Tim Davies – Drift

La mostra Tim Davies, curata da Tom Rowland, presenta opere nuove e recenti in una installazione multimediale che comprende lavori tridimensionali, opere su carta e video site-responsive. I vari media trovano coerenza nella comune indagine di strutture costruite e temi socio-politici.

Comunicato stampa

Tomorrow, 2 June 2011, following a period of intense preparation, Tim Davies unveils his exhibition and 2 new site responsive works made in Venice especially for Wales’ presentation at the Venice Biennale of Art. This Biennale remains the most important and prestigious event on the international contemporary visual arts calendar. 01 Jun 2011

The Swansea based artist who already has established a significant profile in Wales and beyond will be showcasing on the world stage with the attention of the world’s visual arts community and media focused on Venice over a six-month period. His presence at the Biennale will present the image of Wales as a country that seeks to promote its contemporary culture worldwide and is a place with distinctive perspectives and contemporary artists of great imaginative calibre.

Curated by long-time collaborator Tom Rowland of Tom Rowland Fine Art, Davies will show both new work and reworking of recent pieces. Much of it is site-responsive in origin, yet has resonance beyond its original location.

Amongst the reworking of recent pieces is Cadet (Running and Parade at Cardiff), 2010, Cadet (Standing at Aberystwyth), 2006 and the largest and most stunning presentation of 60 of his series of Bridges (2009-2011).

Drift (2011), one of the 2 new works was made in Venice and emphasises how integral the artist himself is to the work as he becomes activist in both. The new work is an elegiac film, simple in its activity as the artist’s hand trails in the water, breaking up the reflections of Venetian Palazzos. This deceptively simple work, with its subtle alteration of real time, plays with the notion of attempting to touch the ‘illusive icon of Venice’. Frari (2011) constructed from a series of collaged stills takes us on a journey up the steps and ramps of the Campanile of Santa Maria dei Frari. Given unprecedented access to the bell tower, Davies considers its physical qualities and purpose – as the camera moves higher the work brings the viewer to the end of the exhibition, acting as a meditation on place, the passage of time and the reality of an artist making contemporary work in Venice today. In many ways this is the work that will chime most with the overall Biennale theme of Illuminazioni/Illuminations.

David Alston, Arts Director of the Arts Council of Wales and exhibition Commissioner comments:

"It feels Tim Davies was destined to make work in Venice and he has realised a set of stunning works. The exhibition has been deftly curated by Tom Rowland into our new space in Venice, the Ludoteca. We are anticipating a great influx of visitors to Wales in Venice. Bringing off the exhibition has entailed a really demanding schedule for the artist and everybody working on the different aspects of the project but this will have a dividend for the artist and all involved and for the visual arts in Wales. "

Tim Davies said:

"The Venice Biennale is one of the world's biggest art events and it attracts a global audience, so to represent your country is a great honour. It's high pressure but it's a beautiful place and a thrilling experience."

Chair of the Arts Council of Wales, Dai Smith said:

"The Venice Biennale is the show that every artist wants to be in and every nation wants to be at. Tim Davies is a significant artist in Wales and internationally and we are pleased to present his work at this Biennale. Working internationally is part of our core purpose as an Arts Council. And now we register our presence internationally with our distinctive and unapologetic presence."

The exhibition will be accompanied by a full colour publication, published by Ridinghouse, London (ISBN 978 1905464 43 2) with specially commissioned texts from international art curator and commentator Tessa Jackson and poet and author, Owen Sheers. Writing about the artist he says:

"A surprisingly persistent voice asking us to look deeper, to question how, why and what we remember, shaking the foundations of the built world around us as it does so."

The exhibition is commissioned and managed by the Arts Council of Wales with support from the Welsh Government, British Council and Wales Arts International.