press release
OBSTACLE COURSE AND OTHER WORKS
JOHN WOOD AND PAUL HARRISON
24 AUGUST - 2 OCTOBER 1999
New Installations by collaborative video artists John Wood
and Paul Harrison, known for visually surprising experiments
in which they test themselves out in relation to constructed
physical elements.
The videos that document these playful actions have the simple
composition of a fixed lens. The works all foreground the monitor
itself, and the space it inhabits, as much as the recorded tableaux
played out on screen. A number of specially built structures,
reminiscent of 70s minimal sculpture, are positioned around
the Gallery, acting as plinths, props or adjuncts to monitors.
The sound of someone clambering over, through or under these
objects can be heard continuously throughout the Gallery. One
of the artists can be glimpsed intermittently on each monitor,
negotiating the particular obstacle.
Distinguished by an unerring sense of timing and a droll economy
of effort, these witty and inventive pieces combine a playful
capacity for surprise with a deceptive formal elegance. These
works stake out a path and direction that Wood and Harrison
can claim as very much their own. Translating the clarity and
economy of their single screen pieces for a larger gallery area
was always likely to prove a significant challenge for their
work and this exhibition can possibly be thought of as the point
when Wood and Harrison really start hitting their stride.
A catalogue is available throughout the exhibition. A Film
and Video Umbrella touring exhibition in association with firstsite
and John Hansard Gallery. Funded by the Arts Council of England.
