ARC Projects

21 June - 26 July 2008
Exhibition open Wednesday - Saturday, 3 - 8 pm
Artists’ Performance Saturday 21 June 2008 3 - 5 pm

ARC Projects presents 'Thoughts Within Thoughts' - the third curated exhibition in our new gallery space in Sofia. 'Thoughts Within Thoughts' is a double solo show by artists Alec Finlay and Pravdoliub Ivanov. The exhibition investigates artistic collaboration, cognition, play, dialogue and subtle irony through a series of new works by Finlay and Ivanov, some made in collaboration: sculptures, wall drawings, neon and print installations, and live performances all feature. The title encapsulates both artists’ passion for philosophical investigations of logic, absurdity, and language.

Conceived as a "duet", 'Thoughts Within Thoughts' originated in 2006 when the artists shared a residency in Darmstadt, followed by an intensive exchange of ideas in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2007. Twelve new and recent works selected for the exhibition at ARC Projects Sofia form six pairs or clusters complimenting each other. The exhibition opens with two site-specific wall drawings executed in paint, pencil and plaster. Ivanov intrigues with the playful optical illusion of 'Enlightenment', 2008, where the ellipse of light from a hand drawn torch excavates the surface of the gallery wall; in turn Finlay subverts the format of the circle poem where each word triggers the next in an endless cycle from his work aptly entitled 'thoughts within thoughts', 2008 and dedicated to his fellow artist Ivanov.

Placed on facing gallery walls, the next set of works extend references to the found object, and engage in a dialogue caught between the body and mind. Ivanov’s 'There Are No Perfect Games', 2008 continues to test the limits of our perception by undoing ball games as symbols of perfection and fair play. Opposite are a set of new photographs from Ivanov’s ongoing series 'Non Works', 2007-08 where the artist adopts the role of an avid collector of mundane instances of visual and semantic incongruity.

Finlay’s wall mounted neon 'RPS', 2008 is created especially for the exhibition. The childhood hand game rock-paper-scissors here serves as a metaphor for human communication. The artist looks beyond player-opponent binaries to suggest a never ending sequence of options. On the opposite wall, Finlay’s 12 ink drawings bear the same title: created over the past 6 months over many rock-paper-scissors sessions with fellow artists including Ivanov.

Two works take centre stage at ARC Projects. Finlay’s '100 Year Star-Diary', 2008, comprises a set of 5 prints featuring forthcoming astronomical events, replete with the arcane symbols from this predictive knowledge. This is counteracted by Ivanov’s kinetic sculpture 'There Are No Forbidden Thoughts', 2007, which suspends normal assumptions about the meaning and purpose of the humble traffic barrier, as a comment on societal transformation.

Completing the series with titles beginning 'There Are No...' is the world premiere of Ivanov's 'There Are No Innocent Ways of Seeing', 2008: a precise architectural model of a crumpled sheet of paper. This finds a philosophical echo in Finlay’s cubic sculptural puzzle, 'these/words/arranged/in/these/positions. After Wittgenstein', 2008.

'Thoughts Within Thoughts' rounds off with a pair of works which take their inspiration from puzzles: Finlay’s 'Crossword Trees', 2008 is a playful take on the global pastime where cryptic crosswords in both Bulgarian and English have been transformed into ink drawings. If the art of wordplay reappears throughout Finlay's oeuvre, so Ivanov’s persistent interest in novelty objects resurfaces. On this occasion an executive desk toy is rendered as a larger-than-life basrelief in stainless steel: 'Balance Ball', 2008.

Alec Finlay (born 1966, Inverness) is an artist, poet and publisher who lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne. His major public commissions, solo and group exhibitions have been presented at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, London; Milton Keynes Gallery; Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Tramway, Glasgow; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich; EAST, Norwich; Bickachsen 6, Bad Homburg; Kunstlerhaus, Vienna.

He has been an artist in residence at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; BALTIC; Kielder Partnership; the New and Renewable Energy Centre, Blyth; and Royal Horticultural Society Harlow Carr. His publishing projects include the pocketbooks series, platform projects, bookscapes, morning star and web books. His poetry is published in magazines and anthologies, including island, Practice and Poetry Review. His publishing and art projects have won three Scottish Design Awards (2000, 2007). A selection of Alec's poems will appear in Bulgarian for the first time, published by Altera in June 2008.

Pravdoliub Ivanov (born 1964, Plovdiv) is an artist who lives and works in Sofia. Most recently he represented Bulgaria at the 52nd Venice Biennial (together with Ivan Moudov and Stefan Nikolaev). He also exhibited as part of October Salon 2006, Belgrade; 4th Berlin Biennial 2006, 14th Sydney Biennial 2004; Tiranna Biennial 2001 and manifesta3 2000, Ljubljana. Solo presentations include 'Double Trouble' (with Valentin Chenkov), Gallery Steinle, Munich; 'Existing Objects', ATA Center and Institute for Contemporary Art, Sofia; 'Pessimism, No More', Musee des Beaux Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

He has exhibited as part of 'Plus Two', MKM Küppersmühle Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art; 'L’Europe en Devenir', Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris; 'moleculART', Raiko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia; 'Being Here', Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich; 'In the Gorges of the Balkans', Fridericianum Museum, Kassel; 'Blood and Honey', Essl Collection, Vienna. Most recently he was nominated for the 1st Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for Contemporary Bulgarian Art 2007. His work is in the following public collections: National Fine Art Gallery, Sofia; Sofia City Art Gallery, European Investment Bank, Luxembourg; European Patent Office, Munich

Exhibition curated by Chris Byrne and Iliyana Nedkova. ARC Projects Major Sponsor LIA company, Sofia. Exhibition Private View Partner JoVan The Dutch Baker. Exhibition Media Partner Altera magazine. Exhibition supported by The British Council; Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg; ADOB Design; The Red House Centre for Culture & Debate.