United We Fall

Abstract

Standpoint is pleased to present new drawings, objects and film by Mark Pearson and Annie Whiles. The artists share an interest in the emblematic: re-negotiating visual structures that signify affiliation and commemoration. Things such as crests, mascots, badges and motifs that reflect activities, rituals and artifacts that might be attached to a clubhouse or headquarters, church or local pub. As both artists move their ‘HQ’ into the gallery you will be invited to contemplate works that suggest evidence of communal activity and inclusiveness that simultaneously lay down cultural and territorial difference. Mark Pearson’s large scale drawings and dubious DIY assemblages are brutal and muscular assertions fusing established artistic codes with vulgar and vernacular references. He invests redundant symbols of urban mythology, typical of pub interiors and public memorial sculptures with a new found energy and power. Pearson contrasts a genuine delight in working with these anachronistic motifs with the knowledge of what they reveal about a subculture hanging on to spurious ideas of homogenous identity, masculinity and historical authenticity. Mark Pearson completed his MA at Goldsmiths College in 2000. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Sorry for not Making’ Moot, Nottingham , 2008. ‘Drunken Boat’, Colony, Birmingham , 2007. ‘Intoposition’, Bauernmarkt1, Vienna , 2007. ‘Metropolis Rise, New Art from London ’, Beijing & Shanghai , 2007. Central to Annie Whiles concerns is the juxtaposition of public and private activity, ordinary and extraordinary event. Her practice negotiates a relationship between art and artifact. She is known for her oversized embroidered badges and honed line drawings of ordinary objects as metonymic emblems or talismanic objects. For Standpoint, Whiles will be revealing a diverse selection of new pieces; including a film of a ritual involving her dog being tempted into the afterlife by a sextet of angels, a life size wood carving of a goat and embroidery and a series of drawings of horoscope weeds, entitled “A Week in Weeds”. Annie Whiles is a lecturer in Art Practice at Goldsmiths. Recent solo shows include; ‘Cuckoo’ at Danielle Arnaud, 2007 and ‘Sideshow’ at Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool , 2007. Group shows include Textile Transporter, Berlin , 2007 Metropolis Rise, New Art From London, Shanghai and Beijing . 2006