“I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.” Marcel Duchamp
MOTINTERNATIONAL presents a two-person exhibition by Alan Brooks and Dan Rees, both of whom have looked to other artists for inspiration. Brooks has made a series of pencil drawing portraits of artists in their studios and Rees has recorded himself playing table tennis against other artists, Jonathan Monk and Simon Starling. Rather than being art about art, what we see is an intimate acknowledgement of the respect that artists have for one-another, be they historical figures or peers.
Alan brooks’ series includes drawings of Tatlin, Nauman, De Stael, Ono, Newman, Warhol, Munch, Burden, Mondrian, Wols, Dix, Ensor, Cezanne and Pollock. All the images are taken from photographs that Brooks has been collecting since he was a teenager, each chosen randomly from a box of hundreds. He can’t remember why he started collecting these images, only that at a time when it was very hard for him to make work, starting these drawings seemed to provide the breakthrough that he needed. Since studying at the Slade in the early nineties Brooks has had a number of Solo shows including Mobile Home Gallery, London; Percy Miller Gallery, London; Galerie Albrecht, Munich, Germany and Marlene Eleini Gallery, London. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions and prizes including; John Moores 20, 21 & 24, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Paul Morris Gallery, New York, USA; EAST International, Norwich; Oriel Mostyn Open, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales; and the Jerwood Painting Prize, Jerwood Gallery, London.
We will be showing two works by Dan Rees, Variable Peace vs Jonathan Monk and Variable Peace vs Simon Starling. Rees started thinking about the piece when watching Boetti’s light boxes flash Ping-Pong-Ping-Pong. He writes, “Once I began to consider table tennis references in conceptual art, I noticed them more and more. Besides Boetti, Bill Beckley and Douglas Huebler refer to the game directly and On Kawara was known for his prowess in the particular sport. A nice thought comes to mind of all these artists meeting up at Huebler’s house for a game of round the table.” Dan Rees was born in Swasea 1982, but now lives and works in Berlin. He has had a number of solo shows including; "Something To Fill That Empty Feeling", T293, Napoli; "Things I Did When I Was A Young Man", Mission Gallery, Swansea; "Three Works In September", Parade Gallery, London; "Music to my Years’, Galerie Mille D’Air, Berlin and "Variable Peace’, Mission Gallery, Swansea. He has been included in a number of group exhibitions including; “Without", Yvon Lambert, Paris; "The Moment You Realise You Are Lost", Johann König, Berlin and "Some Time Waiting", Kadist Art Foundation, Paris.
