About
The Square Gallery is pleased to present its summer series, featuring Aperture, a solo show of new work by legendary Stone Roses guitarist John Squire, and Sanchita Islam's Nomad.
Aperture is a series of paintings and drawings on canvas and hand-made paper which continue Squire's study of negative space, consumer packaging and 'image burn-in' - the lingering after effect carried on the retina. Overlaying and multiplying silhouettes of animals, aircrafts, furniture and packaging, he creates vibrant works which seem to shift in and out of focus, suggesting the tyranny of excess and mass production.
Based in Manchester, John Squire has, over the past twenty-five years, consistently developed his aesthetic from his early enquiries into the layering and texture of paint to a more reductive exploration of form. Following a major retrospective exhibition in 2004 at the prestigious Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, Squire has continued to exhibit his artwork globally.
All artworks in this exhibition are available for purchase. Please contact reception or megan.russell@thesquaregallery.com for further
Nomad is a collection of fifteen video paintings by Bangladeshi artist Sanchita Islam. The collection was premiered at the Future Cities exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London in 2007.
Shot in India, Cambodia, Bangladesh and England, Nomad encompasses a series of works that deal with the passage of time, the drifting through continents, exciting and exotic but ultimately endless journeys. Fast and dangerous scooters, catastrophically congested cross roads, pedestrians, cyclists and bus drivers all competing to arrive at their personal destinations. The settings for these fleeting glimpses of unknown individuals vary from beautifully lit Hindu temples, to the raw concrete and night trade of East London.
Yet, in spite of all this variety, the fifteen pieces express a single idea very clearly. Shot at dusk and night time, the works inherit a degree of uniformity and a common mode of expression which disguises the vast differences in culture and location that are apparent on closer inspection. This blurred sameness suggests a dulled consciousness of the inhabitant of each shot. The destination is fixed, the journey is blank, unquestioning and infinite.
Sanchita Islam is represented by London's pioneering video art specialists Open Gallery. www.opengallery.co.uk
