Jennifer West at VILMA GOLD, London, 7 Sep - 5 Oct

Exhibition Description:

New work by American artist Jennifer West will be presented at her first solo exhibition at Vilma Gold gallery in London.

West uses urban myth or 'absolute truth' as the backdrop to her apocryphal stories of contemporary American culture. By using the products that provoked these stories in the development process of her films and referencing the stories that have heightened their appeal in the film titles, West explores how the cultural framing of such myths have entered the common consciousness.

Jennifer West has created four new films with permutations that are referenced in this dual process and continues her exploration of the "psychosensual", a sensual investigation of the psyche through visual means.

The film captions read like experiments in alchemy, listing everyday solvents, alcohol, energy drinks, make-up and perfume as ingredients in the development process. West has subjected the film stock, negative and leader to multiple physical manipulations, the celluloid sometimes set alight, cooked, skateboarded over and scribbled on. This process has resulted in mesmerizing streams of colour bound together with footage taken by West of autobiographical events or recreations of found material.

The films have been installed together in the gallery so that they play off each other, both in content and in their physical presence, within the gallery. The effect is accentuated through the use of a mirrored prism that shifts the projected frame of the work so that the projection appears as if it has 'lost its corner'.

Description:

Film: ‘Jam Licking & Sledgehammered Film' (70MM film leader covered in strawberry jam, grape jelly and orange marmalade - licked and sledgehammered by Jim Shaw, Marnie Weber, Jwest and a bunch of others - based on moments from Kaprow's 'Household')’

West was born in Topanga Canyon, California, USA and lives and works in Los Angeles. She has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2008) and White Columns, New York (2007) Museum exhibitions include Tate St Ives (2007) touring to CAPC Musee d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2008); The Drawing Centre, New York (2008); MOCAD, Detroit (2007) and ZKM Museum for New Media, Karlsruhe (2007). West has an upcoming solo show at MARC FOXX (2009) and will also be participating in: Now You See It, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2008), Angles of America, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (2008) and an exhibition on the influence of Nirvana's music in art at the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2010).

Full Contact Details:

VILMA GOLD. 6 Minerva Street, London. E2 9EH
t: 020 7729 9888 | f: 020 7729 9898 | mail (at) vilmagold.com