James R Ford | Only Boring People Get Bored

Exhibition Opening
Host:
FERREIRA PROJECTS
Type:
Network:
Global
Date:
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
FERREIRA PROJECTS
Street:
23 Charlotte Road
City/Town:
London, United Kingdom

Description

James R Ford
Only Boring People Get Bored

20.02.09 – 28.03.09

Private View: 19.02.09

FERREIRA PROJECTS is proud to announce James R Ford's second solo exhibition in London titled Only Boring People Get Bored. Ford's latest body of work is an existentialist outing via assemblage, games and by-products of boredom. The installation 33 things to do before you are 10 will be shown as the result of his gallery residency as well as forming an integral part of the exhibition.

Only Boring People Get Bored is a confident and colour laden show, exploring how boredom can be inspiring and/or important in the production of the work. Ford's practice resonates with ideas put forward by artists such as Bruce Nauman and John Baldessari, and by the Fluxus movement in terms of performative process and a do it yourself aesthetic. Existentialist notions of how we govern our lives as free individuals are also of interest to Ford, and in particular how we fill our relatively insignificant time in the world.

To situate and understand Ford's activity within the realm of boredom, to pose questions such as what and why these actions might have any value in being considered in this way, it is important to contextualise the meaning of boredom. Boredom could be said to be symptomatic of post-modernity: endless choice and freedom can cause us to fall into a state of numbness and aimlessness where we are not able to ignite our interests. The artist's (actual or perceived) state of boredom leads him to create art almost as a means of killing time.

In this show Ford plays games (literally and conceptually) with the viewer and sets himself tasks and challenges to fulfil, to the pleasure or dismay of the audience. From a film of himself playing the game "Guitar Hero", in which the viewer can only hear the pathetic clicks and twangs produced by the plastic, pseudo guitar; to piecing together ridiculously difficult mono-colour jigsaw puzzles; to completing the annoyingly repetitive game of "Bop It" and turning the results into a hovering, hypnotising beacon of the avant-garde. There is also an assemblage of Rubik's Cubes and a new series of intensively layered works created with the Spirograph stationary that was so popular in the 70s and 80s.

Other Information

  • Guests are allowed to bring friends to this event.

Event Type

This is an open event. Anyone can join and invite others to join.

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