double lives : duple trials: Gemma Cumming (UK)

Concept

Curated by Diana Ali

d o u . b l e . l i v e s

d u p . l e . t r i a ls

A Visual Arts Exhibition at The Malt Cross, Nottingham.

www.maltcross.com

16 St. James Street, Nottingham, NG1 6FG.

12th-25th February 2011

Private View 11^th February 2011 630pm-late

Monday- Saturday 11am-6pm.

A ‘double life’ conventionally is a life of two identities where one is simultaneously involved in two sets of circumstances and retains the secrecy of one from the other.

The exhibition is an exploration of the two sets exposing dichotomies of fiction and reality, mirror images and opposing forces. ‘Double lives’ cater for a parallel existence whether it portrays deceiving acts or insatiable fulfillment and can as subtle as a pen name or as exaggerated as the secret identity of a super hero; ultimately why are they adopted?

Rene Descartes and Gilbert Ryle both contest from separate perspectives that our biographies- mind and body- are divided but co-exist in parallel without being the same entity.

Artists have been invited to expose their work investigating functions of duality, such as alter egos, multiple personalities, parallel universes, secret relationships but where double lives exist, privately or publicly.

With thanks to Russell Slack.

Greetings from the Mantlepiece. 2010.
Mixed Media Installation including paintings, steel and wood props
(dimensions variable)
With thanks to: "John Peacock Precision Engineering Ltd, Hurst, Berkshire"

Gemma's giant postcard paintings expose the falseness of the touristic image. Scenes taken on sunny days have their skies replaced with ominous sometimes almost apocalyptic skies. Which view is real, the image presented to us, the sky, the scene around it or are they all somehow valid at the same time?

gemma@gemmacumming.com