JAMES ALEC HARDY DOMINIC BEATTIE

About

The Depot is proud to present an exhibition of new works by James Alec Hardy and Dominic Beattie. Curated by Roxie Warder and Suzannah Pettigrew. The exhibition brings together the artists shared use of abstract and geometric expressionism projected through two very different mediums. The increasing entrapment of technology is shown through its material and symbolic origins on video, and less identifiable visual tropes in mixed medium painted works. Beattie's recent paintings explore composition, form and colour relation through mark making and a series of chance based aesthetic encounters. His works echo various movements through the history of abstract painting. The influence of Arte Povera is prominent in his use of everyday materials such as string, tape and marker ink. Hardy's work often manifests as video installations and sculpture with Beattie's work also veering from two-dimensional to relief surfaces. Hardy will present a totemic stack of video monitors, arranged in a symbolic array. The installation is considered in a series of states and phases during the exhibition; Primarily for the opening of the exhibition, the video stack will be performed, accompanied by a stack of amplifiers, and arrangement of analogue video equipment mirrored in formation. The performance will consist of live video feedback, looped through the system of video monitors, amplifiers and machines, and will be manipulated by the artist in a ritualistic fashion. The 7 channels of video footage will be recorded and a series of video still images will be extracted in the second phase of the work, producing a portfolio of works representing static moments of the performative state of the work.