22 Parfett St E1 1JR – Whitechapel- info@elastic.org.uk – +44(0)207 247 1375

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Past exhibitions

Future exhibition

Private view
3.30 pm-6.30pm Saturday 21 August 2004
open Saturday 12-6
Sunday 12-6
And otherwise by appointment
Last Day Sunday 25th September 2004
AtElastic Residence
22 Parfett st ,
Whitechapel
E1 1JR

Tel +44(0)20 72471375

exhibitions@elastic.org.uk

Richard Niman

 DELILAH

An installation comprising assemblage/sculpture and photography

 My basic process here was first to take a ready made object, a manufactured young woman’s head, and by working on it to turn it into a piece of “art”.  However, I was not content to let it – in the words of the sculptor, Claes Oldenberg, “sit on its ass” in my studio or in some gallery – but rather put it in its transformed state into a living situation, in this case a domestic environment, i.e. in my own home. I then proceeded to explore and record the relationships, which “Delilah” had entered into with members of my own household. The photographic representations are consequently evidence and records of these relationship and/or stages in them; they should also in some respects be seen and read like a kind of film storyboard. They are above all an intrinsic part of the total installation and must be understood as such.

 Here we have a present-day Delilah – but some of the references reach back into earlier times and mythology. Not only do we have the Biblical Delilah, who cuts off Samson’s hair and deprives him of his strength (Rembrandt made a painting on this theme and Saint Saens wrote an opera) – but one might also find here resonances of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Coppelia, where the living or lifelike creation rises up and as it were smacks its creator in the face.

 The original Delilah installation has been transformed into a kind of homage to Marcel Duchamp’s “La Mariee mise a nue par ses celibataires meme(the Bride stripped bare by her bachelors even)

 My thanks go to my daughter Anna, who choreographed and took the photographs; and to my wife Heather, who took the part of my wife, Heather; also to my son David who helped with lighting and music research.

        

Heather Peri

DELILAH’S TROPHY

 As someone concerned with drawing and with a background in etching, the magic of the line has always fascinated me. The linear quality of hair, and in this particular case Samson’s hair, has offered me a good opportunity for exploration.

 Heather has had solo exhibitions in both London and Brighton, and exhibits periodically in group shows.

Anna Niman

 THE FINAL CUT

 ‘The Final Cut’ is a response to the Delilah theme. My photo based work comprises images searching states of reality in limbo. ‘The Final Cut’ is a deviation. As with my light based installations, the live presence of light, and its illusions are a crucial recurrent aspect of my work.

 Exhibitions include ‘Mutiny’ at Oxo Tower, The Bargehouse, London; ‘Changing Channels’ at Backfabrik, Berlin, and ‘Existence’ at Gallery 291.