Philip Newcombe, ‘6 pink gym balls liberated from a lifetime of physical abuse’ 2014, 6 gym balls; ‘Clap’ 2014.Rubber band snapped to the sound of a loud clap. Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe
COMPANY
2 May – 7 June 2014
at Maria Stenfors, London
Newcombe often uses familiar and democratic objects such as lollipops, darts, folded up paper, thread, perfume, other people’s business cards and scent dispensers. By adding to or subtracting from these with subtle and well aimed interventions, the possible narratives seem ambiguous, contradictory, open ended and looped; revealing truths, half-truths, red herrings and trip-ups. Sometimes not all is what it seems to be. Although titles can describe an activity (’20 pints of milk dispersed throughout a city’, for example), there is rarely any photographic documentation of the event or a date or any other superfluous conceptual padding to justify the action. There seems no need. Instead they stubbornly hover in the territory between fact and fiction.
As with previous works where Newcombe has filled a beach ball with the air from the lungs of a dying man, or carries around a folded A4 image of the most beautiful place in the world in his back pocket, COMPANY performs as an arena to suggest that the exhibited objects are activated through action and language, allowing them a subversive intimacy with the viewer. The exhibition forms a dialogue between the art objects and its potential as a trigger to exist beyond the gallery space and time frame of the exhibition, both temporarily and physically. They feed off against each other like protagonists in a play, a company, if you will. [Read the full press release here]
Maria Stenfors
Unit 10, 21 Wren Street,
London WC1X 0HF UK
mariastenfors.com
Opening hours
Tuesday – Friday: 11.00 am – 6.00 pm
Saturday: 11.00 am – 3.00 pm
Or by appointment
Instalation view. Philip Newcombe, COMPANY, 2014. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Instalation view. Philip Newcombe, COMPANY, 2014. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Instalation view. Philip Newcombe, COMPANY, 2014. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe, 20 pints of milk dispersed throughout a city, 2014. 20 milk bottles, 20 walks on separate days. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe, Portable Blue Screen Anonymity, 2014. Framed photo, blue plastic bag, edition 1 of 7 billion. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe, Untitled, 2014. Object thrown from over there to here throughout the duration of the exhibition. The flight, the colour of a fly trapped in a bedroom. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe, Sculpture for Birds, 2013. Scent dispenser, placed high on the exterior of a building, omitting a burst of Lemon Zest, at 15 minute intervals. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor
Philip Newcombe, Sculpture for Birds, 2013. Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London. Photo: Mike Taylor