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January 26, 2008 through to March 02, 2008 Derek Sullivan We may be standing on the shoulder of giants but some of us are looking at the stars |
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We may be standing on the shoulder of giants but some of us are looking at the stars Derek Sullivan uses a recombination of ideas and materials as a strategy to generate new meanings in his art. In the title of his exhibition “We may be standing on the shoulder of giants but some of us are looking at the stars— Sullivan takes two well-know phrases and conflates them into one; Oscar Wilde’s “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars— and Sir Isaac Newton’s “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.— In 1997 the phrase “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants— was inscribed on the British two pound coin where it was then appropriated in 1999 by the rock band Oasis as the title of their fourth studio album “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.— In this version of the phrase, the final ‘s’ is missing in the word Shoulder, an error that is adopted in Sullivan’s title. Recombination as strategy has been employed throughout Sullivan’s practice. He uses the poster as a medium of communication to reinforce this approach. Projects such as Endless Kiosk 2005- and Kiosk 2003-2006 offered structures to the public as venues for posters. Installed in semi-public locations, these projects addressed their respective sites by virtue of those who used it: the local community could apply any notice they wished. The recombination processes of continuous postering resulted in an ever-changing subject matter dependent on whichever posters happened to be visible. It was the artist’s interest in this changing subject matter in the poster kiosks that led him to continue this exploration in this series of drawings. He is interested in how simple generic elements of design and pattern can hold ideologies and associations: for example, the way in which colour becomes associated with political movements, or patterns with the practice of an artist. These drawings explore the mutable scheme in which concept and ideology can inhabit inert forms. Sullivan began his Poster Drawing series by looking at surface finishes and patterns, in particular those moments where a vernacular pattern was “brought into— an artist’s practice -- the striped textile in Daniel Buren’s work or gingham patterns Martin Kippenberger’s paintings. He is interested in how these empty forms could be “claimed— by an artist, and then utilized within the apparatus of their project. In order to delve into this further, and to test the limits of formal and conceptual linkages or associations, Sullivan utilized the poster idiom to create works that set-up contradictory, contingent, and changing meanings using the lexicon of patterns and finishes. The drawings are rendered in coloured pencil and gouache, and alternatively, or simultaneously, mimic reduced modern or minimalist forms while making reference to modernist graphic design. The artist has intentionally allowed references in the work to be open and intrinsically interpretive so that a changing “specific subject— can be attached to each work in response to its milieu. Through re-titling, with the previous title remaining crossed out (yet readable on an adjacent tag) this cumulative, palimpsest effect builds on Sullivan’s earlier investigations of layering in the kiosk projects -- and further explores the way that recombination in new exhibitions can change the meaning of the work. This is the third and largest presentation of the Poster Drawings, and each presentation is a chance to re-think the relationships between the works, and a chance to add new works and remove older ones. The installation strategy allows the viewer to see the components both individually, but also in relationship to one another. The works then become about how we understand the abstractions (patterns, colours, but also adverts) to generate meaning. As a result, each new exhibition is an opportunity to re-contextualize, to give new a heuristic understanding to each drawing. Derek Sullivan received his BFA from York University and his MFA from the University of Guelph. His work is represented in Toronto by Jessica Bradley Art + Projects |
