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OBJECT
Dave Smith / Chris Tosic
16 January - 8 February 2004
OBJECT brings together
recent works by British artists Dave Smith and Chris Tosic. Both
artists make representational depictions of objects that explore
the visual and cognitive consequences resulting from the production
and reception of art today. This exploration has, through a sustained
dialogue, often been made together. The critical strategies of these
artists’ work are built on an equally important foundation
of formal rigour and art historical perspicacity.
Dave Smith presents images of
social spaces focusing on common objects familiar to everyone. The
two elements of background space and foreground object set up a
consistent structure running throughout the work. The background
space or everything other than the focal object, which is defined
by architecture or social use is reminiscent of a ground or backdrop.
The object, which is defined by functionality is reminiscent of
a brush mark or the subject. By focusing primarily on the object,
the image becomes a representation of human activity, through an
apparent absence of the subject itself.
Chris Tosic presents several
paintings made from a combination of observational and conceptual
information, combining the two processes into a pictorial whole.
Colour is played down and as a result the object becomes somehow
‘neutered’. The struggle for objectivity turns into a
‘Myth of Sisyphus’ scenario. The more the form is defined
the more it loses its intention, yet Tosic still goes on painting,
playing with devices such as sfumato, blending and glazing. Thus
deceiving the author and viewer alike.
For Smith and Tosic the 'object' becomes a device to look at both
space and material, as well as a device to reflect the world back
upon itself. In a vacuum-like situation where art is increasingly
disillusioned by a relentless paradox of retrospective re-appropriation,
Smith and Tosic's pictures are an attempt to present an image objectively.
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