The Romanian Cultural Institute in London and the Consulate General of Romania in Edinburgh, in partnership with the Broadside Gallery in Glasgow, invite the Scottish public to the installation-performance exhibition "The Obtrusive Presence of an Absence", from December 10, 2023, to January 27, 2024.
The exhibition at the Broadside Gallery will bring together an art installation by Romanian artist Irina Gheorghe with paintings and sculptures by Neil Clements, both sharing a common vision regarding abstract art as a form of aesthetic language. The opening will take place on December 10, accompanied by the launch of the exhibition catalogue and a dialogue between the invited artists and curator Benjamin Fallon. Throughout the event, philosopher Alexi Kukuljevic will offer the audience a premiere essay-reading. At the closing of the exhibition, Irina Gheorghe will present a unique performance, emphasizing the form of expression and the theme addressed by the event. The two artists enjoy a longstanding collaboration, part of a broader program that has brought together local artists in direct dialogue with artists from around the world. The collaboration between Neil Clements and Irina Gheorghe is a continuation of artistic encounters that began at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm and Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Irina Gheorghe graduated from the National University of Arts in Bucharest and obtained a doctorate in artistic practice at GradCAM/TU Dublin, where she studied painting and photography. She explores diverse territories, ranging from performance to installations, drawing, photography, or video, addressing aesthetics of the transcendent, from extraterrestrial life to hypothetical planets. Her works tackle notions and concepts of alienation and estrangement from the everyday, using abstraction as a language for interstellar communication and absurdity as the state of interaction with a universe beyond perception.
Neil Clements is a visual artist, writer, and lecturer in Glasgow. He is a lecturer in the Department of Art Criticism at the Faculty of Visual Arts in Glasgow. His research focuses on formal abstraction and interaction with the cultural environment in which these works are created. His exhibitions have taken place at the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow, The Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, Fringe Gallery in Glasgow, Galerie Markus Winter in Berlin, Konsortium in Dusseldorf, Centre for Contemporary Art in Derry/Londonderry, Doggerfisher in Edinburgh, Woodmill in London, Peer in London, Tramway in Glasgow, and Hochstr. 45 in Berlin. His works have been included in international group exhibitions, including Frith Street in London, Hunter College in New York, The Ludwig Forum in Aachen. His exhibitions demonstrate a fascination with the intrinsic value of metal in relation to the challenges of modern art. He has also exhibited at Galerie in Basel, Efremidis Gallery in Berlin, Leeds, Ludwig Forum in Aachen, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie in Basel, David Dale Gallery in Glasgow, Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, Recent Art from Scotland at Hunter College, New York, and Galerie Ralf Kruger in Hamburg.
When: December 10, 2023 – January 27, 2024
Where: Broadside Gallery, 123 Allison St, Govanhill, Glasgow
https://broadside.space/exhibition/the-obtrusive-presence-of-an-absence/
