Carina Brand / TRFF / Owen Griffiths / Andy Hazel / Victor & Hester / Cam O’Connell / Shannon Reed
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Co-curated Mark Henley & Kate Mackeson
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October 28 - November 2
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Enumerating a sequence of letters back and forth, the palindromic title Golden Rod: Adorned Log serve as a linguistic manifestation of the reciprocal exchange from twinned organisations The Russian Frost Farmers, Wellington, New Zealand and g39, Cardiff, Wales. The mirrored construction of the two terms chance upon strikingly similar imagery. The first imagines a majestic gilded staff, the later an understated draping of nature; yet they could well be one-and-the-same. Dialog surrounding such cultural exchange hinge precisely on these mistaken identities, reinterpretations and alternate perspectives.
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Twinned by WARP curatorial practice 11433 the two geographically disparate organisations take heed of the current tendency toward nomadism within contemporary practice and seek to explore and articulate their respective identities by way of exchanging exhibition, ethos and personnel over a ten day period with a mind toward ongoing relations and future collaboration.
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TRFF upon invitation of g39 present Golden Rod: Adorned Log a survey of works and networks that embody the groups collectivist motivations. Alternate readings of the term ‘farming’ have proven pivotal in the propagation of TRFF. The reclamation of such language, be it regards materiality, process or participatory action, typifies the nuanced perspective TRFF seeks to promote through its own exhibition making. The show seeks to capture fleeting moments in artistic exploration; an iteration, a link in the chain, a momentary guise. Such notions oppose the concrete nature of sedentary practice, displaying a more itinerant trait that gives way to a nomadic or ephemeral tendency within production.
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Giuseppe Mistretta's preview night inclusion 'pushing it all out until the only thing left is the sound of your own body' (as part of Victor & Hesters Journal 21 launch) opens the program and will request the participation of select attendees.
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Physically a tilted chair Untitled (Hypertension Series) by Shannon Reed animates the foreground of the exhibition, transgressing two portions of the divided open plan space. This work, whilst casting an absent viewer to Andy Hazel's Edge of Land series of abstracted landscapes, reaches through to the coupled drawing and audio installation of Reeds TRFF collaborator Cam O'Connell. Anbetung (Worship), an arrangement of a looping cassette and self-portrait passport photographs, literally voices German 'Songs of worship' that when shadowed by the viewer distorts the choirs prayer transmission. The archetypal passport self-portraits directly correlate to O'Connells untitled graphical drawing reproducing portraits of a Russian Choir. This installation exemplifies an international perspective TRFF has upheld since initiation, giving a sense of connectedness between members and collating and reflecting upon the subject matter of cultures/systems outside the artists own.
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Waterloo Sunset by Carina Brand sequences found video footage of atomic explosions and their collateral effect. Placed upon the television,
or atop the atomic glow of the landscapes, is a replicated resin object in a fallen pose. The complete installation speaks to the topic of a failed object compounding a failed narrative. Her use of alike scenes one after the other parallels Andy Hazels Edge of Land landscapes. Hazel however evokes singular excerpts of an individuals memory of place whereas Brand's are more of a universal view of her subject. Associative colour, be it a lozenge, a life-jacket, or a yogurt drink deferentiate the iterations of Hazels works, Brands uses the iconic 'mushroom cloud' to harmonise video and object.
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Owen Griffiths' Aman is one of a series of crystallized postcards mounted upon atlases or school books that draw their titles from the cities they depict. The crystal growth is merely salt, acting simultaneously as preserver and a corrosive element. The work exists in an 'alive' state and reacts physically to its climatic surroundings, sweating or drying out. Griffiths work echos the way in which TRFF twist the 'farming' analogy and provides a formal insight into his ongoing investigations to natural process and order.
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An excerpt from Victor & Hester Journal 5, MFA Lunch Poll by Oliver Braid playfully examines the popularity of two artists. Formal graphs and data polling, sit alongside the signed 'centrefolds' of the artists in studio, balancing the credibility of the poll and the absurd motivation of its two protagonists, Alex Impey and Camillo Paravicini whom curated the fifth edition of the journal. Following the line of collective production four select video works from the TRFF back-catalog loop on a flatscreen, all having been produced in some sense of collaborative manner. The works explore studio practice and how the confines of such spaces lead to informal explorations that have the potential to grow into works in their own right.
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Preview includes the launch of Victor & Hester, Journal 21 'Talking Through Broken Teeth' and 'pushing it all out until the only thing left is the sound of your own body' by Giuseppe Mistretta.
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