Sadie Murdoch New Works

S.T.O.R.A.G.E
Aimee Mc Williams

12 Sept-10 Oct 2009

The Agency is pleased to present new photographs by British artist Sadie Murdoch. The series is a development of a number of previous works that elaborate the contradictions and complexities of modernism and explore the way in which the languages of photography construct the past.

For her exhibition at the Agency, Murdoch has produced a series of large-scale photographs that derive from a costume - "The Electric Fairy" - worn by Josephine Baker. An African American entertainer who took Paris by storm in the 1920s, she was muse and lover for several modernist artists and architects. Baker's acts of self parody, her intense physicality and her ambivalent relationship to her own identity have ensured that her presence reverberates in a provocative fashion throughout orthodox histories of modernism, underscoring the movement's fascination with, and formal reliance upon, the 'exotic'.

Baker's stage costume forms the departure point for a series of formal and conceptual interpretations of the structure of the ensemble. In front of reflective, metallic installations, Murdoch emerges and disappears as an avatar of Baker. The highly charged chromatics in the series Baker in Colour are in fact reflections of coloured surfaces placed behind the camera lens. In the series Baker in Black and White , colour 'leaks' from this set, into an adjoining monochrome setting, the resulting hues suggesting viscera and skin tone. Layers of grey maquillage smudge and smear across the artist's body and the metallic surfaces, further evidencing the presence of a flesh and blood body.

In some of the images, the figure becomes phantom-like, revealing not only the partial and limited aspects of the photographic 'document', but also evoking its inherent capacity to nurture fantasy and create spectral presences, through the simple means of shutter speed and exposure time. In developing the formal languages in her work, Murdoch asks us to consider the subjective nature of history and the physicality of the re-enactment.

Murdoch's new photographs are a development of a body of work that questions the limitation of the archive and introduces subversive counter-narratives through a form of visual translation.

Sadie Murdoch, who completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York in 2004, presented a solo project at the Henry Moore Institute in 2007, and exhibited in the Incheon International Women's Biennale in South Korea in 2008. She was an Abbey Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome, in 2002, and has had solo shows at The Henry Peacock Gallery and the Agency. In the past two years she has participated in the curated projects Frauhaus at the Agency, Ballet Mécanique at Timothy Taylor Gallery, l'après moderne , Projet Midi, Brussels , Modern Shorts at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, and Gets Under the Skin at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York. Her work was featured in Issue 5 of Wound Magazine, November 2008.

S.T.O.R.A.G.E

Aimee Mc Williams

S.T.O.R.A.G.E is pleased to present haute couture fashion for the first time as part of its independent art programme. This move acknowledges the ongoing cross-fertilization of functional design and art in the past decade without discounting the purity of each discipline.

In passionate testaments to her label, Aimee McWilliams has been described as an avantgarde designer. In the arts the term avantgarde refers to the historical movements of the early twentieth century, in fashion it means beholden to the future. In McWilliams collection both meanings apply. On first glance McWilliams designs throughout her collections reference classical lines and emphasise a feminine bodyshape. The devil is in the detail. For example the handwoven cloth is finely shredded to create lines in a seamless weave. The shoulder straps, contrary to the soft shape of the full-length evening dress, are constructed in a grid, which features gold rings set in a pattern and is softened with feathers at shoulder level.

The Charing Cross dress commissioned exclusively by Guoman hotels uses vibrant purple French chiffon with black ruche detailed fabric, highlighting the silhouette as drawn by hand. Rich appliqué, hand-stitching and plenty of layered silk and feather details complete the dresses' structural silhouettes with an almost sculptural effect. The references to different eras are effortlessly mixed in her designs effecting timeless elegance with a renaissance style opulence .

Aimee McWilliams is a highly conceptual designer. This explains why she allows her designs to be presented in an art context. Unafraid to cross over she will present parts of her latest collection without the aid of models in an unusual venue and to allow for a sensuous experience of her work in an architectural setting.

Aimee McWilliams has run her own design label for five years as well as consulting for other brands including: The Guoman 5-star Luxury Hotel Group; La Breva Luxury Polo Sports Brand; Mercedes Benz; Harrods; Begg of Scotland (luxury cashmere); L'Oreal Paris, The English National Ballet, and Victoria's Secret New York. Features and editorial coverage have appeared in British, Italian, Greek, Russian and Japanese Vogue; Grazia; American Elle; ID; Harpers Bazaar; The Sunday Times Style Magazine and The Telegraph. The presentation will be styled by fashion director Claire Ginzler.