Thus, the life of a collector manifests a dialectical tension between the poles of disorder and order. Naturally, his existence is tied to many other things as well: to a very mysterious relationship to ownership; also, to a relationship to objects which does not emphasize their functional, utilitarian value-that is, their usefulness-but studies and loves them as the scene, the stage of their fate. - Walter Benjamin “Unpacking My Library”
In his most recent body of work, Alex Robbins has turned to his personal library for inspiration. Twelve reference books pulled from the artists’ collection are meticulously hand carved from wood and their covers silkscreened. From their torn dust covers and embossed titles to their worn spines and yellowing edges Robbins does not skip a detail. Obsessively, as he referred to the original, each new scuff or stain that occurred had to be realized in the sculpture keeping in mind the physiognomic reading of each book. Inside, the pages are left to the grain of the wood block from which they were carved, as with any great tromp l’oeil art, that trace of evidence is all we have to distinguish the sculpture of the book from the book.
At the same time the wood interior renders the utilitarian value of the books useless it grants us a closer reading of their exteriors. With titles like “The Will To Live”, “Man And The Sun”, “Clinical Tropical Diseases” and “Dictionary of Christian Tradition: Worship, Liturgy & History” one endeavors to make a connection between subjects but is limited to hovering over the abyss of what is potentially the chaos of information. The information becomes locked; we are denied access to the magical interior as it has been displaced by solid mass and we are left to appreciate the staging of their fate.
Alex Robbins work was introduced to the gallery on the 13th of February. Today 12 black and white photographs of a brass cone balanced on top of a 2-meter jet of water, by Richard Clements have been introduced in addition to the works previously installed by Alex Robbins. Robbins has reconfigured his works in relation to this new intervention by Clements.
Alex Robbins was born in California, USA in 1978 and graduated with an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College in 2006. Recent exhibitions include, ‘A Patch of Grass Painted to Look Like a Rock’ IPS Gallery, Belgium; ‘Part One’ Nordisk Kunst Plattform, Norway; ‘New Work’ V22 Ashwin Street, London; ‘Summer School’ IBID Projects, London; ‘Sunday’ FormContent, London; ‘ANTICIPATION’ One One One, London.
Richard Clements was born in London, England in 1983. After completing his BFA (sculpture) at The Alberta College of Art and Design in 2005 he went on to study Fine Art at Goldsmiths, acquiring his MFA in 2007. Recent exhibitions include, 'Richard Clements: New Work,' RoomArtecontemporanea, Milan, Italy; 'Richard Clements: New Work,' Brown Space, Milan, Italy; 'Part One', Nordisk Kunst Plattform, Brusand, Norway; 'LOBBY,' Moorhouse and Bishopsgate buildings, London; 'Survey,' WhiteBox NY, Manhattan, New York.
2010 will be slightly different at MOT International, in that under the umbrella of a one-year experiment, the gallery will dispense with conventional programming. It is intended that through this abandonment of traditional exhibition programming the gallery will be able to react to ideas from artists and curators almost immediately, with projects merging and usurping each other in a free-form reaction to current ideas edited by the director. This means that projects do not have to fit into traditional exhibition timescales, they can collide, interact and even cancel each other. The most interesting works supersede their successors. Works can come and go over the year.
