Digital Romantics

Curated by David Hancock

Artists: Iain Andrews, Andrew Brooks, Clare Booker, darkcorner (Simon Woolham), David Hancock, Ian Kirkpatrick & Julien Masson, Helen Knowles, James Moore, Tom Ormond, Kari Stewart,

Venue: The Crossley Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax, West Yorkshire
Dates: 4 February - 6 May 2012
Private View: Saturday 4 February 12-2pm


Digital Romantics explores how ten contemporary artists have been using digital technology to develop a new form of Romanticism. In each of their processes, digital media is either present or a catalyst in the production of their work. The ten artist’s works contain elements of Romanticism: either in the form of the archetypal Romantic hero of computer games, as depicted by David Hancock in his portraits of Cosplayers, recreated to interact in the public environment; or remixed into a Frankenstein monster of digital appropriations, as in the sculptural works of Ian Kirkpatrick and Julien Masson. In the biro drawings of Simon Woolham, a forlorn impression of a figure wanders a desolate monochrome environment: the epitome of an anti-hero of childhood misadventures. Woolham will present an unrealised computer game that references multiple narratives and explores the notions of gameplay. Retaining the verisimilitude of computer graphics, Kari Stewart and James Moore present the viewer with digital environments that have been transformed, via the artist’s hand, into paint and charcoal. Stewart creates huge wall drawn recreations of low-res digital seascapes in charcoal; Moore meanders through computer games as an explorer, continually in search of the sublime within these immersive gaming worlds, documenting these journeys through screen-grabs in order to create his photorealistic landscapes. In contrast, Andrew Brooks creates his own fantastical digital worlds from scratch. Taking numerous elements from the vast image bank he has amassed, he develops these in Photoshop into large-scale immersive photographs. The minutia of detail is ever present as we are sucked into these two-dimensional panoramas. Iain Andrews also uses Photoshop to create collages of classical masterworks that he remixes into luminous abstracted forms of poured painted and loaded brush strokes. Clare Booker depicts architectural spaces that attempt to recreate the sublime experience. In her I-Spy series she collates simultaneous webcam footage from around the world, collaging it together to form a grid. Breaking down the division between these disparate locations, she creates a single landscape of painterly networks, linking the cities via their pre-existing digital ones. Tom Ormond’s paintings contrast a utopic vision of technology with the grime of the everyday. In a murky urban underworld of forgotten places, a digital stream of information is born, an elegant waterfall of blue light, both sinister and sublime. Finally, Helen Knowles creates large-scale screen prints. These are only possible through her pioneering use of a digital projector to expose the screens, and so a traditionally analogue process is digitalised. For Digital Romantics, Knowles will produce a series of prints of women giving birth. In their ecstatic climax they experience the transcendental, with Knowles recreating this moment in a Romantic tableaux.

It is the intention of Digital Romantics to highlight how artists are harnessing digital technologies in their search for the sublime: representing manifestations of Romanticism in the digital.

Press Notes: -

Dean Clough Mills, once the largest carpet factory in the world, has for over 25 years been renowned as a pre-eminent example of economic regeneration. Its independent gallery programme embraces national contemporary and traditional, as well as community and local artists.

David Hancock is currently undertaking a PhD at University of Salford on theme of Virtual Environments.

Tom Ormond, based in London, recently won the Anthology Art Prize.

Iain Andrews, based in Manchester, won the Marmite Painting Prize 2011.

Simon Woolham, based at Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire, will be releasing a book of his work “The Bridge was a Good Place to Throw Stuff Off’ published by Marmalade.

Helen Knowles is an artist and curator of the Birthrites collection. Based in Manchester, she received an Arts Council of England grant to develop the work exhibited in Digital Romantics.

Andrew Brooks is a Manchester-based photographer, digital artist and film maker. The works exhibited in Digital Romantics were commissioned by the BBC.

James Moore is a Cardiff based Artist and Curator working collaboratively as Another Product. He was artist of the month in December on Axis.

Originally from Austin, Texas, Kari Stewart recently completed her Masters at Glasgow School of Art.

Ian Kirkpatrick & Julien Masson are a collaborative duo based in Southampton.

Clare Booker teaches on the BA Fine Art at Bradford College.

For further information and images please contact Dean Clough's arts director, Vic Allen, on galleries@deanclough.com or (mobile) 07950 114313.