Trans-it
Zanne Andrea, Blue Curry, Ian Goncharov, Kate Hawkins, Sam Potts, Jacob Sheader
1-4 October 2014
‘Trans-it’, 2014, installation view
The bleu Project is a non-profit art organization created by two undergraduate Fine Art students at Northumbria University, Sam Potts and Jacob Sheader. This collaborative exhibition aims to blur the dividing line between undergraduate and postgraduate artists. ‘Trans-it’ embraces the role of the contemporary, travelling artist. These works are brought together through the shared examination of humour and narrative in a playful take on the notion of travel.
Zanne Andrea explores the relationship between power, politics, history and memory, often considering the role of illusion, authenticity and the manipulation of perception. Her work is process based, often taking the form of sculptural assemblages or installations where items are continuously rearranged, layered and edited. Teetering on the brink of collapse, the instability of some of her recent pieces could be considered a metaphor for our current and pervasive global anxieties.
Blue Curry is the first Bahamian to qualify from Goldsmiths and his work has been chosen several times to represent the Bahamas internationally. Curry’s objects are thus guaranteed to encounter Western expectations of Caribbean art. Are these things souvenirs or are they cultural relics? They edge into kitsch, but their stark formalism prevents them being thus categorized.
Jacob Sheader, Power, 2014, neon lettering, cactus, dimensions variable
Ian Goncharov is an ardent keeper of a sketchbook. All the paintings he produces undergo an incubation period there. Awkward compositions of all the kitsch and crap of popular culture appear in faux dialectic provocations, alongside the art and political worlds’ greatest hits. The urgency of the flippant or vaguely political juxtaposition is his fixation, alongside the potential converging narratives therein. References to current socio-political turmoil are cut and covered, removed and then re-drawn. A proposal of connectivity is suggested during painting in a sense that ‘you should know what this combination means!’
In the work of Kate Hawkins increasingly the canvases seem to be situating themselves more as sculptures or drawings, or in some cases both. She talks about her work in terms more related to performance, as this is her point of departure. Hawkins is also interested in spectatorship in relation to performance and theatre and what this might mean in terms of active and passive spectatorship specifically. She is interested in how people create and curate their own self image and works a lot with social codes and the presentation of gender.
Driven by the need to probe and question the world around her, Sam Potts explores the role of the artist as both performer and task mediator. Playing on the potential of spontaneity and chance, her inspiration is derived from repetitive experimentation, live action and visual testing. The use of readily available materials provides the opportunity to explore a rich field of temporary activity where failure is accepted as a dominant part of the process.
Jacob Sheader’s work embraces the notion of difference through his juxtaposition of seemingly inharmonious objects and ideas. He suggests a symmetry which encourages his audience to engage with the commonalities and dialogues brought forth by a composition.
Special thanks to Ampersand Inventions and Northumbria University for their support with this project.
Blue Curry, Untitled (colour), 2013, combs, 22x22x6cm
Blue Curry, Mixer, 2010/14, video projection, 15mins
Take a video tour of the exhibition
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