Some Islands

About

Artists who make works on paper that have autonomy from other aspects of their output could be described as looking for space, for movement beyond accepted genres. The selected artists all make works on paper or out of paper that appear self-contained and yet may not necessarily be defined as 'drawing'. This suggests two enduring aspects of art practice; one is the impulse to work beyond logical categorisation, the other is the urge towards the absurd or contradictory. For example, words can be combined in ways that make perfect structural sense while the meaning of the sentence remains illogical. Similarly, art can appear visually highly organised, while refusing to adhere to accepted genres or categories.

By also considering what lies between the logical and the absurd - which at the inception of Modernism was defined by the relationship between Constructivism and Dada - a long tradition is revisited and given new energy. If the current situation can be described as one in which the initial self-conscious stages of Post Moderism have been replaced by a less doctrinaire desire to revisit art history, an exhibition such as this can then explore ideas of influence and echo without anxiety.

There are many possible narratives behind what, on the surface, may appear to be an entirely self-contained work, equally, the sequential imagery of a cartoon can be collapsed into a world that is not deliberately coherent, but finds oblique ways to make visual sense.

Text Andrew Bick /Clare Goodwin December 2017