Dogboyz
Stuart Gurden and David Wishart
5 September - 4 October 2003

Dogboyz was a two-person exhibition of individual and collaborative work by David Wishart and Stuart Gurden, dealing with phenomena of the urban and natural world.

The artists were attracted to working together by coincidental overlaps in their previous work; each of them offering a different viewpoint on related subject matter. Wishart uses formal structures combined with a gentle humour to investigate the ways in which we perceive the truthfulness of visual material; while Gurden spins convoluted narratives using a variety of sources, from the natural to the culturally obscure.

Gurden's work for the exhibition focused on specific individuals as conduits for very particular means of expression. These works include: a talking sculptural 'reincarnation' of late U.S. comedian Bill Hicks as an ant, a new video piece and a drawing based on a transcription of the 'first' punk single 'Blank Generation', by Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

Wishart made a sculptural piece resembling a section of fairground signage, covered in pulsating lights. He also showed two photographs, the first of which depicts a vandalised smashed car, abandoned by the roadside, and the second image showed two handrails by a loch side leading into water. The images relate to the interface between one state of being and another.

Installation View

Stuart Gurden, Sire, 2003

Stuart Gurden, Channelling (Formica rufa/William Hicks), 2003