Jesse Ash/Vincent Honoré

Jesse Ash – A battle for narrative
Vincent Honoré – Proposal (a room, some things) for Rome. 

May 15th – July 23rd, 2011

After his participation in the choral project The Plurality of One – curated by FormContent in June 2010 – Monitor is now delighted to announce the first solo show in Italy by the British artist Jesse Ash.
The exhibition title for Monitor’s show was a phrase used in a recent media report describing the endeavour by government authorities to ‘win’ control of the message reported through the press describing the reasons, aims and ambitions of military action. Using drawing, film, objects and collaged newspapers, Ash questions socio-political paradigms, traditions of reportage and art historical orthodoxies. Mediated political events, actions or speeches are often used as starting points to provoke a process of making where elements are erased, concealed or coded in order to make visible methods of framing and composition.
A central component to the exhibition is the small coloured object 45 minutes (a proposal) – the form of which is dictated by the grammar of a specific political speech and acts as a sketch for a large scale sculpture made from tent materials (waterproof fabric, light weight tent poles etc). The new 16mm film Composing A Battle For Narrative realizes a still life set, with hand made paper objects placed carefully in relation to one other, as if seeking some sort of formal correspondence. The black and white tableau follows a series of compositions inspired by Giorgio Morandi’s paintings, and is interrupted by a single flashing coloured object, hand-tinted frame by frame and based on a text encoded by associating colours to letters.
Ash uses collage to interrupt the authoritative standing of the image. Contrary to traditional forms of collage where juxtaposition is a central tool, these intimately crafted works use layers of repeated imagery to erase and conceal elements of the original, often omitting the subject and revealing the background supporting the intended narrative. The new series of collages presented at Monitor, extends ideas from a previous work; Conference no 1 (orangered), 2009 where the artist removed a speaker and podium from a found image in a newspaper leaving only the stage set backdrop visible.
News from Nowhere is a series of charcoal drawings on paper where a scrunched up newspaper page (the international section of a London paper) is thrown on to white drawing paper. The random composition of the drawings are marked by the shadow of the object – rendered in charcoal and displayed to simulate a meteoric shower. This new body of work utilizes repeated processes of editorial production and presentation, creating versions or copies of the realities identified by the news image, in still life and through political rhetoric.

Jesse Ash (London, 1977. Lives and Works in London).
Selected recent Group Shows: An Exhibition of Distances, Tulips and Roses, Brussels; The Perfect Place for Free Speech is your Eyes, Kunstlerhaus, Bremen; The Tigers Mind (A project by Beatrice Gibson), Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, Kunsterein Amsterdam and CAC Bretigny (2011); Voices from Silence – Truths Unveiled by Time, Galerie Odpahl, Berlin curated by Ilaria Gianni; Session_12_Words + Untitiled curated by Am Nuden Da, Four Boxes, Denmark; The Obstacle Is Tautology, Cite des Arts Monmartre, Paris, exhibition conceived by Benoit Maire; The Plurality of One, Monitor, Rome; The Happy Interval, Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Selected Solo Shows: 2009 The Buried Lede, Tulips and Roses, Vilnius and Tulips and Roses, Brussels (2011).

 

Proposal (a room, some things) for Rome. Un progetto a cura di Vincent Honoré

Session_16_Press Release

Am Nuden Da
France Fiction
Benoit Maire
Patrizio di Massimo
Lia Perjovski
Pietro Roccasalva
Alexandre Singh
Rinus van de Velde
Etc.
And
Vincenzo di Bellis e Bruna Roccasalva
Nicoletta Lambertucci
Nomas Foundation
Gaia Tedone
Etc.
A failed project by Vincent Honoré

(Romantically)

Be my encourager.
Let me down for me to restore sense.
Be my denouncer, because all you need do is attempt for me to succumb.
Succumb to the unexpected, to that of delightful bliss, to that of intellectual pursuit, to that of consequence – a consequence that your being commands, one you are obliged to hold.
The objective of this piece of writing is to introduce or inform. Inform on matters that you are about to encounter. Matter seems an appropriate place to start, if anything this show is about matter in its entire register.
Material, that which constitutes – there are the obvious or traditional, and then the modern and non-existent. We appear to have found a place where they manage to co-exist, one where they matter less. (Matter exists too here in its negative, the de- of material.)
Subject, that which narrates – persuades the maker to set out on a journey, and also enables the ensuing encounter with a viewer. It will hold several possibilities, yet always find its distinctive voice when met accordingly and given time. (Through the process of recognition – aesthetic and ethical – a subject is at the same time an individual standing before the work)
Question, that which reasons – query as a means for change, ones personal-political duty. A phenomenon with effect when posed and appreciated. A philosophical stance we all inhabit, and one for which art is to encourage. (Matters)
As you turn around, and make your way to the back of the gallery, a deliberate obstacle comes to mind. When contemplated, a sense of confusion and ease gather. The paradoxical nature of experience makes her stumble; luckily she landed yielding.
This exhibition is about the task inherent to the press release. Where does interpretation and engagement with text sit in relation to the experience one has with visual art? How does a curatorial practice negotiate a pre-existing press release that is handed over to act for a yet non-existent exhibition?

This press release was written by Am Nuden Da.

Session_16_Press Release is based on a proposal by Vincent Honoré.

(Il testo di questo comunicato stampa è stato volutamente divulgato in lingua inglese, in accordo con Vincent Honoré e Am Nuden Da. Una traduzione sarà disponibile in galleria durante la mostra.)

ITALIAN VERSION

Jesse Ash – A battle for narrative
Vincent Honoré – Proposal (a room, some things) for Rome. 

15 maggio – 23 Luglio 2011

Dopo la partecipazione al progetto corale The Plurality of One curato da FormContent nel giugno 2010-Monitor è ora lieta di annunciare la prima mostra personale italiana dell’artista inglese Jesse Ash.
Il titolo della mostra A Battle for Narrative consiste in una frase usata in un recente servizio radiofonico che descriveva il tentativo da parte delle autorità governative di ottenere il controllo dell’informazione veicolata dalla stampa che descriveva le ragioni, gli scopi e le ambizioni di un’azione militare. Attraverso l’uso di disegni, film, oggetti e collage, Ash si interroga su paradigmi socio-politici, sulla tradizione del reportage e le ortodossie storico-artistiche. Eventi politici, azioni o discorsi, sono spesso usati dall’artista come punto di partenza per innescare un processo in evoluzione, dove gli elementi vengono cancellati, celati o codificati per rendere visibili i vari metodi di formulazione e composizione del linguaggio.
Una componente centrale della mostra è il piccolo oggetto colorato 45 minutes (a proposal) -la cui forma è dettata dalla grammatica di un preciso discorso politico- che funge da sketch per una scultura da eseguire in più ampia scala con materiali per tende da campeggio (tessuto impermeabile, pali da tenda leggeri). Il nuovo film 16mm Composing A Battle for Narrative mostra una natura morta composta con oggetti di carta realizzati a mano e posizionati con cura in relazione l’uno all’altro, come cercando una sorta di corrispondenza formale.
Il tableau in bianco e nero segue una serie di composizioni ispirate ai dipinti di Giorgio Morandi ed é come interrotto da un unico oggetto colorato a mano, frame dopo frame, che lampeggia creando una sorta di codice basato su un testo codificato attraverso l’associazione di colori a lettere.
La nuova serie di collage presentata a Monitor, riprende, ampliandolo, il concetto di un lavoro precedente: Conference no 1 (orangered), 2009 dove l’artista ha eliminato l’oratore e il podio dall’immagine di un quotidiano lasciando visibile solamente il palco sullo sfondo. Ash usa il collage per interrompere l’autorevolezza dell’immagine. Contrariamente alle forme di collage tradizionale dove la giustapposizione è l’elemento centrale, questi intimi lavori artigianali sono realizzati ripetendo vari strati di immagini come a cancellare e nascondere elementi dell’originale, spesso omettendone il soggetto e rivelando il fondo che sorregge l’intera narrazione. News from Nowhere é infine una serie di disegni a carboncino su carta dove una pagina di giornale accartocciata (la sezione internazionale di un giornale inglese) è stata gettata su un foglio bianco da disegno. Le composizioni casuali dei disegni sono determinate dall’ombra dell’0ggetto che Ash, in maniera calligrafica, ripercorre delicatamente a matita, creando una trama sottilissima, quasi a simulare una pioggia di meteore. In questa nuova serie di lavori, Ash utilizza il processo ripetitivo della produzione editoriale e della sua presentazione, creando versioni o copie di realtà che vengono identificate dalle immagini delle notizie, nei fotogrammi e attraverso la retorica politica.

Jesse Ash (Londra, 1977. Vive e lavora a Londra).
Selected recent Group Shows: An Exhibition of Distances, Tulips and Roses, Brussels; The Perfect Place for Free Speech is your Eyes, Kunstlerhaus, Bremen; The Tigers Mind (Un progetto di Beatrice Gibson), Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, Kunsterein Amsterdam and CAC Bretigny (2011); Voices from Silence – Truths Unveiled by Time, Galerie Odpahl, Berlin a cura di Ilaria Gianni; Session_12_Words + Untitiled a cura di Am Nuden Da, Four Boxes, Denmark; The Obstacle Is Tautology, Cite des Arts Monmartre, Paris, mostra a cura di Benoit Maire; The Plurality of One, Monitor, Rome a cura di FormContent; The Happy Interval, Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Selected Solo Shows: 2009 The Buried Lede, Tulips and Roses, Vilnius and Tulips and Roses, Brussels (2011).