FOLD GALLERY

32 Fortesque Avenue

E8 3QB

020 8985 3590

info@foldgallery.com

TERRA FIRMA

10th October - 9th November, 2008

Richard Clements, Alex Robbin, Adam Thompson, Simon Willems,

Meaning 'solid earth', the Latin term TERRA FIRMA has long embodied the esteemed ground. In contemporary floodwaters it now describes a faded promise: a metaphysical land on which structures of knowledge were once built. The four artists in this exhibition separately engage its remaining potential, alternately charting or frolicking in its wavering horizon. For - when engulfed by the shifting tides - would not dry land become the mirage?

Imagination is never frivolous - it is a form within nature and our perceived deviancy from it is the illusion. As our actions give shape to our ways of thinking, 'the natural' remains continually illusive yet continually present. We cannot claim it as ours and we cannot change ourselves. We observe to experiment and experiment to verify – with each verification we see that nature does not depend on us. It remains stubborn to facets of our understanding. As the philosopher, Charles Fort, says: "It is not possible to define. Nothing has ever been finally found out. Because there is nothing final to find out."

By peering into the far distance, all forms can merge. Yet it is through our basic field of vision that difference is established.

The various methods employed by these four artists share a quiet, empirical approach, resulting in vulnerable propositions. Contrary to an entropic system, where energy is inevitably lost in order for movement to occur, they attempt to reclaim lost energy whilst witnessing their inability to be still.