‘The Gift’ by Raydale Dower

About

The Gift by Raydale Dower
12 August – 2 September 2017, 10am – 5pm
Preview: 11 August 2017, 6-8pm. All Welcome.

The Gift, by artist Raydale Dower will be the inaugural exhibition to mark the launch of The W OR M and presents new work including a recreation of Man Ray’s Cadeau (1921), a diptych of large scale silkscreen prints, presenting two views of the ‘found object’, a city wide print campaign and a series of permanent interventions for The W OR M.

In the lead up to and during the exhibition, a print edition by Dower will be distributed across the city. These numbered silkscreen prints, displayed as ‘posters’ in various locations including cafés, shops and small businesses, will function as a whispering campaign or un-marketing strategy permeating the city. In addition to the informal locations, a series of civic and commercial organisations, with cultural and personal resonance to Dower, have been invited to host one of eight sets of framed prints: Aberdeen Quaker Meeting House, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Pittodrie Football stadium, Police Scotland’s North East Divisional Headquarters, Bridge of Don Academy Art Department, Cadona’s Amusement Park, the Philosophy Department at University of Aberdeen and The Blue Lamp public house. Each diptych set is framed in reclaimed church pews, sourced during the renovation of The W OR M.

The gesture of giving the work away is matched in significance with the reciprocal act of hosting the work, in return the host may choose to keep, return or pass on the work. The distribution of free to collect prints across the city underlines Peacock’s cultural heritage and provides opportunities for chance encounters outwith the gallery, encouraging multiple readings of the work and an exploration of cultural exchange.

The Gift – two views of the same object is inspired by Man Ray’s surrealist object of the same title Cadeau (Fr. gift). Dower has recreated the iconic artwork with everyday objects, an old flat iron and carpet tacks, found in his parent’s house in Aberdeen and produced an edition of silkscreen prints that present the found object from two alternate views:

My mother was given an old iron by an old family friend when she was 6 years old. For as long as I can remember this iron lived on the floor of the guest room.

One day looking at it closely, I realised it was very similar to the iron used by the artist Man Ray for his surrealist object ‘The Gift’.

Seeing the old iron in a new light, and with fresh eyes, I placed it on the mantle piece of the guest room where, in my mind, it had become an art object. The next time I visited my parents the iron was back on the floor.

Raydale Dower, 2017