Image credit: Jonathan Callan, Clear Bear, 2001

 

Interference Johathan Callan

Using seemimgly destructive techniques, Johnathan Callan transforms found objects into artworks that have a fragile beauty whilst testifying to the subtle violence used in their creation. By cutting, scratching, folding and punching holes in books and photographs, the artists emphasizes their physical properties as objects rather than the ‘second-hand’ information they contain. This process of transformation is seen again in Callen’s dust installations: large, sophicated and delicate artworks made from an insubstantial and otherwise useless raw material. In a new film made for the exhibition, children’s soft toys take on a sinister and uncanny aspect as their shapes distort and twist when they are injected with silicon.

Johathan Callan is an emerging artist who has shown widely in Britain and in America. His work is represented in the sereral important public collections, including the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester and the South London Gallery. Interferance is his first major solo show in a public gallery and is accompanied by a publication.