Abigail Reynolds

12 September 2002 - 19 October 2002
Opening Reception 12 September 2002 8pm

Platform: 

Drive

Our heroine drives down the motorway, attempting to escape the claustrophobic, noisy, absurd and dangerous environment of inner London, England. Ironically, her getaway places her in an equally claustrophobic, noisy, absurd and dangerous environment. While making her high speed escape she struggles to undress. At times her hands are precariously tangled in her half-removed clothes leaving her to steer with only her teeth.

In general, Reynolds’ work collides practical strategies for surviving the city, [a subjective phenomenological approach] and a sort of hopeless and insatiable longing for the romantic sublime in nature… or whatever is not the city. With this goal in mind, Reynolds’ work not only acknowledges her desire for escape, but also strengthens it. The impossibility of reconciling the romance of nature with contemporary urban conditions is made manifest in the attempt. In Drive the artist’s desire for escape is perpetually caught in the act of getting away. The attempt to leave town for country is where Reynolds enacts her desire.

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