Lonely and Friend
Louisa Mahony
/ Tomoya Matsuzaki
26 November – 11 December 2005
Opening times, Fri – Sun 12.00 – 18.00 or by appointment
Private view 25th of
November, 18.00 – 21.00
'Lonely and Friend' is a two-person show of paintings and sculpture by Tomoya Matsuzaki and Louisa Mahony respectively. Although Familiar with solitary
pursuits they have resolved to show together for the second time. Integrating
work is a curious process, akin to seeing the back of your head or having the
opportunity to really discover the curves of your own profile. Someone else is
there to hold up the mirror. Although still lonely, frightened and troubled the
artists are enjoying the pale warmth of collaboration; a small candle flickers
at the bottom of a large black hole.
The
paintings open the enquiry, the position of the artist. The viewer is
confronted with awkward spaces. These spaces look physical, but may be read as
psychological. Almost every painting offers up a figure, mute in a noisy
ground. They are all alone, often stationary, but quietly interacting with
their surroundings. The environments in the paintings suggest architectural
installations by containing the figure the spaces grow in magnitude to become
the second protagonist in the work, switching between illusion and paint. The poetry that seeps from the paintings finds another home in
the body of the objects. Sad stories are swapped, dead roses and dampened fires
become the objects of barren ridicule and failure. The sculptures from humble
origins seem to have taken a step away from the every day and have moved into a
spotlight, almost glamorous but ultimately flawed. There is an understanding
that there are no happy endings, but not quite an acceptance of this as fact.
The most Private journeys chartered in these works hum with a common resonance
and the most ordinary examination of the self finds a meandering and somewhat
clumsy route into the world. We can only just about laugh at our absurd
existence, our needs, wants and desires and celebrate our ignorant striving.