Moyra Davey ~ Tim Neutel
The Heart Darts
25th September ~ 4th October 2020
There are tons of different ways to approach art making. Some days ago I was thinking about the time that passes, for some artists, between the production of one artwork and the production of the next. It made me think that there might be some artists that work like that, producing works in a very specific way: with deadlines and exhibitions, specific places to show these works. Then I wondered whether it was possible to create some form of a continuous way of working, not necessarily following the pressure of the capitalist society in order to make a profit out of every moment of our lives, but to create in a natural way, where every moment can be valid and adds to a larger body of work. A practice of close looking and continuous reading that adds notes and underlines passages only when felt, but is continuously ruminating in the head.
When I think about the work of Moyra Davey and Tim Neutel I mostly think in these terms; a continuous observation on their daily lives and on their reflection on those of others, and the overlap and connections they find in between or through those. From these familiar points of departure, they create a truly parallel world, aware of the political and historical concerns that do not try to be specific to a moment in time.
When I think about the work of Moyra Davey and Tim Neutel I mostly think in these terms; a continuous observation on their daily lives and on their reflection on those of others, and the overlap and connections they find in between or through those. From these familiar points of departure, they create a truly parallel world, aware of the political and historical concerns that do not try to be specific to a moment in time.
Moyra and Tim focus on small details that they notice in their daily life, using these details to reflect and offer us a larger picture or a different point of view. At other times I like to think of their practices as one of someone pointing to a spot with a lantern, and then this light, that at first focuses on one thing, expands and touches upon the parts next to it, in some way amplifying the image. It is this line of thought, of the specific and the general, that Moyra touches on, in a line from a letter that Walter Benjamin wrote to his friend Gershom Scholem in 1931 but also in her non-touristic photos of Paris. And it is similar when Tim photographs the landing of a butterfly on a newspaper, or when he takes up a tray of perforators and extends it as an invitation. It feels, in some way, like looking through both sides of the telescope, and I am really enjoying the views.
Tim Neutel, 2019. With far-traveling tongue ~ Inkjet on paper
Tim Neutel, 2020. Ten Perforators ~ Perforators, tray
Moyra Davey, 2009. My Necropolis ~ VideoCourtesy the artist; greengrassi, London; and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York
Moyra Davey, 2020. À la gloire de l'opium ~ 6 C-prints, tape, postage, inkCourtesy the artist; greengrassi, London; and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York
Moyra Davey, 2020. À la gloire de l'opium ~ 6 C-prints, tape, postage, inkCourtesy the artist; greengrassi, London; and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York