22 Apr 2011

'Circuit' James Hutchinson at Unit 24 gallery, London

Recovering from the latest robbery attempt Unit 24 gallery is pleased to announce a new exhibition:

'Circuit': James Hutchinson

'Circuit': James Hutchinson's selection of recent paintings, digital prints, animations and sculptures which are the result of using mobile phone as an artistic medium.
J. Hutchinson : 'Having the mobile handy allows me to realize the image before it disappears'.

Circuit, James Hutchinson's new exhibition at UNIT 24 is the result of an all encompassing obsession with drawing and its application to painting, sculpture, digital print and performance. Taking inspiration from the ambulant JMW Turner, Hutchinson uses mobile technology to facilitate drawing on the move. 'Anywhere can be my studio though predominantly my digital work takes place on the train between Newcastle and Sunderland,' says Hutchinson.

Hutchinson takes the view that inspiration can strike in the most banal of places, having a mobile handy allows him to realize an image before it disappears.
While embracing mobile digital media, Hutchinson's work is transmogrified into traditional media, both in his studio and virtually within cutting edge computer technology. His work begins from a simple starting point; the pixel, the line, the cube, a text or found object, and undergoes various transformations.

Using a leather sofa cover for the performance 'Klippen Man', Hutchinson recreated a seminal Joseph Beuys performance, Coyote (without the Coyote), and dissected the leather cover to use as a surface to paint images onto. It was inspired both by art history and personal 'Handy' drawings for which Hutchinson draws upon a bank of images from magazines, films and art, comic strips and children's television. It is a process, which can be seen as both primeval and alchemical. The outcomes are presented at Unit24: a selection of recent paintings, digital prints, animations and sculptures.

Coinciding with the exhibition is a new publication 'C.' a book of drawings by James Hutchinson.
'C.' is 138 pages softback 8X5ins B&W is available from the www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1992859 shop priced £9.48.

James Hutchinson has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. He was born in London in1968, and graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design with a degree in painting in 1990 and in fine art printmaking from The Royal College of Art in 1998. He now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne and is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Sunderland University.

ABOUT Unit 24 gallery
Unit 24 is both a hyper-modern, completely minimalist space, just three minutes from the great Tate, and a functional dry cleaning business. You can go there to collect your spotless cleaning but in fact this is an art gallery of deliciously ironic and serious intent. The spacious white cubes of its interior are host to an amazing array of contemporary art, a million miles away from being an elitist institution. Unit 24 is open to a wide group of viewers; it communicates to the modern urban citizen of the futurist cityscape around Tate modern that art can't be avoided any more than any of our other essential needs – dry cleaning included.

For press images or more information:
Ania Cerelczak ania@unit24.info 00 44 7749 374 495
Kasia Morawska kasia@unit24.info 001 323 230 3177