Kristen Lovelock

January 26 off-site Show Not Tell seminar
2 – 3:30pm
Kristen Lovelock PhD Chelsea student presents her co-curated show:DETOX



DETOX
Concrete Allotment Projects
www.detoxme.org.uk

16 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NT
Preview: 15th January 6 - 9:00pm
Open: Thursday to Saturday
16th January – 6th February
Hours: Thurs & Fri 12– 6pm Sat 10 – 6pm
Events: please see www.detoxme.org.uk

Artists
Jennifer Allen, Kim Coleman & Jenny Hogarth, Oriana Fox, Rainer Ganahl, Stewart Gough, Darren Jones, Cathy Lomax, Kristen Lovelock, Martin Maloney, Agathe Snow, Charlie Tweed, Jo Wilmot, Mark Wright

Happy New Year everyone and all the best for 2010!

Time to book that colonic irrigation and get rid of all that went wrong in the noughties!

DETOX is a ‘pop-up’ exhibition exploring the phenomena of detoxification.

Detoxification programmes aim to cleanse and purify for maximum wellbeing; DETOX explores this and looks closely at the personal, environmental and ideological issues surrounding detoxing.

Art in the show takes both nihilistic and optimistic approaches to contemporary life and will at times examine concepts of toxicity, excess, dirt, cleansing, purification and the narcissistic search for self improvement.

DETOX opens 16th January 2010 in a disused dojo in Hoxton Square.

About the artists in DETOX:

Jennifer Allen’s highly choreographed video works explore role-play, taboo and transgression through unsettling scenarios drawing on her experience as a strip-tease dancer. She uses a Gonzo porn/fetish aesthetic to question the complexity of human relationships.




Kim Coleman & Jenny Hogarth’s video and performance works play with the choreographed and the non-choreographed. Their installations loop footage to divulge and liberate the charms of liminal processes, objects and subjects.
Hogarth & Colman’s videos focus on how objects and people perform, focussing especially on relationships - between the camera and the subject, light and the camera. Their work in video circumspectly unravels the relationship between the camera, its subject and its maker through various techniques of disclosure.




Oriana Fox’s use of humour challenges women’s relentless and unquestioning following of our cultural norms and rituals. Fox’s ambivalent relationship to the portrayal of women in the media opens up an arena to play and explore women’s roles.

Rainer Ganhal’s life is his practice and his is a rigorous quest to make sense of the world and our everyday decisions and their ethical implications. In his death-defying videoed cycle rides he risks sacrificing himself for art and questions art’s political potential.

Stewart Gough rifles the building supply store to create dramatic formal sculptures. These playfully combine banal materials to create pieces with a commanding sculptural presence. His works reference modernist sculpture, rock iconography and shed-based hobbyists.

Darren Jones’ practice is diverse and moves between media. He uses his art to explore his relationship with the world, laying bare his hopes, frustrations and aspirations.

Cathy Lomax’s paintings look at the mythology of fame - where shared fictions become psychological truths. The ‘Inevitable End of a Love Goddess’ series of paintings look at Jayne Mansfield’s decline. These compelling small-scale paintings have an uneasy quality to them.

Kristen Lovelock’s practice is concerned with how we understand our subjective positions in the world. She uses video, sculpture and writing to experiment with how women are represented. In her work, she plays performatively with truth and fiction, nihilistically adopting and discarding personas.



Martin Maloney - In his new body of work, Maloney has painted a series of female nudes making use of some of the historical conventions of modernism. He was curious to see if he could paint a serious and convincing painting with several eyes, many noses and the head looking in opposite directions. The paintings have displaced anatomy replacing it with abstraction, a brush of colour or a repeated shape to suggest a breast or a nipple.

Agathe Snow’s Total Attitude Work Out Video seems, at first glance, chaotic and out of control. However, upon further inspection one finds an effortless and carefully considered orchestration of incredibly sumptuous parts. The work is a witty parody of celebrity self-help videos and includes advice on what to do if you are transported back in time to meet Jesus and how to survive Nazi Germany. The scantily clad instructors are mostly offbeat, but the work is certainly on pulse.

Charlie Tweed explores control methodologies to create coercive manifesto videos which seem unhinged yet strangely plausible. When watching them you get really sucked in – where can you sign up? We’re in danger here you know!

Jo Wilmot’s expressive, painterly paintings have a tension between the messy execution and the desirable subject. Somehow, her work always looks a bit soiled, whatever the subject matter.

Mark Wright’s paintings are hauntingly beautiful, with his creepy, chilly landscapes. These post apocalyptical places have a poisonous feeling which is startling attractive – like boat oil when it shimmers on the surface of the lake on a summer’s day.

Concrete Allotment Projects is a not-for-profit curatorial collaboration formed by artist-curators, Kristen Lovelock and Jo Wilmot.

In addition to the exhibition, there will be a full-colour catalogue and a programme of events at 16 Hoxton Square including a Food as Medicine Workshop lead by Shoreditch Spa, a durational performance “No Pain No Gain” by Oriana Fox, a holistic yoga workshop, a family workshop on the exhibition themes and a panel discussion. Full details to be found at: www.detoxme.org.uk

Special thanks to: Phenomena Project – New York,
Oz Garcia www.ozgarcia.com, Jing Tea jingtea.com,
Eat Natural www.eatnatural.co.uk
And a special special thanks to:
Shoreditch Trust www.shoreditchtrust.org.uk Shoreditch Spa www.shoreditchspa.org.uk

For more information:
Joanna at Velvet PR – Joanna [at] velvetpr. biz
concreteallotmentprojects [at] googlemail. com

Kristen Lovelock's work in DETOX:
Kristen Lovelock, Detox, 2008, 3:09

Kristen Lovelock, In Loving Memory, 2008, 6:24