Edward Allington: things unsaid.

Abstract

Seeking new ways of 'moving and matching the complexity of the world', Edward Allington (1951-2017) was part of a generation of artists responding to changing aesthetic, social and cultural values at the end of the 1970s. A sculptor, writer and educator, Allington came to prominence following the group exhibitions 'Objects and Sculpture' (1981, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and Arnolfini, Bristol) and 'The Sculpture Show' (1983, the Hayward Gallery and Serpentine Gallery). Like many of his contemporaries – Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Shirazeh Houshiary, Richard Wentworth, and Bill Woodrow to name a few – Allington was working in response to the belief that minimal and conceptual practices were losing their charge. Allington was fascinated by the presence of classical forms in everyday life; be they restored fragments displayed in museums, reconstructions of Classical Greek sites, or kitsch reproductions of antiquity. 'Ideal Standard Forms', 1980 (Tate), speaks to this key concern with the artificial construction of culture. Arranged on the floor in a roughly square format, nine geometric objects – including a sphere, a cone, a cube, an ellipsoid – reveal Allington's enduring interest in questions around authenticity and imitation. Hand-made in plaster, the sculptures are universal, ideal forms; yet they are inevitably imperfect manifestations that combine the effort of idealisation with the language of mass production. The title of the exhibition, 'Things Unsaid', is taken directly from a drawing by the artist, reminding us that we often know more than can be spoken. Moreover, it encapsulates Allington's feelings on the relationship between sense, perception, and objects that we physically experience and touch.

Citation

Edward Allington: things unsaid. Exhibition held on 25 October 2019 - 23 February 2020, Henry Moore Institute and the Upper Sculpture Study Gallery at Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds.

• Exhibition Performance Type: Exhibition
• Start Date: Oct 25, 2019
• End Date: Feb 23, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 30, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 30, 2020
• Keywords: Classicism; Sculpture; Modern art; Abstraction in art; Minimalism in art
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/861165