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Nathan Carter’s second solo exhibition in the gallery presents a wide range of new works including wall reliefs, freestanding sculptures, mobiles, and works on paper—all of them made in 2006. The exhibition encompasses Carter’s characteristic myriad of visual pathways, constantly oscillating between narration and abstraction.
The visual language of the large-scale sculptural wall relief THE WHIRLWIND BUZZ AERIAL SHA-BANG IS OFF TO A WILD START OVER THE DISPUTED HILLS OF THE BOWLING GREEN is familiar from Carter’s previous wooden reliefs, however this new work is more abstract in comparison. The underlying structure consists of a wide blossoming of vertical black stems, that connect, branch, and bridge various multi-coloured clusters of activity that form episodic points of interest. It might be read as a map, but it’s unclear whether it’s an aerial or an aquatic arena. Tiny colourful bits are reminiscent of existing or fictive flags, and radio signals connect the different continents, however any topographical decoding remains ambiguous.
The title of the show, THE GALE FORCE PRECISION DIRIGIBLE FLYING FACTION IN ACTION, refers to a group of eleven airships flying diagonally through the main gallery space. This dangerous and absurd procession, attempting to fly in a formation while travelling through a storm, can be seen as enlarged micro-moments of aerial activity from the wall reliefs, rendered in three dimensions. Visually they echo elements of antiquated flying machine illustrations and Japanese carp kites, using signal flags for air traffic control.
A sculpture entitled THE ALL CITY CROSSTOWN STREET LEVEL GYRATION MANEUVER is a fictional structure that alludes to a chaotic metropolis consisting of whirligigs, floating biospheres, radio towers, a field of poppies, high visibility danger signals and symbols.
On occasion of the exhibition, a catalogue will be published by the end of March with an introduction by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz and an essay by Paul Elliman.