Clélia Zida, Joe Holbrook
19/10/2013 – 23/11/2013
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Clélia Zida: be yourself like everybody else
Joe Holbrook: too much too young
C&H art space is proud to announce the show of Clélia Zida and Joe Holbrook.
Clélia Zida presents her new series of geometrical pattern drawings. These works are the result of research that has led her from textile to paper, tracing the structure of pattern making in fabric use back to grid drawing. By employing repetitive structures, geometrical forms, constructivist abstraction, and mechanical gestures, she conceptually refers to 1960s abstract painting schools such as color field and post painterly abstraction, opting for an abstraction of renunciation, as stated by Frank Stella: “What you see is what you see.” In her inter-disciplinary practice ranging from filmmaking to text-based work on fabric and drawing, Clélia Zida revisits the vast and diverse language of abstraction, using the motto “form is content,” with a hint of social commentary.
Each drawing measures 145cm/204cm, with a 1cm square grid, resulting in 29,580 squares hand colored in felt tip pen. Each one is strictly identical in grid structure and format, only a close-up on the scale of the pattern makes each composition vary and different as a result. Grids and patterns mirror the idea of similarities, repetitiveness, universality, and conformism. The serial gesture embodies a renunciation on making choices based upon subjectivity. Looking at them from afar, the drawings resemble a print, referring to the idea of manufacturing and reproduction, but as you approach it, details appear to be different and imperfect.
Joe Holbrook displays his new works that are the reflection of people and sinister aspects of young adult life. These characters, attitudes, and the immediate surroundings of his social life are seen through his own young eyes. He feels necessary and dutiful to document and translate the generation from which they come from, capturing and telling the story as he sees and experiences it.
With a laid back approach to subjects and activities that are often frowned upon, Holbrook is not shy in creating a piece that audiences may not see as beautiful. His work is much deeper than just an image portraying contrasting and hypercritical personalities; it is not meant to be understood instantly. Holbrook’s work is shrouded in secrecy, often cropped in a unique snapshot way to only tell part of a story. This gives viewers a taste of what’s going on, but not enough to feel fully satisfied and at the same time not enough to be completely disappointed. This leaves a hunger and frustration – the feeling of craving more and mentally standing on your toes, hoping to glimpse the whole picture and bigger story through a crack in the artist’s door.
Clélia Zida is a French artist who graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2005 and since 2001 she has been living and working in Amsterdam. Joe Holbrook is an English-born self-taught painter: since he was a teen he found himself interacting with many different social groups.
Press release: http://bit.ly/1fqBKBk
For more info contact: Valentina Vinci
E mail: [email protected]