02 Feb 2009

John Wood & Paul Harrison at Studio Trisorio

On Wednesday February 4 at Studio Trisorio in Rome and Friday February 6 at Studio Trisorio in Naples at 7.00 p.m. for the first time in Italy the video works of the English artists John Wood and Paul Harrison will be presented.

The two artists have worked together in the medium of video since 1993. They realize actions in which the human body and every day objects are used as instruments to explore space and to prove the rule of action and reaction. Their language is characterized by a minimalist as well as conceptual and ironic approach.

Harrison and Wood are often protagonists in their videos: they inhabit the space of the 'white cube' interacting with simple objects on neutral backgrounds, creating anecdotic situations, compressed in few minutes. Actions and situations – as well as space – are always strictly stylized. The works are derived from schematic diagrams, inviting the observer to a 'reality show' in which the artists explore their capacity to take risks. Their research reflects their interest in performance, sculpture and architecture.

John Wood and Paul Harrison have recently exhibited at MOMA, NY; CCA Wattis in San Francisco, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest. And are currently preparing for solo shows at IKON, UK, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, USA and The High Museum, Atlanta, USA.

Their works are in public and private collections including Tate, London, Museum of Modern Art New York, Government Art Collection and Arts Council Collection, London


Gallery Studio Trisorio interviewed John Wood and Paul Harrison on their work:

Studio Trisorio: How did you start to collaborate, what was the first impulse? In which way do you work together on the same project?

John Wood & Paul Harrison: We first met in the late 1980's at Art College, but didn't start to work together until we met again several years later. We discovered that, even though our personalities are very different, we share a lot of the same interests and most importantly we can spend a lot of time together without getting on each others nerves. At first we both worked equally on all aspects of the collaboration. But more recently, even though the ideas for final pieces are shared, we have more specific roles. For example, John could be in the studio preparing to shoot a new video whilst I may be traveling to install a show. This is largely down to a much busier schedule than when we first started out.

S.T.: Which is the process of your creations, how do you plan it?

J. W. & P.H.: Most of the videos begin as a series of drawings for instance with 'notebook' (which is being shown in Naples) there are 101 short sections, we started with about 300 drawings which were then edited down to the final selection. Most of the editing is done at the drawing stage and we tend not to edit too much in post-production, its more economical. A piece like 'Notebook' or 'Night and Day' will take between 6-12 months to complete, from the drawing and planning stage through to the construction of the set and then finally the filming.

S.T.: How do you describe your work?

J. W. & P.H.: We used to say 'short performance video works' but that does not really apply any more and we have recently started to work more on photographs, drawings and prints to go alongside the video pieces. So it becomes even more complicated to try to encapsulate the work in a short phrase or statement, perhaps we had better leave it to other people to try to describe it…

S.T.: Did you ever create some videos out of your white – cube?

J. W. & P.H.: So far only one, 'Luton' (part of 'twenty six drawing and falling things', which is being shown in Rome) was shot in the back of a large van (a type of van referred to in England as a 'Luton'), which was driven around a 3 minute circuit, near to the studio. Even then we fitted it out to look like a white cube space, and some people refuse to believe we shot it in a van, they think it was made using a rig in the studio. The use of white as a background stems from our interest in drawings and the attempt to make the videos look diagrammatic so I imagine we will continue to use this kind of space. We do have some ideas floating around though, which could involve shooting outdoors or in different types of spaces.

S.T.: Your videos are results of various actions which pass over physical limits. Did it ever happen that some projects were finally unrealizable?

J. W. & P.H.: We constantly surprise ourselves by our ability to forget that gravity exists. Quite a few of our ideas could never be realised. The question of what happens when you take a drawing and try to realize it as a physical action, forms an interesting challenge.