The name refers to the ‘bleed’ in printing and design. That is the material to be trimmed off so the image, text, background fill extend to the edge of the paper. It is the necessary unseen and disposed of in the making of art that is pondered as the conceptual basis for this project. This can further be accentuated by, and what may be people’s first impression of, the word bleed’s primary definition in terms of function: to let out, drain, escape, release. It is not a great leap of faith to understand an ‘out pouring’ as artistic expression; personal production put on show. Perhaps not surprisingly, each exhibition will bleed into the next one. Elements from one will remain as the next is installed, slowly being phased out.
Bleed gallery, like many projects by Jim Ricks, pushes back at accepted and preconceived forms and ideas, in this case: of visual art exhibitions. The space is visible but not open. The visibility is contingent on the hours of those using New Art Studio above, tying the project not just in its address to the making of work, but also to the real habits and behaviors of those involved in studio production.
Bleed gallery could be described as a hypo-curatorial(1) or mesa-curatorial project. Hypo is a prefix for underneath. Mesa presents a possible opposite and alternative to meta,(2) from the Greek meaning ‘into, in, inside or within’. So in opposition to meta-curation, taking a higher level of curation usually involving curating curators, Bleed gallery goes into the making of art, and the exhibition. Placing the curator and curation below the artist and art process, and revealing less post-visualisation and more of the production and research itself.
Bleed gallery is a 6 month project curated by Jim Ricks. It is located at 2/3 Mary’s Abbey, Dublin 7 and is made possible by New Art Studio.
(1) hypo- Word Origin 1. a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “under” ( hypostasis); on this model used, especially as opposed to hyper-, in the formation of compound words ( hypothyroid). Expand Also, especially before a vowel, hyp-. Origin of hypo- Expand < Greek, combining form of hypó under (preposition), below (adv.); cognate with Latin sub (see sub- ); cf. up
(2) Joe Cheal, What is the Opposite of Meta?, Acuity: Journal of the ANLP, Vol. 2, August 2014, pp 153 – 161
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The Spiral Show – Irish Archaeology, Constantin Brancusi: “A portrait of James Joyce”, Google Maps of Robert Smithson, Helen Blake, Sean Lynch on Richard Serra, Marcel Duchamp, and Jim Ricks’s take on Simon Sheikh: “’Another Artworld is Possible if You Want It’ (after Peter Coffin’s take on Tom Marioni (after Bruce Nauman))”
March – April, 2016
The first exhibition in the Bleed gallery series was a group show. No less than 10 artists, 1 curator, 1 writer and 2 organisations were involved. Using the seemingly straightforward premise of exhibiting art works that are spiral in form as a starting point, the combination and representation of works quickly bend in another direction and begin to overlap.
Many are reproduced from high-res images found online. They are images of something else, not original art objects: a simulacra created of images in motion (the poor image) in the age of digital and mechanical reproduction. Many of the works also overtly reference other artists and their works. Sometimes once over, others with multiple passes. In both case, layers of art history are coiling in from their present form.
The repeating motif of the spiral allows a range of works that typify Jim Ricks’s methodology to come to light simultaneously. This misleadingly simple configuration, allowing us to skip from spiral to spiral, takes broad strides between interests, influences, and exhibition strategies. Not least of which is pushing the more extreme end of appropriation through unsolicited exhibition, curation, copies/stand-ins, fakes/knock-offs, and riffs. What is revealed in the showing is a keen interest in art history and a willingness to play with and update it. Like the spirals themselves tracing the concept back towards its origin.
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Medium Wavelength – Video and sculpture by Susan MacWilliam
April – May, 2016
The gallery name refers to the ‘bleed’ in printing and design. That is, the material to be trimmed off so the image, text, background fill extend to the edge of the paper. It is the necessary unseen and disposed of in the making of art that is pondered as the conceptual basis for this project. This can further be accentuated by, and what may be people’s first impression of, the word bleed’s primary definition in terms of function: to let out, drain, escape, release.
Susan MacWilliam was asked to respond to this. Medium Wavelength is developed from her explorations and experiments with the objects, furniture and images from her studio, from off cuts, and re-manipulated video sequences.
Susan’s work explores obscure and overlooked histories and considers perceptual phenomena and the world of the paranormal and supersensory. With an interest in that which is on the periphery of the mainstream and falling beyond conventional fields of science and psychology she has explored dermo optical perception, table tilting, X-ray vision, ectoplasm, telepathy and extrasensory perception. Susan’s Installations and video works reflect on the experimental apparatus and testing of anomalous phenomena.
Recent exhibitions and screenings include Swedenborg Film Festival, London, 2016; Stockholm Experimental and Animation Film Festival, Stockholm, 2016; IndieCork Film Festival, Cork, 2015; Psychic Lighthouse, Model Arts, Sligo, 2015; The Girl With The Sun In Her Head, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, 2015; A Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth of The Beast, A Palazzo, Brescia, 2015 and AN ANSWER IS EXPECTED, QUAD, Derby, 2014.
A survey show of Susan’s video and installation work Susan MacWilliam: Modern Experiments will open at FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge in September 2016 before touring to Highlanes, Drogheda; Butler Gallery, Kilkenny and West Cork Arts Centre in 2017.
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Jeremy Deller: A retrospective*
*of stickers
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A Delay in Addressing the Glass – Mark O’Kelly
June – August 2016
The gallery name refers to the ‘bleed’ in printing and design. That is, the material to be trimmed off so the image, text, background fill extend to the edge of the paper. It is the necessary unseen and disposed of in the making of art that is pondered as the conceptual basis for this project. This can further be accentuated by, and what may be people’s first impression of, the word bleed’s primary definition in terms of function: to let out, drain, escape, release.
Mark O’Kelly was asked to respond to this. A Delay in Addressing the Glass was developed dialogically through reflecting O’Kelly’s recent exhibition at Project Art Centre, Empireland. O’Kelly’s work is packed densely with art historical references. As such, A Delay in Addressing the Glass unpacks and makes explicit some of these, while utilising the Bleed space as a ‘shop display’ influenced from 1920 Paris, reworking Duchamp, and highlighting the literal bleed; the industrial off-cut from O’Kelly’s Project Art Centre scarf, a repeating roll of the artist’s work in that show.
Mark O’Kelly (b 1968) lives and works in Dublin and Limerick, Ireland. He studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, 1985-1990 and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, 1990-1992. He is a Lecturer in Fine Art at Limerick College of Art and Design.
