‘Desperately trying to tell you something’ exhibition at Firstdraft
Andrew Newman and Ben Terakes are exhibiting new works at the exhibition Desperately trying to tell you something at Firstdraft gallery. The exhibition explores the idea of the artist as romantic and the ensuing angst formed by the impotency of expression.
Terakes’ work is at an intersection between drawing and performance. Desperately trying to tell you something features a series of embroidered pieces of cloth that form confessional images of intimacy that proclaim secrets and lies about personal loves. The artists’ fast drawn lines and speedy confessions scribbled down on paper have given way to slow and careful stitches, each being laboured over and loved.
Newman’s video work addresses the anxious in-between of what is communicated and what was meant to be communicated. This inarticulate in-between stutters and shakes on the screen as the artists body becomes cut-up and amputated from tangible existence. An extension of Lacan’s ‘Mirror Stage’, the recognition of the self in the screen becomes compromised by the systems of language that the screen space adheres to.
The exhibition features an accompanying essay written by recent Master of Visual Arts graduate Alex Lawler. The dialogue between the two artists in this exhibition reflects how time and language drastically alter the ideal of love. The featured work demonstrates that in the artists’ desperate attempt to tell something, something is often left unsaid.
Desperately trying to tell you something opens on Wednesday 20 August and continues until 6 September. The artists will be at the gallery to talk about their work on 6 September at 4.30 pm.