27 Aug GUSFORD | los angeles presents Complex Systems by Alastair Mackie
Opening Thursday, September 5th 6 – 9 PM during art weekend LA.
Show Runs Through: September 6th – October 26th, 2013
Alastair Mackie – Complex Systems
GUSFORD | los angeles is pleased to present a solo exhibition by British artist Alastair Mackie. Complex Systems consists of a selection of sculptural works that the artist has produced over the last 5 years. The show will focus on the artist’s meticulous manipulation of found materials – a collection of artworks that are fundamentally grounded in the relationships between nature and process, systems and structures, and sculpture and design.
Through the repetitive collection and repurposing of materials such as wasp nests, cuttlefish bones, bird eggs and hornet heads, Mackie transforms organic rudiments into delicate objects. The finished sculptures are highly detailed works that allude to a complex relationship between the natural and the unnatural. Mackie’s personal relationship with the organic element is intrinsic to the work, with many of the items gleaned from the Cornish countryside where he was born, and continues to live and work.
With an emphasis on formal production, the raw materials are rigorously ordered and constrained within structures and grids of expert craftsmanship and design. The pristine objects appear to almost entirely negate the laborious work done by the hand of the artist and the natural forms from which they originated. In Complex Systems, the detritus of organic processes is reorganized to construct sculptural forms that demand we look closer at the natural world, and reconsider the relationships between nature and culture.
Alastair Mackie was born in Cornwall, UK in 1977, where he currently lives and works. He graduated from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2000 and his most recent solo exhibition, Multiplicity, opened at All Visual Arts, London in June 2013. Previous solo exhibitions include The David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2009) and Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles (2006). His work is also currently being shown at the Berengo Centre for Contemporary Art and Glass, Venice, a collateral event of the 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia.
GUSFORD | los angeles
7016 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 452-9563
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