Christian Ferreira Presents "Heringa/Van Kalsbeek: Drie" at the Wapping Project, London

Written by Archibald Cummings Monday, 21 May 2012 22:24

London.- Christian Ferreira is delighted to present a solo exhibition of Heringa/Van Kalsbeek’s sculptural work. Titled "Drie" the exhibition will feature an elegantly curated selection of three of the Dutch duo, Heringa/Van Kalsbeek’s abstracted sculptures housed in the industrial surrounds of the Accumulator Tower of The Wapping Project, London. The exhibition opens on May 6th and is on view until June 19th 2011. Chaotic in their appearance the works are reminiscent of bestial wildlife photography caught in motion. Created from steel, resin and polyurethane mixed with found objects such as feathers, cloth and coral the work has a rich assemblage like quality.

As multilayered as the material creation of the works are so too are the readings that can be taken from the work. Reluctant to clarify any meaning, the artist seem to follow the “Death of the Author” school of thought and allows the viewer to formulate the meaning of these colourful and collision-like pieces themselves. A possible reading is that Heringa/Van Kalsbeek’s output bears similarities with the language of Abstract Expressionism; as if their work were the three-dimensional realization of ideas and approaches that we readily associated with that movement. It might be a freestanding De Kooning or Jackson Pollock’s notions of ‘action painting’ realized as an object.



Working as a duo enables a mode of production in which each keeps a check on the other; each prevents the other from taking too much control over the highly volatile and fluid coloured polyurethane before it solidifies. Within this framework, they are able to explore a number of personal preoccupations such as the natural behaviour of both synthetic and organic materials and its relationship to the world around us, both natural and manmade. Chaos, science, nature and a more cosmic sense of the universal are frequently evoked as the materials come to visually allude to the actual physical and organic reactions by which they have been facilitated. Heringa/Van Kalsbeek is represented by Vegas Gallery, London and have shown extensively in both solo and group exhibitions. Their solo institutional shows include Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo; Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam; Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam; Haags Gemeentemuseum The Hague and The Museum of Modern Art Arnhem. They have fulfilled a range of commissions for art in public spaces and participated in many group exhibitions including those at Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft; Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Ceramic Biennale Korea and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn. The artworks are provided by the Vegas Gallery (who represent Heringa/Van Kalsbeek), visit their website at ... http://www.vegasgallery.co.uk

In celebration of The Wapping Project's 10th Anniversary in October 2010, Gallery Director Jules Wright, initiated an annual curatorial residency programme to be housed in The Accumulator Tower of the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and invited Christian Ferreira to be the first participant in this curatorial study. Since opening to the public in October 2000, The Wapping Project, housed in the Grade II listed Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, has been celebrated for its singular combination of challenging contemporary art and performance. The body of work produced by The Wapping Project is the product of twenty year's experience and an un-challenged record of commissioning artists who have become major players in the UK's cultural landscape. Working closely with the invited artists, Christian Ferreira aims to produce a bold programme and present intelligent and powerful exhibitions that compliments the inspiring, and challenging, space of the Accumulator Tower. Visit Christian Ferreira at the Wapping Project website ... http://www.christianferreira.com

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