Houldsworth brings together five leading artists from Britain, Germany and America to explore the powers of chaos and destruction as modes of creation. An explosion, as we perceive it, is the sum of its parts, a dynamic moment that technology allows us to capture and examine as a dissected body. In the hands of these artists destruction becomes an act of metamorphosis and rebirth, and chaos becomes the ruling principle within these artistic attempts to capture the dynamism of construction and its often necessary precursor, deconstruction.
Chaos is the grey point that haunted Paul Klee. It is an indefinable moment, and one that contains within it a latent order. The power of Franz Ackermann's Epicentre paintings challenges the canvas to contain them. The simplified explosion, radiating in concentric circles becomes a symbol of dynamism. David Burrows uses a cacophony of colour that seemingly creates an abstract chaos. The dizzying effect of this assault on the senses is key to his post-apocalyptic visions, constructed from mixed media and then photographed as if to contain the chaos. In his new installation, which he has made specifically for the show, a collection of ephemera has been ordered into a complex construction, made to hang from the ceiling, bursting free and beyond. The consequences of Jonathan Callan's method often appear organic. As systematically as wasps build their nests from regurgitated matter, so Callan's destruction is meticulous and as such breathes new life in to old matter. In Callan's poetic works of destruction the dust and waste products become celebrated moments of metamorphosis. Jeff Elrod's works are painted versions of digital originals; they recode the seeming dichotomy between the handmade recording and a perceived technological rationalism. Adam Ross's paintings appear as self-generating moments of architectural creation, from which exudes a sense of space and time. The smooth planes of colour suddenly rupture into intense explosions of perspective. Seemingly measured order springs from this apparent chaos. Order within disorder. Chaotic order.
Franz Ackermann is one of the most important and influential artists working in Europe. He took part in the Venice Biennale 2003, and in the past year has shown at Reina Sofia, Madrid; KunstMuseum Wolfsburg; Kunsthalle, Basel; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. David Burrows came to prominence in Becks Futures 2 at the ICA London, in 2001, touring to Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. He has also shown at Kunsthalle, Budapest and at Kunstverein in Dusseldorf. He is represented by f a projects, London. Jonathan Callan has recently had solo exhibitions at New Art Gallery in Walsall, at Firstsite in Colchester and at Nicole Klagsbrun, NY. Jeff Elrod's shows include exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York and Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art. Adam Ross has recently exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
