In “Somewhere along the way”, British artist Steven Emmanuel presents a series of new works created especially for the exhibition at message salon.
The fragile and delicate objects made of simple materials such as glass, clay, paper or white paint are carefully and theatrically installed in the exhibition space. The viewer recognises the typical references to contemporary art in the exhibition space: picture frames and glass, plinths, white paint, painted canvases and ready-made, pencil drawings and photographic paper. The exhibition shows ideas and concepts transformed into materials that take on art, its history and representation. “Somewhere along the way” poses small questions about art and life.
Steven Emmanuel’s artworks are artefacts of the process, of the moment of making. From this perspective, the artist is a transformer, driven by intuition and creativity. The exhibited work, in turn, only becomes complete in the mind of the viewer. Everything is in constant development and movement. Steven Emmanuel’s art quotes artists and art viewers, his objects and sculptures are humorous and narrative-playful commentaries on the paradox of the artistic process and the presentation of the finished artwork in the exhibition space.
A key work in the exhibition is “Inside the white cube”, a round ball of white emulsion paint. Steven Emmanuel has been painting and repainting the crumb of paint, which was initially only a few millimetres in size, almost every day for three years. The growing sphere, formed from the base colour brought back to life and into the studio from the wall of the “White Cube”, is a life project and will one day, as art in public space, be the artist’s tombstone.
message salon publishes a zine on the occasion of the exhibition
Steven Emmanuel “Fanzine”
48 pages, 24 pictures, an edition of 24, each copy editioned number 1 of 24
signed by the artist’s father. message salon 2012
Steven Emmanuel, born in North Wales in 1982, lives and works in Nuremberg and London. He studied in Brighton and at the Royal College of Art in London and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. “Somewhere along the way” is Steven Emmanuel’s first solo exhibition in Switzerland.