this is about you
akiko usami
paolo giardi
alexis panayotou
stefano scheggi
exhibition curated by: stefano scheggi
9 march- 5 may 2007
Whitecross Gallery is pleased to announce a new show of four artists whose art, though aesthetically disparate, all address the ever relevant subject of the role of artist and the corresponding, intertwined role of the viewer. Curated by, and including the work of, Stefano Scheggi, the exhibition looks at the communication channels opened up between an artist and the viewer by each work produced. The curator states"This is a contribution to self-awareness, focusing on the ongoing dialogue between the artists, their work and the audience. During the viewing and appraisal of the artwork, we become aware of our limits, our excesses and our possibilities." The works each challenge the viewer to go beyond the simple aesthetic and chart the limits and possibilities of the temporary, and temporal, relationship formed. Each work references relationships past and the present;art movements, art thoughts, old and new. Scheggi adds "There is no such thing as passive observer, nor the solitary artist."
Alexis Panayiotou's works on paper references the infinite possibilities of art and the limitless nature of an artist's endeavor. Each Panayiotou work involves redrawing and collaging elements from disparate sources of interest (iconic images from art history,mythology and the creatures of fantasy and science fiction). The works challenge the viewer to recognize the reference, with some being obvious and others impossible to distinguish. By hiding some of the references the artist is opening up the possibility ofan infinite number of sources contained within the frame.
The patterns Akiko Usami creates in her work seem,perhaps at first glance, uniform, when in actual fact they endure slight, subtle, differences that challenges the viewer's attention. These accidental variants are the highlight of, what is for the artist,a deliberately mechanical and repetitive process. They dent the formal motifs that reference the artist's Anglo-Japanese background, creating an analogy for the clash of cultures that she seeks to investigate.
Like Panayiotou Paolo Giardi's paintings also draw references from external source material. For Giardi however hiding his appropriations is not an option,for it is integral to the philosophy of each work. The source material is taken specifically from a vast personal catalogue of 2D imagery and each work is product of this catalogue. Giardi comments,flippantly, that his role is almost one of an administrator "It's more about collating and filing,then being guided by my findings".
Stefano Scheggi's series of eight photographic prints,Reflections on Desire, debuted here, referenceminimalism and modernist dreams of the past.Architectural in form, they provoke and encourage theviewer to shift their physical position, to see worksfrom a variety of angles and challenge the viewer tomake of them what they will. Likewise for the artist,each image challenges the limits of the lens andallowed the artist to remind the viewer of thelimitless possibilities of camera and subject matter.
