A Chance Encounter Between an Umbrella and a Sewing Machine

James Clarkson Exhibition

18^TH February to 4^th March 2012

Friday-Sunday, 12-5pm (or by appointment)

At:

Rhubaba

25 Arthur Street

Edinburgh

www.rhubaba.org

Rhubaba announce A Chance Encounter Between an Umbrella and a Sewing Machine, the first Scottish exhibition by James Clarkson. Taking its title from Comte de Lautréamont’s 19th century prose poem, Les Chants de Maldoror, a seminal work of literature often sighted as an influence on the methodologies of French Symbolist, Dada and Surrealist movements during the 1920s. Lautréamont was himself influenced by the works of Baudelaire, and the two share an interest in the random possibilities or associations that occur when two unrelated objects or concepts meet in an unfamiliar situation. From this basis, and taking Lautréamont’s text as a particular reference point, Clarkson will present a number of existing works reconfigured for the Rhubaba Gallery in an attempt to tease out tensions and relationships between disparate pieces. The title of the exhibition, aside from its significance as a historical reference, is also used as a means of reflecting upon Clarkson’s use of found objects in the fabrication of his works.

The work ‘Two Birds in Space,’ previously exhibited as a public artwork, has been moved into the gallery and is presented as an expansive print, becoming a backdrop to the sculptural works on show. Brancusi’s ‘Bird in Space’ is pressed against a woman’s rear clad in gold hotpants that meld with the masterpiece. Clarkson brings together the formal attributes that circle between each of the images, allowing an equality of form to occur between them.

James Clarkson is an artist based in Sheffield. Recent Exhibitions include User Selection – Driven Evolution, Supercollider, Blackpool, How to be a Magician in Your Spare Time, Kunst Projects, Berlin, The Palace at 4am, Pavement, Permanent Gallery, Brighton, Matt Roberts Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts, London (all shows 2011). James has recently finished a design commission for artist Haroon Mirza’s solo exhibition at Spike Island, Bristol, and was selected as one of Modern Painter’s, 100 ‘Artists to Watch’, Dec/Jan 2012.

IN OTHER NEWS:

A Chance Encounter Between an Umbrella and a Sewing Machine also serves to launch Rhubaba’s newly expanded gallery space.

To coincide with the opening of the exhibition Rhubaba are happy to be revealing the first limited edition prints available as part of our Associate Membership scheme. Rhubaba membership subscriptions cost £15 (£10 concessions), with Associate Memberships starting at £50. The membership scheme gives individuals the opportunity to support the gallery’s increasingly ambitious programme of events and exhibitions as well as submitting wor