the exhibition Carl andre:
liliane lijn Poem Machines, 1962–1968, national art library, The miT press, Cambridge and london, 2007, p. 174. “The main event of shooting a script is a mutually Words & small Fields, sadie Coles hQ, london, 2001–02.
victoria & albert museum, london, 1993 (n.p.). fatal gunfight that took place in Waco, Texas on ‘Clastic’, from the greek word klastos, meaning broken is
2. PWoielmso Mn,a achnidnrees,w 1,9 ‘6l2i–li1a9n6e8 l, iojnp: c pito.em machines’, liliane lijn april fool’s day, 1898. from a text presenting 17 ian gdeivoildougaicl apl atretrimcle rse.ferring to sedimentary rocks made up of
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Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
ChRisTopheR room THree RoBeRT
KnoWles smiThson
Christopher Knowles is best known for his ‘typings’ The exhibition’s exploration of artis- Robert smithson had a special interest in language,
of the 1970s and 80s, text-based pieces that were and at the start of his career he created a group
tic practices from the 1960s and 70s, and
developed as a private pastime. The exceptional of drawings that explore its pictorial possibilities,
ability in mathematical organisation revealed in the ways in which they were allied with including the two works exhibited here, untitled
these works is a characteristic by-product of autism, (Moth) and untitled (encyclo), from 1962. These
poetry, is concluded in this room. how-
with which Knowles was diagnosed as a child. his drawings combine nude and mythological figures
work also reveals affinities with the structure of ever, unlike those in the lower gallery, with rows of apparently random words, numbers and
serial art and music, and has a strong relationship phrases. They correspond to smithson’s recollection
these bodies of work use images in addi-
to performance (the artist has also made live and of “phantasmagorical drawings of cosmological
recorded performances of his texts). tion to words—or are purely illustra- worlds somewhere between Blake and … oh, a kind
Knowles’ typings employ lists of words and of Boschian imagery”.1
tional, in the case of david hockney’s
phrases, including those derived from pop charts as smithson’s development of words as
well as other words and phrases from the artist’s life. etchings. The mid-century avant-garde compositional elements on the page reflects his
additional features include geometrical patterns, interest in William Blake and the idea of the painter-
often denigrated the pictorial or illustra-
carefully built up using the artist’s initial, ‘C’. The poet, but also offers a parallel with the way in which
works were created on an electric typewriter, using tive possibilities of art, but the four artists language is treated in concrete poetry. smithson’s
red, black and green inks, and the pieces exhibited idea of the radical properties of words—once freed
in this room all showed themselves capa-
here were made in 1980 on scrolls of rice paper. from the usual systems by which they are contained,
ble of flying in the face of such opinion. and including the idea of words as architectonic
Christopher Knowles was born 1959 in new york, material or as ritualistic incantation—would be
where he still lives. his wider public exposure dates developed in a text entitled ‘language to be
from his meeting, in 1973 at the age of fourteen, with looKed at and/or Things to be Read’,
the theatre director Robert Wilson. The latter had from 1967.2
heard an audio recording by Knowles, and asked
him to collaborate and perform with his company, Robert smithson was born in passaic, new Jersey,
a partnership that continues today. Knowles first in 1938. he had wide-ranging interests that took in
exhibited in 1974, and had two solo exhibitions at science, natural history, anthropology and science
holly solomon gallery in 1978 and 1979. fiction, and his complex ideas were manifested in a
variety of ways. he is best known as a pioneer of the
earthworks movement, and for his association with
minimalism, but as well as being an environmental
artist and sculptor he was also a filmmaker and writer.
smithson died in a plane crash in 1973, at the age of
thirty-five.
Robert smithson 1. interview with paul Cummings in robert smithson:
Christopher Knowles untitled (Moth), 1962 The Collected Writings, ed. Jack flam, 1996.
untitled, 1980 2. Reproduced on p. 52–53 of this publication.
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Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
philippe gusTon alasdaiR david
gRay hoCKney
alasdair gray’s best-known productions as a The greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933)
visual artist are his graphic illustrations for his is famous for his gay love poetry, written in the
own books, and he is interested in a tradition of cosmopolitan atmosphere of alexandria in egypt
writers who have also illustrated their own work, in the 1920s. david hockney discovered Cavafy’s
including William Blake and Rudyard Kipling. in poetry while still a student, and it inspired several
this exhibition, gray is represented by two groups works that he made in 1961. in 1966 he was
of prints: one is from a set of illuminated versions commissioned to make a series of etchings relating
of his own poems, made between 1967 and 1971; the to the poet, and in 1967 he published a portfolio
other is based on the illustrations for his celebrated entitled illustrations for Thirteen Poems from C. P.
novel lanark, published in 1981. Cavafy, works from which are exhibited here.
Both groups of prints were created from as preparation for the commission, hockney
originals made with scraperboard and ink, travelled to the middle east, although he went not to
and feature the combination of precise line egypt but to the lebanon, which was then the more
and phantasmagorical subject matter that are cosmopolitan locale. hockney returned with a set
characteristic of gray’s illustrations (as well as of pen-and-ink drawings of street life in Beirut, and
of his murals). They also contain motifs that have several of these were used as the basis for etchings.
recurred within the artist’s work; as he has observed, however, the majority of the final prints concentrate
“on inventing a figure of the sort i call ‘a moral not on street scenes but on interiors, and were based
emblem’ i keep using it again and again”.1 The primarily on drawings of pairs of boys made in
poems that gray has illustrated are from a cycle the artist’s bedroom in notting hill. These works
entitled in a Cold room, 1952–57, written in response are not literal illustrations of Cavafy’s poems, but
to the death of the artist’s mother. The illustrations evocations of the fleeting sexual encounters that are
for lanark are in fact a set of frontispieces produced among their subjects.
for the different parts of the novel, a postmodern
philip guston, i am the First, c.1972 portrait of the author and his native city, which gray david hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford,
began to write in the 1950s. and educated at Bradford College of art and the
Royal College of art, london, graduating in 1962.
alasdair gray was born in 1932 in glasgow, where hockney is one of the leading figures associated
from the late 1940s through to the mid-1960s, other in unpredictable ways. naturally, there is no
he still lives. he obtained a diploma in design and with British pop art, and has worked as a painter,
philip guston was a leading figure within abstract ‘illustration’ of text, yet i am fascinated by how text
mural painting from glasgow school of art in draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and
expressionism. however, between 1967 and 1968 he and image bounce into and off each other.”1 at the
1957, and since that time has been producing mural photographer. in the mid-1960s he made los
abandoned abstraction in favour of a new style of iCa, guston is represented by a group of Poem-
commissions as well as portraits and illustrations. angeles his main residence, but he is now based
painting, which featured everyday objects realised in Pictures made in collaboration with Clark Coolidge.
gray established a parallel career as a writer, primarily based in yorkshire.
a cartoon-like fashion. The critical reception to his
producing plays for radio and television in the 1960s
first showing of these works was highly negative. philip guston was born in 1913, in montreal, but
and 70s, and has published many novels and other
as a result, guston left new york City, retreating to moved with his family to los angeles in 1919.
books since the international success of lanark.
upstate new york, where writers and poets became as a painter in new york, he rose to prominence
his primary influence. alongside Jackson pollock, Willem de Kooning
The Poem-Pictures constituted a series and mark Rothko. he has been the subject of solo
of drawings first initiated by guston in 1970 in exhibitions at institutions around the world. guston
collaboration with poets including Bill Berkson, died in Woodstock in 1980.
Clark Coolidge, Robert Creeley and William
Corbett. guston was interested in the interplay
of words and images. in a letter to Bill Berkson
in 1975, he wrote, “it is a strange form for me
—excites me in that it does make a new thing— 1. philip guston, quoted in Philip Guston’s Poem-Pictures, addison 1. from ‘on making pictures’, Frieze, issue 119, november 2008,
a new image—words and images feeding off each gallery of american art, andover, massachusetts, 1994, p. 14. p. 148.
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Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
room Four anna JaniCe sue
BaRham KeRBel TompKins
The exhibition concludes with the work much of anna Barham’s work centres on poetic Janice Kerbel works with a range of materials, While sue Tompkins’ work owes much to various
texts, created using a self-prescribed set of rules, including drawing, text, audio and print, to explore literary and art-historical movements, such as
of six younger artists. several are repre-
and in particular, the rules of the anagram. inspired the indefinite space between reality and fiction, and Concrete poetry, the Beat poets and typewriter art,
sented by text-based pieces, others use by the story of the archaeological discovery of between abstraction and representation. her work she frequently emerges as the rebellious offspring
leptis magna, an ancient Roman city east of frequently involves extensive research, and takes the rather than as a clear descendent of these genres.
combinations of text and image, and in
Tripoli, in 2007 Barham created a series of drawings forms of plans, proposals, scripts or announcements her performances usually involve three items:
some instances their gallery-based charting anagrams of the city’s name. in 1816, some for imaginative scenarios that cannot or will not a stool, a microphone and a ring-binder full of
fragments of the ruins of leptis magna were given actually happen. in conveying these imagined hundreds of sheets of paper. she reads from these
works are allied to a wider poetic or
to King george iv, and used to build an artificial events, Kerbel draws upon the potentiality of at a hyperactive pace, developing her rhythm. in a
performative practice. in recent years, ruin at Windsor great park. Just as the excavated language and text. previous incarnation, she was a singer in the now
stones formed the foundations of an imaginary ruin, in this exhibition, Kerbel is showing two defunct post-punk band, life Without Buildings.
the art world has been dominated by
so in Barham’s work the letters in the city’s name works from the remarkable series. originally Tompkins’s typewritten works are not residues
neo-Conceptual work, and where text become the building blocks of new poetry and prose. commissioned for frieze projects (for the 2007 frieze of her performances, but a parallel practice, often
in recent works, Barham has added R, e, art fair), the posters use precisely fanciful language using broadsheets that have been folded to fit into
has been used it has often been within
e and d to her existing pool of letters, thereby to describe the appearance of a number of elusive a typewriter, and that still bear the creases of this
the limits established by Conceptual- generating further anagrams. at the iCa, the artist and otherworldly characters. Borrowing from the process. she presents segments of language, often
is exhibiting the video Magenta, emerald, lapis, hyperbolic language of fairground announcements, de-contextualised snatches of everyday conversations.
ism. however, artists are now turning
2009, in which she uses a tangram (a square cut into figures introduced in the series include: The Human Words are given emphasis through repetition,
towards poetry and expressive language seven pieces that can be re-formed in various ways) Firefly, Faintgirl, One-eyed soothsayer and World’s juxtaposition, misspellings and uneven spacing.
to create letterforms, eventually building up words shyest Person, The regurgitating lady and
in a way that has not been seen for many
into a text. The tangram pieces are shuffled and Temperamental Barometric Contortionist. The large- sue Tompkins was born in glasgow in 1971,
years. like some of their forebears from reshuffled at the moment they become recognisable format silk-screen posters were created digitally graduated from the glasgow school of art in
as letters, illustrating how symbols are transformed using typefaces inspired by the nineteenth-century 1994, and is still based in the city. she has had solo
the 1960s and 70s, these younger artists
by the reordering of their parts. Barham’s interest letterpress. each letter was set manually into the exhibitions in numerous venues, including the
explore the potential of poetry to move in anagrams stems from the idea of revealing an page in a laborious process that creates subtle showroom, london, in 2007. Tompkins has also
unconscious meaning of a word, and exploring its variations in the uniformity of each work. performed at institutions and events around the
beyond the constraints of linguistic and
associative potential. world, notably the scottish pavilion at the venice
graphic systems, reflecting the true com- Janice Kerbel was born in Toronto in 1969, and Biennale in 2005, and Tate Britain in 2006.
anna Barham was born in the uK in 1974. she studied at emily Carr College of art and design,
plexity of communication and creating
graduated from the slade school of fine art, vancouver and goldsmith’s College, london. she
meaning that cannot be pinned down. london, in 2001. she works in a variety of media, now lives and works in london. The artist has had a
including sculpture, performance, video and number of solo exhibitions at institutions across the
drawing. Barham has exhibited internationally and uK, including norwich gallery of art, 2003, and
within the uK, and is currently showing in the arnolfini, Bristol, 2000. Kerbel will be showing at
exhibition stutter, in Tate modern’s level 2 gallery greengrassi, london, in the autumn.
until 16 august 2009.
sue Tompkins
The artist performing at the showroom, london, 2007
14 15
Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / Gallery Guide
KaRl holmQvisT maTTheW fRanCes
BRannon sTaRK
matthew Brannon explores the potential of words to frances stark is exhibiting four works that adapt
communicate, illustrate, misrepresent and confound. the writings of other authors. Having an experience,
his work sometimes recalls the aesthetic language 1995, traces a reader’s underlinings in a copy of
of advertising and posters, particularly from 1950s art as experience, 1934, a book on aesthetics by
america. With hindsight, the 1950s has emerged as the american philosopher John dewey. The other
a decade in which the us presented a thin veneer of three works employ quotations from novels: Robert
strength and unity that barely concealed a bored and musil’s The Man Without Qualities, 1930–42 (The
disillusioned population, a situation that would result quantity of the effect and the effect of quantity, 1997);
in profound social changes in the following decade. Witold gombrowicz’s Ferdydurke, 1937 (i must
Karl holmqvist, oneloveWoRld, 2004 in many ways, this duplicity resonates in Brannon’s explain, specify, rationalize, classify, etc., 2008);
work, which is frequently comprised of images that and samuel Beckett’s Watt, 1945 (untitled (drop
would not look out of place in a cookbook, juxtaposed Out), 2003).
with unsettling or inappropriate snippets of text. stark often draws on book culture within her
Brannon’s work suggests a complex work, and she seems especially interested in the
relationship between image and text. sometimes, self-reflexivity that is a feature of modernist writing.
the text is printed so small that it can be difficult to such self-reflexivity is echoed in the visual strategies
read. at other times, it is nonsensical, or at least a that her work employs, which include repetition,
non sequitur, and on further occasions it presents a fragmentation and collage (and her graphic
literal, deadpan explanation of the image. Brannon treatment of text can create parallels with concrete
has explored text in a number of forms, from poetry). however, stark’s quotations from literary
micro-stories to concrete poetry. in the creation culture are more playful than didactic. They are also
of his work, he uses letterpress, an outdated part of a wider interrogation of the creative act,
printing technique. in the exhibition, Brannon and of authorial uncertainty, that has a pronounced
Karl holmqvist shows a number of works featuring text spewing autobiographical aspect for the artist, who often, as
The artist reading at westlondonprojects, 2009 from a typewriter, an important device in the in i must explain, specify, rationalize, classify, etc.,
artistic positioning of words in society and another appears in her own work.
reference to a bygone era.
frances stark was born in 1967 in newport Beach,
matthew Brannon was born in st maries, idaho, California, and lives and works in los angeles.
Karl holmqvist is an artist and poet whose output holmqvist’s particular interest in repetition and
in 1971. he received an mfa from Columbia she studied at art Centre, pasadena, and at san
has included performance, recorded sound, printed patterning, and features concrete and other poems,
university, and lives and works in new york. francisco state university, graduating in 1991.
matter, video, collage and installation. his work is interspersed with appropriated images that include
his solo exhibitions include a recent show at the Recent exhibitions include a Torment of Follies,
characterised by its social and political activism, op art paintings and photographs of underground
Whitney museum of american art at altria, new at secession, vienna, and greengrassi, london,
albeit manifested in a highly personal and eccentric pin-up arthur Rimbaud.
york, 2007, and he will have a solo exhibition at in 2008; and in autumn 2009 the artist will have an
form. filtered through a collage of cultural
The approach, london, in the autumn. exhibition at nottingham Contemporary.
references, it takes in a lineage of figures associated Karl holmqvist was born in vasteras, sweden, in
with or appropriated by alternative culture, from 1964, studied literature and linguistics at stockholm
Jesus and William Blake to William Burroughs and university, graduating in 1987, and now lives and
patti smith. works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include
holmqvist’s readings are distinguished The living art museum, Reykjavik, 2008, and
by their hypnotic, anti-spectacular quality, and argos arts, Brussels, 2009. Recent group exhibitions
his visual work is often deliberately functional, include manifesta 7, Trento, 2008, and For Fans and
employing the tools and aesthetics of self- scholars alike, westlondonprojects, 2009.
publishing, and extending the notion of reading
and performance into the gallery space. The artist’s
installation at the iCa includes a copy of his
photocopied book, ONelOVeWOrld, published
in 2008, as well as a wall of posters that have been
enlarged from it. ONelOVeWOrld demonstrates Texts by Charlotte Bonham-Carter and mark sladen
16 17
Roland / issue 2 / June—augusT 2009 POOr. Old. Tired. HOrse / exHiBiTiON relaTed eVeNTs
evenTs
some exhibition-related events dan gRaham in liliane liJn:
require booking. please call the ConveRsaTion WiTh The poWeR game
iCa Box office on 020 7930 3647 anna lovaTT Tuesday 28 July 7pm
Tuesday 7 July 7pm iCa / free
for more information please visit nash Room / free / booking
set in an imaginary casino,
www.ica.org.uk/poth required
The Power Game is principally
The celebrated artist dan graham concerned with the power of
will be in conversation with anna words. it is both a game and a live
lovatt, lecturer in art history, performance, which investigates
sTephen Bann
university of nottingham. The the politics of identity and power.
Tuesday 23 June 7pm
event will take in the linguistic The Power Game is the brainchild
nash Room / free / booking
turn in 1960s art, with special ref- of liliane lijn, one of the exhibi-
required
erence to the drawings of Robert tors in Poor. Old. Tired. Horse.,
art critic, curator and art historian smithson. The evening is co-host- and was originally staged by her at
stephen Bann is recognised as the ed by the iCa and middlesbrough The Royal College of art in 1974.
pre-eminent commentator on ian institute of modern art, on the
This event is unconfirmed at the time of
hamilton finlay’s work. Bann occasion of mima’s purchase of going to print. please check the iCa website
delivers a lecture on finlay’s vast two smithson drawings, exhibited or call the Box office for more information.
and varied artistic output. in Poor. Old. Tired. Horse.
XpRmnTl pTRy
maRK sladen ChaRloTTe ThuRsday 30 July 7pm
ThuRsday 25 June 7pm Bonham-CaRTeR iCa Theatre / £4
meet in the lower gallery / free ThuRsday 9 July 7pm (£3 concessions, free to
meet in the lower gallery / free iCa members)
director of exhibitions at the
iCa, mark sladen delivers a talk assistant Curator at the iCa, The Concrete poetry movement
on the exhibition. Charlotte Bonham-Carter delivers helped to open up the field of
a talk on the exhibition. poetry, and visual poetry is now
practised by many poets at some
WhaT Was /
stage of their career. But is there
is ConCReTe poeTRy? anna BaRham aT
still a dedicated group of experi-
Wednesday 1 July 7pm The poRT elioT
menters in visual poetry, and how
nash Room / free / booking liTeRaRy fesTival
does the shape on the page trans-
required fRiday 24—sunday 26 July
late into live performance and
a panel discussion looking at the anna Barham, one of the exhibi- sound? poet Chris mcCabe orga-
original Concrete poetry move- tors in Poor. Old. Tired. Horse., nises an evening of avant-garde
ment of the 50s and 60s, and ex- will be staging a new performance and experimental poets, including
amining its legacy. With arnaud at The port eliot literary festival peter finch and Jeremy Reed as
desjardin, artist and publisher of (held in st germans, Cornwall). part of The ginger light.
the The everyday press; Chris The performance will incorpo-
mcCabe, poet and joint librar- rate sculptural elements, and will
miChelle CoTTon
ian at the poetry library; and translate Barham’s manipulation
ThuRsday 6 augusT 7pm
other participants to be announced of shapes and letters into a live
meet in the lower gallery / free
(please check the website for arena, presenting language as a
details). Chaired by mark sladen, form of choreography. for details Curator of Cubitt, london and
director of exhibitions, iCa. visit www.porteliotfestival.com freelance art critic, michelle Cotton
delivers a talk on the exhibition.
alasdair gray
We Will Go into the streets of Water, 1965
18 19