Isis Gallery

Martin Griffiths - First Light at Lincoln Cathedral

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:24:15 +0000

Martin Griffiths' beautiful First Light project at Lincoln Cathedral is reaching the engineering stage. As work progresses we are adding to the production diary, which you can follow here "Arising from an inner volition, the installation may give a journey of upwardly de-materialising light effects, in which experiences pass through absorbed light, reflected light, transparent tinted light to pure transmitted light." Excerpt from diary entry May 19th - June 19th 2010.

Sequence of 7 arch-framed portals with horizontal lights facing a centrally located vertical light-line rising from tall stand.
Working photomontage
Martin Griffiths

World Without End review - Art Papers USA 2010

Thu, 27 May 2010 13:05:57 +0000

The following review of Hans de Wit's exhibition World Without End (Isis Gallery, London January 9 – February 20, 2010) by Amelia Ishmael appears in Art Papers USA (2010).

Cicaden (2006), Pastel and charcoal on paper, 148cm x 260cm

Pencil Poems - Hans de Wit

Mon, 24 May 2010 14:12:04 +0000

We are very pleased to offer the latest documentation of Hans de Wit's extraordinary cycle of large format drawings. Pencil Poems (RTBooks 2010, pp. 20) is a beautiful slim volume published in an edition of 400 only.The book features text by Huub Beurskens and John Marchant. This title is signed by the artist when purchased through Isis Editions. £8 + P&P UK: £1.00 / Europe: £1.50 / Rest of World: £2.00

News From Nowhere

Mon, 24 May 2010 09:50:29 +0000

As we are working on a number of off-site projects at the moment we would like to update you on events in a slightly different format to our regular e-mailouts.

Storme DeLarverie, Chelsea Hotel (2010)
Silver gelatin print
Alice O'Malley

Alice O'Malley is featured in Greater New York, which has just opened at MoMA/PS1 in Queens NYC. Alice writes of the above image "The image of Storme has a prominent place in the gallery... she's at the head of the table. Storme is 89. She threw the first punch at a police officer during the Stonewall Riots. She was a Big Band singer and the only female member of the legendary drag troupe, the Jewel Box Revue. This photo was taken in March at the Chelsea Hotel where Storme lived for 31 years before she was moved last month to a nursing home against her will." Storme is our Hero for Spring. You can see more images from this series here. Additionally, Alice was selected by Lou Reed for his curatorial contribution to the recent New York Photo Festival
Martin Erik Andersen is currently working on a new project with the assistance of London's Freud Museum. We have now uploaded two films - one a short interview with Martin done during the installation of the exhibition The Veil in November 2009, (with Paul Reid), and the other an artist film entitled Home Is Where The Buffalo Roam (1996), for which Martin has supplied the conditions of production which are of considerable interest to those following his practice.

Home Is Where the Buffalo Roam - Video work (1996)

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:07:30 +0000

This video work by Martin Erik Andersen (1964) was produced on Super 8 in 1996, adhering to a few simple rules. As it is unusual for an artist to discuss the process of production in such clarity we felt it interesting to include these rules with the film. ****************************************************** The Super 8 was made with a few rules: 1. the duration was limited to the length of the film cartridge - ca 3600 frames (lost some frames at the begining and end). 2. only single shots, no cutting. 3. only shots from the apartment in which I lived. 4. no repeating of the same view. 5. I had to look in the viewfinder, finding the view beautiful. 6. I didn't have to focus. The Super 8 was made in 1996, and aesthetically became the starting point of the pc/video material which now is an ongoing part of my installations. The sound on the digitally remastered video/super 8 is a manual replaying, with my finger, of an LP of Serbian folk music. The manual replay made the music out of tune and tempo, and made it sound kind of like Danish folk music ! Martin Erik Andersen (2010)

First Light at Lincoln Cathedral 2011

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:00:39 +0000

Martin Griffiths is embarking on a major commission for Lincoln Cathedral which will emerge in 2011. As we feel that this is going to be a beautiful and fascinating project we thought it would be interesting to present the project as it develops, through conception and production to installation and exhibition. Here follows the proposal which has been accepted by the Cathedral. Here also follow Martin's first diary entries as the project begins to take shape. We will add further entries, working drawings and photographs below as the year progresses and the project nears fruition. This project is made possible with the generous assistance of the Arts Council.

Alan Vega and Alice O'Malley

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:18:28 +0000

Alan Vega and Alice O'Malley

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:13:52 +0000

Coming soon...details to follow plus an exclusive Isis video interview with Alan.

World Without End - Hans de Wit

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:21:46 +0000

Ahab (2009)
Pastel and pencil on paper
150 x 280cm

Jan 9th - Feb 20th 2010 Private view Friday Jan 8th 6pm-9pm Looking at the work of Dutch artist Hans de Wit (1952) is a dizzying, exhilarating experience. These drawings hit you in a number of ways at once - organic and inorganic forms colliding, morphing, deteriorating, pushing, pulsing, falling and twisting; the scale is often huge, and then there’s the rush of howling sound. As we move closer to enjoy these visions that somehow recall the epic gestures of John Martin (1789), we begin to recognise elements; the dark and threatening hull of a submarine, a bushbaby...a gonad?... getting lost in the distance from edge to edge of the paper and the depth of the artist’s imagination. De Wit moved his practice from painting to drawing some years back in a bid for figurative clarity and depth that was hard to capture in oil. Since then he has steadily built a major body of work that has been exhibited and collected widely in his home country. Exhibiting superlative technical facility combined with the most extraordinary visual ingenuity results in works that allow us, in these times, a rare sense of wonder and draw us into a ‘labyrinth of endlessly significant complexity’ (The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley, 1954). Isis gallery is very pleased to host this, Hans de Wit’s first exhibition in the UK.

World Without End - Hans de Wit

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:34:34 +0000

Ahab (2009)
Pastel and pencil on paper
150 x 280cm

Martin Erik Andersen

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:07:45 +0000

"If You Have Had Ears..." 2009
ca 135cm x 110cm x 110cm
painted steel, concrete, cool neonwire, knitting, Picturevinyl LP, turntable
©Martin Erik Andersen

The Veil - New work by Martin Erik Andersen and Paul Reid

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:39:22 +0000

Isis Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of a new space and a new exhibition – The Veil - an exhibition of new work by Paul Reid and Martin Erik Andersen. The exhibition opens on November 20th 2009 from 6-9pm and will be on public view from November 21st to December 19th 2009. For his first exhibition with Isis, Scottish artist Paul Reid (1975) will show a body of new paintings which are a continuation of his exploration of myth and classicist technique with graphite, ink and oil paint. Also exhibiting with Isis for the first time, Danish artist Martin Erik Andersen (1964) will exhibit two recent works which expand his well-established language and process of accretion – yarn, metal, electrical elements, paper... The Veil refers to the veil of consciousness which needs to be drawn back to see the true Meaning of Things beyond conception. The apparent differences between Reid and Andersen are stark. Reid’s works are a fascinating exploration of nominally obselete sacred narrative and technique. In the vernacular of contemporary art, Reid’s objectives in this timely display of painterly skill may remain a mystery to the viewer. In contrast, the materiality of Andersen’s work resonates within our own time – spatial, artful and poetic. Yet, of course there are narratives to be discovered in Andersen’s works also - there are multiple moments to be encountered which create layered and polyvalent spaces for meaning. They point beyond language and to a space that exists beyond formal register of the works themselves. In exhibiting Reid’s and Andersen’s work together The Veil performs an act of alchemical conjunction. On the surface the radical visual dissimilarity between each artist’s work makes them appear strange and uneasy bedfellows. However, The Veil focuses on the antinomies and incongruities that lie behind and unite these two seemingly diverse artistic practices. It offers an opportunity to see and understand how artistic meaning is generated and approached. It is precisely this question that is revealed when the veil of forms and material things is pulled back.

The Veil - New work by Martin Erik Andersen and Paul Reid

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:31:21 +0000

The Great God Pan (2009) by Paul Reid

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:21:58 +0000

Isis Editions is very pleased to announce the publication of Paul Reid's first editioned work, printed and produced in association with London Print Studio. The Great God Pan (2009) is signed and numbered by the artist in an edition of 25 and is hand printed on 385mm x 280mm 300 gsm Somerset paper with a plate size of 240mm x 170mm. £100 + VAT and P&P UK: £4.00 / Europe: £8.00 / Rest of World: £15.00

Isis Editions presents The Great God Pan (2009) by Paul Reid

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:21:58 +0000

Isis Editions is very pleased to announce the publication of Paul Reid's first editioned work, printed and produced in association with London Print Studio. The Great God Pan (2009) is signed and numbered by the artist in an edition of 25 and is hand printed on 385mm x 280mm 300 gsm Somerset paper with a plate size of 240mm x 170mm. » For more information and to purchase, visit Isis Editions.