CROSSING THE BORDER

Press Release by Alona Pardo

Morley Gallery
61 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1
T: 020 7450 9226, E: gallery@morleycollege.ac.uk

Crossing the Border: The 'Other’ Europe
8th March – 12th April 2002
Private View: Thursday 7th March 6 - 8pm

Morley Gallery 61 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 T: 020 7450 9226, E: gallery@morleycollege.ac.uk

Crossing the Border: The 'Other’ Europe 8th March – 12th April 2002 Private View: Thursday 7th March 6 - 8pm

The title, Crossing the Border: The 'Other’ Europe, suggests that any discussion of contemporary European art cannot negate the current cultural economy of non-EU member states. With the advent of the Euro as the ‘official’ European currency, countries that are not members of this tight-knit European Old Boy’s Club are being written out of contemporary European history and culture, left at the periphery to construct their own narrative. This show suggests that any discussion of a post-modern European aesthetic is incomplete without considering the art of this inherently European region.

Artists: Aleksas Andriuskevicius, Kjetil Berge, Christopher Cook, Zoran Dimovksi, Kestutis Grigliunas, Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, Slobodan Kovacevic, Radovan Kraguly, Arvydas Martinaitis, Vesna Milicevic, Rolf Monsen, Goran Ohldieck, Predrag Pajdic, Maria and Natalia Pechatnikov, Paul Ryan, Edmundas Saladzius, Jelena Salinic, David Sawer, Renata Trijkovic, Krzysztof Wretowski

Co-curated by Predrag Pajdic and Paul Ryan, Crossing the Border: The 'Other’ Europe presents drawings, prints, graphics, video and music by 19 prominent contemporary artists, primarily from non-EU member countries, including Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and the Former Yugoslavia as well as 4 British artists. For many of the international artists involved this show marks their first UK exhibition.

Steeped in a rich history of drawing from Dürer to Rembrandt to Kandinsky, the artists presented here have all taken the primordial desire of mark-making one step further. This show is evidence of a desire to re-engage with innate human frailty through the metaphor of fragile pencil and charcoal. Crossing the Border reclaims a labour intensive lo-tech medium for art from an over-mediated, de-humanising, hi-tech-driven society. The works vary greatly in process, medium and imagery but all testify to the importance of drawing in the 21st century.

Zoran Dimovski’s explosive large-scale drawings demonstrate the potential of drawing as a contemporary medium. Dimovski has developed his own unique albeit physically demanding process where the abstract image is built up with tiny obsessive marks, however, the overall effect is one of spontaneity and expression. Similarly, Goran Ohldieck’s prints of bold, abstract yet simple forms mask his laborious technical process. The large dark charcoal drawings by Norwegian artist Rolf Monsen are literally constructed layer upon layer, only to be etched out and erased with an over- sized rubber – paying tribute to abstract expressionism. Slobodan Kovacevic’s complex and intricate black and white line drawings resemble computer-generated fractals that raise issues between the hand-made and the mass-produced, authenticity and multiplicity. The child-like and immediate nature of Arvydas Martinaitis’s work contrasts greatly with the highly polished time consuming works in the show. His drawings of stick-like figures and crossed-out text present the viewer with a personal scrapbook of disparate and fragmentary memories and moments. Jelena Salinic’s intimate drawings of domestic interiors elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary and Paul Ryan finds beauty in the banal and everyday. Each one of the artists presented in Crossing the Borders articulates in his or her own way the importance of drawing as a powerful tool in today’s global art practice.

The exhibition will tour to Norway, Lithuania with more venues planned.

For photographs or further information please contact 020 7482 6649 or email: crossingtheborder@hotmail.com Gallery opening hours: Mon-Fri 11 – 6, Sat 12 – 4, Thurs 11 – 7 (Closed Bank Holidays). Nearest Tube: Lambeth North (Bakerloo Line).

Acknowledgements: Christopher Cook is represented by Hirschl Contemporary Art London (hirschl@dircon.co.uk). The exhibition has received support from Pen Productions and London Arts.

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THE OTHER EUROPE: