project 2012 / end of the world exhibition part i
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Project 2012 End of the World Exhibition5th-9th October 2011 Part ITRANSCRIPT
Project 2012End of the World Exhibition
Part I5th-9th October 2011Ground Floor Left Gallery
PROJECT 2012 - End of the world exhibition
1 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Edouard Burgeat - Geoffrey Cervantes - Nadège Druzkowski Kelly Jackson - Patrick Jannin - Sarah Kirk - Lili Phelouzat Tal Regev - Katrine Roberts - Pierre Winkelmann
Curator: Lili PhelouzatPR and Media: Lucía BurbanoDesign: Clara Gaya - [email protected]
Printed in London in 2011
10 Artists
Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition | 2
The aim of Project 2012 is to use the possible end of the world predicted for December next year as a vehicle to express what
this apocalyptic end could mean for us. But also, to reflect on the path our society has taken and the several crisis which are a
consequence of our decisions: wars, global credit crunch, famines, environmental disasters, a merciless nature…
The works of the artists taking part in Part I of Project 2012 are a strong statement which makes us cross the boundaries of reality.
Each of them conveys their view and technique to create a present and future based on reality and the imagined.
We hope you enjoy their works. We also want to invite you to join them in their reflection.
Project 2012 will be an itinerant exhibition around London. There will be 5 shows, one week long, per season (Autumn 2011/Winter
2011/Spring 2012/Summer 2012/ Autumn 2012) and the Grand Finale on 21/12/12 which will gather all the artists who have taken
part of the previous shows.
Lili Phelouzat | Lucía Burbano
Project2012exhibition.blogspot.com [email protected]
Prologue
Human responsibility
3 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Edouard Burgeat
My work is the result of the inspiration drawn from the
different practices I studied over the years such as Fine Art,
Photography and Design.
My perception has been sculpted by the travels I have made
around the world (Europe, Russia, South America, North
America, Africa...) which are the sources of my expression.
It transgresses different forms of creation which explain the
mix of techniques in my work.
For Project 2012, my idea was to create, through mixed
technique drawings, lifeless spaces where the spectator gets
transported into the mist of the painting and has to interpret
different symbols, classic & modern, that relate to our
responsibility in the crisis of today.
For me, 2012 doesn’t mean the end of the world as the Mayas
view it, in the sense that the world is an infinite circle and the
calendar ends to transit into a reborn – the start of the World
of the Fifth Sun; however my end of the world started the past
10 years of the 21st century – crisis is everywhere, in nature,
economics, uprisings, riots, famine...
Through my drawings, Human responsibility is the central
idea behind what could be the Apocalypse, where the Mayas
symbolize a spiritual answer to our society’s malaise.
Edouard Burgeathttp://www.edouardburgeat.com/
UntitledMixed media on Paper, 29.7x42cm
2011
Edouard Burgeat | 4
Escape from a Dying Planet
5 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Geoffrey Cervantes
Whilst resident in the Albayzin, Granada (Spain), and
preparing my first exhibition at Caja Rural in 1991, I was
bombarded with terrible images of the beginning of the Gulf
War shown on TV.
I could not believe the total destruction, pollution, burning oil
fields and loss of lives that was occurring in front of my eyes...
My inspiration, hope, needs and desires could only be
acknowledged through artistic expression. I was desperate
and needed to ‘’escape’’ spiritually. I painted this scene, not
only as a statement of my disgust at this unfortunate side of
‘’the human condition’’, but as a personal therapeutic release
from this horrible reality.
Unfortunately, we all live under a constant threat
of apocalyptic proportions with the ease of media
communications: natural disasters, famine, war and terrorism
are frequently broadcasted and are now part of our daily life.
It has to be accepted.
We all suffer now from what experts have called ‘’Future-
Shock’’ syndrome, which is the cause of worry, stress,
depression and many other illnesses...
Geoffrey Cervanteshttp://www.artmajeur.com/axis/
Geoffrey Cervantes | 6
Escape from a Dying Planet Oil on canvas, 61x50cm
1990
7 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Nadège Druzkowski Dreaming of Crystal Palaces
Dreaming of Crystal Palaces... This painting was inspired by
the Great Eastern, a steam ship built in 1858 by Brunel. In her
day, she was the largest ship that ever sailed on the oceans.
She suffered a terrible fate, proportional in tragic measure
to her great size. Legend has it that misfortune struck even
before she was put afloat. The phantom of an unlucky worker,
buried alive in the hold of the ship during its construction,
was said to haunt her. She was certainly plagued by many
accidents, costing numerous lives, including Brunel’s own. He
died of a heart attack shortly after the ship’s launch, his health
ruined by financial setbacks and technological nightmares.
Also baptised the Leviathan, the sea monster of biblical fame,
the ship squarely marked the end of an era and the peak of
the Industrial Revolution. Machines were soon to take over.
It was the dawn of an increasingly mechanized world where
man started to compete with nature through superhuman
structures. Was this the beginning of the end of the world? At
the very least the end of one world...
I like to experiment with different media including painting,
photography and printmaking. I enjoy the somewhat
unexpected results techniques like etching can produce and
how I can integrate these into my final works.
My work is predominately centred on landscapes, which are
grounded neither in reality nor fiction but a subtle blend of the
two. By using the interplay between colour and light I want to
capture, specifically in my paintings, a dreamy quality that
very often only exists in memories.
More recently, I have begun to investigate abandoned
industrial buildings of the 19th century. I am interested in
how these desolate sites, commonly viewed as blots on the
landscape, are gradually being reclaimed by nature.
Nadège Druzkowskihttp://www.ndart.fr/
Nadège Druzkowski | 8
Dreaming of Crystal PalacesAcrylic on canvas, 220x170cm
2010
9 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Kelly Jackson
The drawing technique I have developed is incredibly labour
intensive and often consists of forming layered tonal imagery
from thousands of tiny lines in Biro pen, the strength in
it lies in using an everyday object to produce something
extraordinary which reflects the way that social groups
are formed by individuals being compounded together,
this is contrasted by blunt text borrowed from instinctively
selected yet relevant forms of popular culture such as film,
contemporary literature and graphic novels.
My work is realized through an examination of the
psychological relationship that we hold with mortality and
how this relationship affects the societies and social groups in
which we live. It encompasses references from both popular
culture and significant historical shifts in social attitude and
morality. My thought process has been somewhat influenced
by the philosophical theories of Julia Kristeva, Georges
Bataille and Ernest Becker, with particular note to Kristeva’s
development of the notion of the abject and Becker’s view of
society as a defence mechanism serving to protect us from the
recognition of our fear of death, an all encompassing complex
distraction of sorts.
Kelly Jacksonhttp://www.wix.com/kellyin5/kellyjackson
They Bury The Dead So Quickly They Should Leave Them Lying Around For Months
They Bury The Dead So Quickly They Should Leave Them Lying Around For Months Biro on paper, 1mx1m
2011
Kelly Jackson | 10
Patrick Jannin Le Jugement Dernier (Judgement Day)
11 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Life as a stage. It plays the Grand Return of the Ridiculous - code
name and acronym: GRR. Fear and anger are a must in times of
war, and time, we no longer have it, since TV and the net vomit
daily, the End of the World approach. 2012. The date is set. On
21/12/2012, you have an appointment with the Grim Reaper. Not
you alone, no, all your sisters and brothers are with you. Ready for
the plunge?, Ready for the Age of Aquarius?
The great Zany is back. It is Mickey Christ, Jesus Clown for the
intimates, who puts on his own show. “Scene II, Act 1”. On the
menu tonight, we propose a reversal of the poles. Elected officials
will be drawn at the end of the show. History has not yet told us if
the winners will get Nirvana, a wreath or a bunch of virgins. MC
J.C speaks, harangues, urges the crowd. Both hands forward, he
refuses any charity, and says that forgiveness will be granted to
nobody. That’s his name: NOBODY. He told us more than 2000
years ago. My name is NOBODY.
Very well, let’s go to hell then. But keep smiling, because tonight it’s
party time.
Supper on stage. From 12 plus ONE, they are only three left.
Once again, we are being tricked by Trinity. This version,
however, is simplified, so that even the illiterate can understand
what is happening. For others, we put a few winks, and these
two creatures. Disguised reference to the so-called: School of
Fontainebleau painting, which shows two women in a box. One
pinches the nipple of the other. Renaissance. After the Apocalypse,
ignorance and contempt will be the new rule. Or is it already here?
Marie carries on her breast the Infant King. Stillbirth Infant, he’s
got his mother’s fingers as a crown. The King is dead, and Ave
Maria. Of the eye, once so beautiful, from the princess, worms
coming out, since the rot already won (the beauty is fleeting). The
maggot, a true Christian Democrat, likes and eats all. He stuffs
and feeds on our flesh. The woman on the right, her scalp to
shreds, biding her time, she is serene. Maybe she read the book
where it says that the resurrection is possible only after the decay
of the flesh. That’s how she ignores fear and suffering.
Clown Jesus, citing Fontenelle, then said as follows:
“Life is not worth being taken too seriously, anyway, we will not
come out of it alive.”
Then, with a sigh, he added, “BAND OF SUCKERS!”
Patrick Janninhttp://www.patrickjannin.com/
Le Jugement Dernier (Triptic 2/3)Drawing on paper, 345x780cm
2011
A few words about my painting, although I think it
speaks for itself. I see each of my paintings, each of
my drawings as a witness of everyday life. Thereby,
my work can be read like a diary, which has nothing
left intimate. This is the place where I put my feelings
down with lucidity. Or else, as a study of human kind.
I show what everyone hides every day, for the sake of
conventions. I use my pen as a scalpel, I want to take
off the masks. I want to understand. Finally, I seek the
truth. Mine anyway. There is no morality in my work,
no decorum, no concessions. And if sometimes I flirt
with bad taste, it’s just because I consider life as a
huge farce, an absurd comedy.
Patrick Jannin | 12
Isolated City
13 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Sarah Kirk
These paintings convey personal ideas about an ‘isolated city’
by looking at the monotony of cities like London, with paths
going on a journey to nowhere which I have incorporated
through the use of map-like areas.
I wanted to suggest isolation in crowds by using very busy
areas in comparison to large amounts of space, also giving the
imagery a dream-like, abstract quality that the viewer can use
to apply their own experiences and interpretations about the
city. I wanted to try and give an impression of a paradox; of
disconnection from a place so full and well connected through
separate elements, and also through using pattern to give the
appearance of many people without personality or identity.
I believe this gives a feeling of desolation, bringing with it
connotations of utter destruction and loneliness.
As a recent Illustration graduate I enjoy working with a
handmade approach, using textures and different materials to
create atmosphere and a strong sense of place. I am interested
by many works of literature and film and this inspires me to
attempt to bring suggestions of narrative into my work as well.
Sarah Kirkhttp://www.sarahkirkillustration.com/
Isolated Together Mixed media on canvas, 51x78cm
2011
Sarah Kirk | 14
15 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Lili Phelouzat
“I like to explore the boundaries of reality. My work is
experimental and evolves between subconscious images and
imaginary characters. I like to provide the viewer with an
intimate escape to either a reality or to a world of transition
through forms, lines and colors juxtaposed on canvas. Some
of those juxtapositions create characters that travel in an
abstract landscape full of dynamics. My inspiration comes
from experiences which are visual, mental and emotional.”
As well as being the curator of the show, I wanted to create a
couple of works. As I was thinking about new directions and
thematic for my work, I encountered a video about the end of
world, and that is where it all started. I thought, after all, if
the predictions were to come true, It would mean that all of
us will be affected. I thought why not gather artists, invest on
exhibition spaces and galleries, start a countdown, express our
thoughts and see what happens.
Of course, to me, it is not only about a countdown and what
American blockbusters like to show us. It is deeper than that, it
is about reflecting on the path our society has taken. History,
nature, human development and everything that we see on a
daily basis in newspaper, net...
As an artist of the positive, I could not give a dark
interpretation. I had to give colors and imagination and
somehow add something sweet to it. A “Sweet Surrealistic
Apocalyptic Approach”.
End of the world, meaning the beginning of a new one
perhaps...So why not having some flying heads, and some
giant ants ridden by headless knights? Why not..
Lili Phelouzathttp://www.liliphelouzat.co.uk/
When the mushroom get loose
When the mushroom get looseMixed media on paper, 42x59.7cm
2011
Lili Phelouzat | 16
17 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Tal Regev
The victim enters the catastrophic environment of trauma
through the “membrane“ that separates sense from nonsense,
narrative from chaos, and reality is torn asunder leaving no
boundaries and no guideposts (Kali Tal in Worlds of Hurt:
Reading the Literatures of Trauma)
One dominates the other, from a subtle presence to abuse.
One sets the rules for the other to live by. I feed you with the
air that circulates between us, till we suffocate, as we cannot
escape each other.
Between subtlety and aggression there is a whole range of
colour and circumstance. I focus on the point of breaking. We
are partners; both of us holding the tip of a rope that stretches
tightly between us. Suddenly you let go, and never look back, I
lose my ground, I have nothing to hold on to, nothing to grasp.
I am left in the air, I go mad.
My practice is focused on painting. I’m interested in creating
the sense of an open wound. I want to convey its presence
as a subtle cry that constantly inhabits ones being, but is not
necessarily acknowledged in a conscious way. At times this
pain comes to the surface, it seeps out and one has to deal with
it. In this way I wish to comment on cruelty in a social context,
as well as in basic everyday human relations.
Tutim 2
Army helmets and gas masks become part of a circus like
scenario, a theatrical and almost ridiculous space where
bodies meet and open up a veiled story. Bold and visceral
gestures aim to suggest a recognition within the viewer of an
over blown, tragic, intimate scene, a self-contained drama.
Tal Regevhttp://www.talregev.co.uk/
Tutim
Tutim 2 Oil on canvas, 170x140cm
2011
Tal Regev | 18
Ineluctable Gaze
19 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Katrine Roberts
I am fascinated in the power a face has to seduce yet
simultaneously repel. I try to allure the viewer into a dialogue
with the painting whilst also causing them to step back and
be challenged by the piece. In my work a happening has
occurred, whether by a wound, collage or painterly mark. Like
paint on canvas, skin on a body has the potential to be warped,
stressed and manipulated causing it to become abstracted into
other new forms. Skin is not fixed, solid and unchanging and
this makes us uneasy. The slow aging, maturing and eventual
decay of the skin confronts us with what lies ahead. However,
when someone’s skin is suddenly injured, torn and burnt, we
realise that death can claim us in an instant.
Therefore we don’t like to look underneath the skin or
inside an open wound; not simply because we are looking
at something that is painful but because we are physically
looking at something metaphorical. When a person’s face is
wounded, and they are still living, we are confronted not only
by the wound but also the gaze of the wounded one looking
back at us “...in an ineluctable confrontation of gazes...”
(‘Remnants of Auschwitz’)
The boundary of this life to the next is as thin as the paper I
work on. As this exhibition looks to the end of the world there’s
an opportunity to consider diverse beliefs concerning the end
of this world and questions about what comes next. My faith
in Jesus Christ and belief in what the Bible says means that I
believe the world we see is not all there is. There is fullness of
life; eternal, abundant excitement to be found in the life Jesus
offers us. Choosing to believe in Jesus Christ means much
more than what happens after you die. Once you’ve chosen
to put your faith in Christ; you have died, to your old self, and
you’re born again into a new life.
Katrine Robertshttp://www.katrineroberts.com/
Ineluctable Gaze V |21Katrine Roberts | 20
Ineluctable Gaze V Monoprint, 25 x 25 cm
2011
21 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition
Pierre Winkelmann Homo industrious
The Homo Industrius is an illustration at a human scale of
what the human being has been inflicting on itself since the
drive to industrialization.
The machine has taken far too much space in the modern
society and the phenomenon of mass is well there. The
machine is taking over in terms of efficiency.
Individuals are morphing themselves for appearance reasons;
microchips are becoming accepted amongst the human’s cells.
The edge is close where men will deliberately swap limbs for
optimized ones. Just another update in the obsessional pursuit
of enhancement and perfection, ever and ever kept alive as
technological progresses go by.
On the whole, the position of the body shows resignation at
seeing the hand transformed, but the left hand on the head
combined with the expressions on the face, show awareness
of the mistake done.. It is now too late to go backwards, the
creation is getting the upper hand on its creator.
The work covers a large timescale of action starting in the late
18th Century, gives a situation of the present and opens it to a
close future.
Bigger, faster, the boundless quest for efficiency in the
production field is jeopardizing the spirituals human’s values
and turning the physical ones obsoletes.
Pierre [email protected]
Homo industriousSculpture base size, 150x90 cm
2011
Pierre Winkelmann | 22
24 | Project 2012/End of the World Exhibition