Image above: Yu-Chen Wang: ‘A Voyage of Discovery’, detail. 2014
Shifting Perceptions : Nicholas Vaughan and Yu-Chen Wang
Private View : Thursday 6th of March from 6:30
A young war refugee seeks out visual hooks to hang memories in*, collecting mass produced imagery from his homeland upon which he constructs a microcosm of utopia. Unawares, the consistency of his recollections is being dissolved by a breach in space and time, as the images in his collections mirror a reality existent only in the mind of the artists that created them. Gradually, colourful images of a bygone time sail past his eyes, triggering happy memories** that are dissociated from his own experiences, and old memories are supplanted and replaced.
A spaceship cruises through aggregate-gateways embedded in the city’s concrete. At its wheel, Yu-Chen navigates through space and time (and what else is stone but time compressed?*). An old man wandering among the concrete city, stumbles upon the aggregate-gateways and becomes aware of the passage of this spaceship through the jewel-like samples of star-time. Befriending its pilot will enable him to access information from his own past, a past so far away that he does not recognize it any longer. Doors open into his near future(s), a chaos of eventualities, as different organisms and ideas rise and fail, are born and then die*.
Shifting Perceptions will look into how our awareness of reality is shaped, in what way external factors can affect our memories, defining how we retell our past (to oneself, to others) and how this will affect our construction of a future. Throughout, the weight of the past mixes with the diversity of possible futures, memories being written and re-written, reshaping what was and what can come to be.
The artists, Nicholas Vaughan and Yu-Chen Wang, met at the Chelsea College of Art in 2001, whilst both where attending a MA in Fine Art. The present exhibition will show a selection of their most recent drawings, as well as excerpts of Nicholas’ short story, The Matchbox Brothers. Both artists explore how personal memory and cultural heritage influence their artistic practice. Setting out from separate starting points, the artists will follow paths at times opposite to each other, at other moments parallel, intertwined or even mangled, towards an unspecified finish line, sought out during the exhibition.
* Bob Dickinson, 2012, “The Concrete Gateway”
** Vaughan, Nicholas, 2014, “The Matchbox Brothers”
Image left: Nicholas Vaughan: ‘Copernicus Conundrum’ 2013
Events Programme
Private View
Thursday, 6th March, 18:30 – 20:30
Readings by Nicholas Vaughan from his short story, Matchbox Brothers.
Shifting Perceptions Drawing Session
Sunday, 9th March, 14:00 – 17:00 (drop-in event)
Visitors are invited to draw with the Artists, setting out from a common concept. Soundtrack by Simon Coleman.
Film Screening & Live Music
Saturday, 15th March, 19:30 – 22:00
A 40min reel showcasing Yu-Chen Wang’s short film The Splash and A Last Drop (2011) and work by Alasdair Duncan, Henna-Riikka Halonen and Nicholas Brooks. Followed by live music by Tolerance Manoeuvre.
Papier Mache Workshop I
Sunday, 16th March , 14:00 – 17:00 (drop-in event)
Visitors of all ages are invited to create papier mache sculptures from local news papers. Nicholas Vaughan will lead the workshop as part of his Community Characters project. All materials will be provided. Please wear appropriate clothing.
Papier Mache Workshop II
Sunday, 23rd March, 14:00 – 17:00 (drop-in event)
Part II of the workshop. Visitors are encouraged to attend both.
Watch the artists presenting their work:
