Theo Simpson, The Land of the Day Before

22.01.17–04.03.17

Simpson’s collective works reflect on mythical themes relating to landscape and industrial heritage, probing the instability of the post-industrial landscape and its cultural and physical borders. Through the examination of materials, ruins, objects and experiences encountered and created, this practice confronts the diverse language of visual material from a variety of sources and points in time. The inherent power of this material to mould history, distort memories, and to create and manipulate meaning is explored, acting as a starting point for new thinking and possibilities.

The visual syntax of source material informs the method in which his photographic and structural works are re-imagined and presented within the complex and scarred topography of the post-industrial stage. Simpson uses structures to demonstrate the physical properties of the metals they are shaped from and the processes implicit in their manufacture and functionality. The structural form invites a holistic re-examination and re-presentation of their repetitive surfaces, materiality, and the landscapes they speculate upon, adopting an alternative language of tectonics and architecture; man’s inclination to build and to destroy.

This meticulously presented collection of visual material, objects, symbols and structural works are brought together in unlikely combinations, forming a transitory fixing where a potential dialogue can begin.

Theo Simpson of the parts, of the hole V.1, 2017 66 × 52 × 2 cm Aluminium mounted chromogenic print in mild steel angle iron case
Theo Simpson Composition V (with Craig Barker) , 2016 56 × 45 × 2 cm Single colour lithographic print in mild steel angle case
Theo Simpson Composition X (with Craig Barker) , 2016 56 × 45 × 2 cm Single colour lithographic print in mild steel angle iron case
Theo Simpson of the parts, of the hole. V.I , 2016 56 × 45 × 2 cm Aluminium mounted chromogenic print in mild steel angle iron case
Theo Simpson Transmitter Mast, 2017 88 × 64 × 2 cm Single colour silkscreen print in mild steel angle iron case
Theo Simpson Purple piece of silk, 2016 50 × 38 cm Framed C-type and advert
Theo Simpson All the headlines , 2016 50 × 38 cm Framed C-type/Gelatin silver print and book page
Theo Simpson Timing marks / GM180 Flywheel , 2017 56 × 45 × 2 cm Silkscreen print on hand polished 18 – gauge cold rolled steel (British Leyland Cashmere Gold body colour / laquer) in spray painted (grey primer) mild steel angle iron cases