16 – 22 September 2014

John Wood and Paul Harrison

500 Thoughts (2010)

2010, 12’36”

John Wood and Paul Harrison

One More Kilometre (2009)

2009, 2’49”

SYNOPSIS

In contrast to the earlier screening of John Wood and Paul Harrison’s films on Carroll / Fletcher Onscreen both 500 Thoughts (2010) and One More Kilometre (2009) focus on paper and process, whereas the previous screening of Board (1993), Device (1996) and Three-Legged (1997) explored the artist’s bodies in space. In John Wood and Paul Harrison’s more recent works there is a departure from the artists’s bodies and the attention now centred around the use of material objects, constructed sets and process based performances. In our recent exhibition Pencil / Line / Eraser we exhibited Fan / Paper / Fan (2007), Pencil / Line / Eraser (2008) and 500 Pieces of Paper (2010), also exploring the field of expanded drawing and working with alternative methods of using paper as a medium.

BIOGRAPHY

John Wood and Paul Harrison explore the physical and psychological parameters of the world around them through a series of immaculately constructed video works, informative and uninformative text pieces, drawings, doodles and half thoughts, and quite useful sculptures. As trust and support, and cause and effect are played out through simple material and conceptual gestures, the artists question and ultimately affirm a human position in the world that is essentially positive.

Since Wood and Harrison’s first collaboration in 1993, their video works have evolved from single shot ‘studies’ filmed against neutral backgrounds to longer pieces in which a sequence of actions unfold within constructed locations that have more implicit meaning and contribute to greater narrative complexity. The videos maintain a strict internal logic, with the action directly related to the duration of the work. Inside this ‘logical world’ action is allowed to happen for no apparent reason, tensions build between the environment and its inhabitant, play is encouraged and the influences on the work are intentionally mixed.

John Wood and Paul Harrison have had major solo exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. Selected group shows include British Council Touring, China; Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; Kunsthalle Tallin, Estonia; Whitechapel Gallery, London. Works held in collections include MoMA, New York; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Arts Council Collection, British Council Collection, and the Government Art Collection, UK.

LINKS

Artist Page

Artists Website

Previous John Wood and Paul Harrison screening

Pencil / Line / Eraser installation shot – Fan / Paper / Fan (2007)

Pencil / Line / Eraser installation shot – Pencil / Line / Eraser (2008)

Pencil / Line / Eraser installation shot – 500 Pieces of Paper (2010)

Carroll / Fletcher would like to thank Abigail Addison and Animate Projects for their collaboration in the programming of this season of films

4 – 10 September 2014

Manfred Mohr

Cubic Limit 

1973-74, 4’01”

Manfred Mohr

Square Roots

1972-73, 3’48” 

Manfred Mohr

Complimentary Cubes 

1973-74, 5’39” 

SYNOPSIS

In Cubic Limit a single large cube rotates in 3-D until it slowly breaks into 25 embedded cubes, they continue to rotate and diminish until the edges form a superstructure. Both Square Roots and Complimentary Cubes can be seen as sketches in the build up to Cubic Limit. Square Roots was one of Mohr’s first attempts at using a computer to create a short film, whilst Complimentary Cube was originally written for Cubic Limit but was not included in the final edit of the film.

Since the late 1950s, Manfred Mohr has been making rigorously minimal paintings, drawings and moving-image works.  During the 1960s, Mohr’s practice evolved from abstract expressionism towards a more hard-edged geometric painting. By 1968, in pursuit of a ‘real rational art’ he had begun to develop a ‘programmed expressionism’ in which algorithms were used to generate art that formalised his vision in a new, logical way. In 1969, Mohr gained access to one of the first computer-driven drawing machines or ‘plotters’ at the Paris Institute of Meteorology. With this plotter, Mohr developed a series of computer programs based on certain algorithms that provided a controlled system through which new visual forms could be explored. In 2000, he introduced colour and animation to give fuller expression to the incredible richness of the multiple, complex variations within the higher dimensions of the cube and their artistic potential as a system of two-dimensional visual signs or ‘êtres graphiques’.

MANFRED MOHR ON EXPERIMENTING WITH COMPUTER FILMS

“During my one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 1971, I met the CEO of C.G.M (La Companie Generale de Micromatique), a data storage and preservation company, which specialized in micro films. He invited me to experiment on their brand new machine DATAGRAPHIX 4460 to make computer animations. I gladly accepted and during the next 4 years I made several short computer films. It was a very painful experience since the process was very slow and the turnover dragged out over many months. 

For the film, each frame was drawn in high resolution with a light beam directly from the computer onto 16mm film to create the animations.” 

More information available here.

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LINKS

Artists Website

Interview with Manfred Mohr – White Review  

Scripted Variations – an essay by Alistair Rider

There is an extensive selection of interviews and talks with Manfred Mohr on Youtube, here is a talk with the artist in conversation with  Dr. Lida von Mengden filmed at Art Basel in 2013.

Carroll / Fletcher would like to thank Abigail Addison and Animate Projects for their collaboration in the programming of this season of films