Say Less
Curated by William Pym
Herald St | 2 Herald St, E2 6JT
6th - 30th April 2022
Museum St | 43 Museum St, WC1A 1LY
10th May - 18th June 2022
Simon Evans™
Paul Graham
Chris Killip
Justine Kurland
Hanna and Klara Lidén
Ari Marcopoulos
Joan Nelson
Philadelphia Wireman
Celia Pym
Anthony Reynolds
Say Less is an essay exhibition.
It is an idea on a topic in visual form. It is a small view from our big world, a passionate and true view, but not something comprehensive.
It is a group show of eleven artists from around Europe and the United States, represented by work from 1969 to 2022.
Joan Nelson
Untitled
2011
Acrylic, oil, gouache, ink, spray paint, dry pigment on wood panel
50.2 x 49.9 cm / 19.8 x 19.6 in
Joan Nelson
Untitled
2011
Acrylic, oil, gouache, ink, spray paint, dry pigment on wood panel
50.2 x 49.9 cm / 19.8 x 19.6 in
Joan Nelson
Untitled
2011
Acrylic, oil, gouache, ink, spray paint, dry pigment on wood panel
50.2 x 49.9 cm / 19.8 x 19.6 in
Say Less, the essay exhibition, unfolds as an essay, in chapters. Photography turns into collage, montage and graft.
From there we find craft. It is a journey in process, practice and a certain clear honesty of expression.
Celia Pym
Opened
2019
Sports sock, various wool, and cotton
65 x 74 x 10 cm / 25.6 x 29.1 x 3.9 in
Ari Marcopoulos
Diptych I
2021
Archival pigment print
22 x 27.9 cm / 8.5 x 11 in, unframed
26.8 x 62.2 x 3.8 cm / 10.6 x 24.5 x 1.5 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 +1 AP
Ari Marcopoulos
Diptych II
2021
Archival pigment print
22 x 27.9 cm / 8.5 x 11 in, unframed
26.8 x 62.2 x 3.8 cm / 10.6 x 24.5 x 1.5 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 +1 AP
Ari Marcopoulos
Diptych III
2021
Archival pigment print
22 x 27.9 cm / 8.5 x 11 in, unframed
26.8 x 62.2 x 3.8 cm / 10.6 x 24.5 x 1.5 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 +1 AP
Chris Killip
During the miners' strike, Easington, Co Durham
1984
Gelatin silver print on paper
Hand printed by the artist
40.6 x 50.8 cm / 16 x 20 in, unframed
53 x 59.1 x 2.5 cm / 20.9 x 23.3 x 1 in, framed
Chris Killip
Boo on a horse, Lynemouth, Northumberland
1984
Gelatin silver print on paper
Hand printed by the artist
40.6 x 50.8 cm / 16 x 20 in, unframed
53 x 59.1 x 2.5 cm / 20.9 x 23.3 x 1 in, framed
Chris Killip
Supermarket, North Shields, Tyneside
1981
Gelatin silver print on paper
Hand printed by the artist
40.6 x 50.8 cm / 16 x 20 in, unframed
53 x 59.1 x 2.5 cm / 20.9 x 23.3 x 1 in, framed
‘Say less’ is a millennial neologism that, like all good slang, bears opposite meanings.
It is a conspiratorial, loving hurrying of ‘say no more,’ like the listener is already on board and with it.
It is also chippy condescension in the name of concision, like the listener is already bored.
Anthony Reynolds
Spital House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1969 (No.1)
1969, printed by Adrian Ensor, 2022
Silver halide print
14 x 20 cm / 5.5 x 7.9 in, image
20 x 24 cm / 7.9 x 9.4 in, unframed
31 x 35.2 x 2.8 cm / 12.2 x 13.9 x 1.1 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 + 2 AP
Anthony Reynolds
Spital House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1969 (No.3)
1969, printed by Adrian Ensor, 2022
Silver halide print
14 x 20 cm / 5.5 x 7.9 in, image
20 x 24 cm / 7.9 x 9.4 in, unframed
31 x 35.2 x 2.8 cm / 12.2 x 13.9 x 1.1 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 + 2 AP
Anthony Reynolds
Spital House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1969 (No.8)
1969, printed by Adrian Ensor, 2022
Silver halide print
14 x 20 cm / 5.5 x 7.9 in, image
20 x 24 cm / 7.9 x 9.4 in, unframed
31 x 35.2 x 2.8 cm / 12.2 x 13.9 x 1.1 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 + 2 AP
Say Less, this exhibition, aims to reflect both sides of the saying.
It is emphatic about the power of images and objects to require fewer words, and it addresses the exhaustion we have about the volume of words already in the world today.
It is designed to be self-evident, and for peace to be found there.
Celia Pym
Mended Mushroom Bag
2021
Paper bag, wool and cotton
22 x 13 x 6 cm / 8.7 x 5.1 x 2.4 in
British social realism from the 1960s to the 1980s, at its poetic and formal maximum, is represented by vintage prints from Paul Graham’s seminal A1 - The Great North Road series (1983); important prints from the early 1980s by Chris Killip; and a suite of snapshots, a young man’s eye in a packed neighbourhood pub in Newcastle in 1969, by Anthony Reynolds. Reynolds has been a gallerist and art dealer in London since 1985. This is the first time his art has been shown.
Paul Graham
Café waitress, John's Café, Sandy, Bedfordshire, May 1982
from the series A1 - The Great North Road
1982
Vintage Kodak c print
19.3 x 24 cm / 7.8 x 9.4 in, unframed
40.8 x 44.5 x 3.2 cm / 16.1 x 17.5 x 1.3 in, framed
Paul Graham
Woman at Bus Stop, Mill Hill, North London, November 1982
from the series A1 - The Great North Road
1982
Vintage Kodak c print
19.3 x 24 cm / 7.8 x 9.4 in, unframed
40.8 x 44.5 x 3.2 cm / 16.1 x 17.5 x 1.3 in, framed
INQUIRE
Paul Graham
Café Assistants, Compass Café, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, November 1982
from the series A1 - The Great North Road
1982
Vintage Kodak c print
19.3 x 24 cm / 7.8 x 9.4 in, unframed
40.8 x 44.5 x 3.2 cm / 16.1 x 17.5 x 1.3 in, framed
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (wire, battery, paper)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
11.5 x 5.5 x 3 cm / 4.5 x 2.2 x 1.2 in
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (wire, cellophane packaging, paper)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
15.5 x 8 x 7 cm / 6.1 x 3.1 x 2.8 in
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (wire, straw, cigarette packet, crayon, ring pull)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
15.1 x 7.6 x 5.8 cm / 5.9 x 3 x 2.3 in
From there, and then, photography mutates. Ari Marcopoulos has been documenting New York and the world, day by day and year by year, for more than four decades. The three diptych prints in this exhibition come out of a prodigious period of small-run zines and combination images that Marcopoulos made for the people close to him in 2020-2021; rhythm, sequence and echoes tell of a total life practice. Justine Kurland’s recent SCUMB works, collages that disembowel and reconfigure photobooks of the male canon, will be shown for the first time in London with a new series made from Lee Friedlander’s prurient 1991 monograph Nudes.
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 67/63)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 14/68)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 59/n.p.)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 51/78)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 51/20)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 59/8)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 51/3)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 6/43)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Justine Kurland
Nudes (page 18/60)
2021
Collage (page)
24.4 x 27.3 cm / 9.6 x 10.7 in, unframed
30.9 x 38.6 x 1.5 cm / 12.2 x 15.2 x 0.6 in, framed
Ed. Unique
Kurland’s physicality recalls Klara and Hanna Lidén’s 2007 video Techno Battle, a lesser-shown loosie of riot and mischief-making. Materiality comes to the fore with the wrought miniature sculptures understood to be made in the 1970s by the anonymous Philadelphia Wireman; a heavily accreted new collage by Simon EvansTM vividly depicting a time and a place, and a moment without beginning or end; and the knit work of Celia Pym, in sculpture that is technical, conceptual and entirely to do with the big picture of what we keep.
Anthony Reynolds
Spital House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1969 (No.4)
1969, printed by Adrian Ensor, 2022
Silver halide print
20 x 14 cm / 7.9 x 5.5 in, image
24 x 20 cm / 9.4 x 7.9 in, unframed
37.1 x 29 x 2.8 cm / 14.6 x 11.4 x 1.1 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 + 2 AP
Anthony Reynolds
Spital House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1969 (No.6)
1969, printed by Adrian Ensor, 2022
Silver halide print
20 x 14 cm / 7.9 x 5.5 in, image
24 x 20 cm / 9.4 x 7.9 in, unframed
37.1 x 29 x 2.8 cm / 14.6 x 11.4 x 1.1 in, framed
Ed. 1/3 + 2 AP
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (Plastic Bag with Blue Writing)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects, mixed media
18.4 x 7 x 6.4 cm / 7.2 x 2.8 x 2.5 in
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (brown bag, rubber bands, yellow wire)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
11.4 × 6.4 × 3.8 cm / 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 in
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (Aluminium, straw)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
13.3 x 8.3 x 3.8 cm / 5.2 x 3.3 x 1.5 in
Philadelphia Wireman
Untitled (Straw, blue plastic pen cap)
c. 1970–1975
Wire, found objects
10.8 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm / 4.3 x 1 x 1 in
With three landscapes by American painter Joan Nelson from 2011, the only paintings in the exhibition, our view disintegrates into pure atmosphere and communion, revealing the journey’s end and the ultimate yield if we choose to say less.
Text by William Pym