Claire Morgan
"EChO wanted" is a group exhibition on the theme of the environment, showcasing work by artists who are intimately preoccupied with themes of pollution and the degradation of our environment. Many of the artists will be exhibiting for the first time in France and at the Karsten Greve Gallery, including Saatchi Online artist Claire Morgan.
International concern for the problems linked to the environment has grown considerably over the last five years. And, as with all major changes throughout history, art forms have accompanied this evolution. Artists seize hold of these questions and illustrate the new relationships society has with nature. Ever-changing artistic scenes develop and strive to stimulate our collective conscience. The eight artists in the exhibition come from very different backgrounds and present works in a broad range of mediums ranging from photography and drawing to sculpture and video. The exhibition also includes works that have been conceived specifically for the exhibition and its installation.
The artistic practices of Claire Morgan reveal a strong interest in whatever touches upon the organic and in natural processes, illustrated in her sculptural installations which often evoke simultaneously acute beauty and horror. "My work focuses on scenarios where seemingly opposing forces merge and in doing so betray the fact that they are in fact intrinsically connected; control and chaos, the unpredictable processes of life and death, and the beauty of nature, found in all its perfection and ugliness." Through a monumental yet slender installation, Claire Morgan addresses here the changing relationships between humans, animals and the increasingly complex environment which we inhabit.
The series of missions of Adventure Ecology aims at raising awareness of environmental problems around the world through creation. In 2007, David de Rothschild, founder of Adventure Ecology, invited several artists to become involved in a mission called Toxico, among whom were the director Dustin Lynn, the photographers Oliver Chanarin & Adam Broomberg and the artist Gabriel Orozco. Once this creative team was brought together, they went off on a mission to the lands of Ecuador. During this mission, Dustin Lynn made a film that captured the extraordinary images of the expedition. The quality of the light, which is Dustin Lynn's signature, makes this film an exceptionally rich visual experience. Among other things, he gives us a glimpse of the work of the different team members and their experiences in a natural setting that has been dramatically polluted through oil production. The works that were created at this time by each of the artists on different mediums will be on display, notably a collection of works on paper by Gabriel Orozco and the photographs of Oliver Chanarin & Adam Broomberg.
During her first voyage to Greenland in 1986, Lynn Davis made a decisive change in her work by definitively abandoning the representation of human forms for landscapes. She has photographed icebergs in monumental formats several times since then and the works presented today come from her last trip there in 2005. During this trip she was able to see the changes in the ice floes wrought by global warming.
Sergio Vega's artistic projects involve a range of mediums including text, photographs, videos, objects, dioramas, and installations. Sergio Vega mischievously combines theory, empirical experience and a cutting criticism of power and of society in his work. He thus seeks to constantly re-examine and explore a "paradise" in which sensorial stimulation and critical discourse are merged. This series of photographs, of great visual elegance, also underline the negative impact man has on nature.
Paolo Paes has developed a plastic arts project entitled "Physalie", which is defined by the artist as a cross between random biological processes and planned structures. He introduces recyclable plastic bottles or other materials into a natural milieu, very often the sea, which constitute a point of attraction and fixation for marine life. He studies the development of living organisms that set up home in these bottles with the help of scientists. The colonisation process of these structures transforms them into mutant sculptures that are then put on display.
In his installation "Acid Rain" Bright Ugochukwu Eke has created water droplets with small plastic bags that are usually used to sell drinking water containing a blackish industrial product that evokes acid rain. Bright Eke is emphasizing the complete disregard for the environment by both the authorities and citizens who throw these little bags away without thinking and so pollute the world around them. With this work the artist is underlining the fascination water exercises over him, its indispensable role in our existence and our environment, while evoking its purifying properties.
This exhibition will also serve as a platform for international organizations like Global Ocean, Adventure Ecology and OrphanAid Africa and will continue on to our galleries in Germany and Switzerland.
ECHO WANTED:
Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Lynn Davis, Bright Ugochukwu Eke, Dustin Lynn, Claire Morgan, Gabriel Orozco, Paolo Paes, Sergio Vega, Roberto de Villacis & United Aliens Artists
17 May to 12 July
Galerie Karsten Greve
5, rue Debelleyme
75003 Paris
T+ 33 1 42771937
www.galerie-karsten-greve.com
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