Still life motivating inquiry ... (From Durham Times)

Still life motivating inquiry ...

1:35pm Friday 29th October 2010 in Arts

STARTING with something that exists – an artwork, a photograph, furniture – artist Simon Martin produces work that reflects on materialism through the form of moving image, photography and sculpture.

His latest piece, Untitled 2010, was made during his time as artist-in-residence at Durham Cathedral from 2009-10, and is the centrepiece of an exhibition at the the DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery at Aykley Heads.

The two-screen video projection revisits Untitled 2007, which consists of a bronze copy of a cheap African figure he found in a London shop and placed beside a lemon. The work is exhibited on a table or desk, and both elements have to be present for it to function.

The two elements of the new work are remade as digital animations, illuminated in the style of US film-maker Hollis Frampton’s 1969 film Lemon, in which light passes slowly over the fruit as sunlight passes across the earth.

It raises questions about sculpture, technology and physicality. Is it a representation of the original, or a work in its own right? What does the fact that Lemon is now available on YouTube tell us?

How does the material existence of an image affect our understanding of it?

Martin has a version of Untitled 2010 in the British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, which opened at Nottingham and travels to London, Glasgow and Plymouth.

He has work in the Tate and Arts Council collections and his films are distributed by LUX. He received a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2008. Group exhibitions include Taipei Biennial Taipei Japan 2010. Solo shows include Kunstverein Amsterdam 2010 and Bass Museum of Art Miami 2008.

Also showing until November 28 is Jerwood Contemporary Paintings 2010, an exhibition of work by emerging artists, who shared in a £30,000 grant to help launch their careers.