William Hunt
Tempting Fate, Swimming Alone
2008 WITTE DE WITH, CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION
© Kirsten De graaf
Sept 13 to Oct 26, 2008
The first extensive solo exhibition of British artist William Hunt (b. 1977, London), at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. Hunt completed his studies at Goldsmiths College (London) in 2005 and has since garnered critical attention for his endurance–based performances. At Witte de With, he presented a gallery installation which formed the backdrop to a series of new performances taking place during the opening weekend and throughout the exhibition.
In his work, William Hunt investigates the position and the potential of the body under artificial constraints. He draws upon (and questions) contemporary male and female stereotypes, the cult of youth and beauty, and connects these to the iconography of pop culture. Hunt’s performances have their roots in art historical traditions – most of all body art and pop art – but operate consciously within contemporary culture. His endurance–based performances have involved a degree of musical showmanship, played out under some situation of physical duress; such as hanging upside down, spinning on a turntable, or singing under water.
In his new work, Hunt continues to pursue the spirit of adventure with a self-deprecating and ironic look at vanity and ageing. The work takes the form of a multidisciplinary and multifunctional installation through which Hunt highlights parallels between the transformative processes of making art and the metamorphoses that occur in a beauty salon, striking a chord with the parallel battles that artists and beauticians fight against entropy. Hunt used the installation for his performances that explore, scan, dissect, multiply and standardize his own body through different methods.
From an adapted beauty salon, and using a sun bed of sorts, Hunt made life-size prints from the shadow projected by his trapped body, adapting the silkscreen technique. At a dressing table, he substitutes a mudpack with plaster to make a cast of his own head. He displayed a wig, made out of his own hair, together with a specific black outfit and white trainers. This ‘costume’ was used during the performances, and was on display in the exhibition representing Hunt’s artist persona and forming a continuous image of the artist appearing in the documentation, in the face of this ever changing installation.
Alongside the detritus from each performance, prints, plaster casts, video, sound and photographic documentation were shown, making visible the process of production.
Curated by: Belinda Hak, Nicolaus Schafhausen
Artist: William Hunt
(born London, 1977) lives and works in London, UK. Hunt completed his MA studies at Goldsmiths College, London in 2005. Hunt is part time lecturer in creative practice and design at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. Recent solo shows include: Even as You See Me Now, Rotwand, Zurich, Switzerland (2008); Put Your Foot Down, Art Unlimited Art Basel 38, Basel, Switzerland (2007) and Put Your Foot Down, IBID PROJECTS, London, UK (2006). In 2006, Hunt’s work was shown at Witte de With as part of the group exhibition Don Quijote and was artist in focus during the event Can small battles change the world? A selection of other group shows: Mind The Gap, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland (2008); Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down to Me, Presentation House, Vancouver, Canada (2007); Silence: Listen to the Show, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, curated by Francesco Bonami (2007); and KölnShow 2, Cologne, Germany, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen (2007); Long Shore Drift, The Whitstable Biennale 2006, Canterbury, UK, curated by Sally O'Reilly and Mel Brimfield.
Kindly supported by: De Wereld van Witte de With, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, September in Rotterdam, dienst Kunst en Cultuur, British Council.
Tempting Fate by Swimming Alone
Limited edition publication: A special artist’s edition, designed by Atelier Bernau Carvalho, accompanies Hunt’s work. The publication acts as a tangible object that transforms from a book to a poster. It comprises a life-size body print of William Hunt, complemented with ”A Litany of Stoppages”, a selection of manual texts, news clippings, poetry, fiction and prose, selected by critic Sally O’Reilly.
The foregoing texts and images are provided and copyrighted by: https://www.fkawdw.nl/en/
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