Harrison Pearce - Absolute Pressure

About

RIBOT is pleased to present Absolute Pressure, curated by Edoardo Monti, the first solo show in Italy of the English artist Harrison Pearce (London, 1986, lives and works in London); with a selection of new works created on the occasion of the exhibition. 

Harrison Pearce's artistic practice stems from a personal event: a diagnosis, which took place following various tests, which revealed a brain anomaly.
From this moment the brain, understood as an organ but also as a primordial form, becomes inspiration and starting point for his work. It is a subject to be replicated and investigated, both through drawings and paintings, and through kinetic works: from the simplest to the most complex, and in carefully arranged installations that are almost theatrical. 

On show, on the ground floor of the gallery, two kinetic sculptures titled Respite 2 and 3 are displayed in dialogue with the canvases on the walls. The former are works composed of mechanical systems of pistons that strike and modify a silicone shape with features similar to those of the brain. These works investigate aspects that have to do with many disciplines and concepts: medicine, science fiction, philosophy and processes of industrial automation. While the paintings, peculiar in their combination of the classicism of oil on canvas with the representation of forms that recall technological devices, show the development of this research on a two-dimensional surface. 

The exhibition continues on the lower floor where the artist has installed Manifold, one of the largest and most complex installations he has ever made, which combines three kinetic sculptures with a symphony, an audio track that determines and “directs” the mechanical—but almost humanoid— movements made by pistons. It is a very suggestive mise en scène, which generates and encourages an emotional response in the viewer, demonstrating Pearce’s capacity to poetically combine opposite principles such as rationality and irrationality, interiority and appearance, humanity and machine. 

The exhibition is completed by the Special Project, created ad hoc: an edition of ten small sculptures in two different versions that refer to the forms explored on a larger scale, and that are activated thanks to human intervention. 

Harrison Pearce (London, 1986, lives and works in London). He studied at the City & Guilds of London Art School, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Winchester School of Art. His works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at: Schlossmuseum, Linz, 2020; Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, 2019; Royal Society of Sculptors, London, 2018; The Lightbox Museum, Woking, 2018; Thames-Side Studios, London, 2018. He has also taken part in several residencies: Palazzo Monti, Brescia, 2019; Studio Block M74, Mexico City, 2019; Dulwich College, London, 2017; The Koppel Project Hive, London, 2017; Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, London, 2017. Prizes include: Young Contemporary Talent Purchase Prize, 2017; Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award, 2017; City and Guilds of London Art School - Prize for Outstanding MA Show, 2016.