RICHARD DUCKER: END CREDITS

2 February - 3 March 2018

dalla Rosa is delighted to present Richard Ducker’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, End Credits. The show takes its name from a series of black ink on paper drawings with superimposed red text, which echoes the traditional imagery of the disasters of war. In the artist’s own words: ‘The ink drawings come out of a desire to find means of confronting the horror of the contemporary. The images, like the text, come directly off the internet, news reel, and mobile phone uploads. They are images of smoke that immediately follows a bomb explosion, which the ink then emulates on the page. Rather than trying to represent horror with horror, their scale is deliberately reduced to postcard size, vulnerable and precious. Pocket size, the disposable digital image of convenience is fixed in analogue. The text, which originates from a combination of the artist’s spam box, religious cults, and Facebook feed, suggests both comic absurdity and shock incongruity. Some are trite, others suggest profundity, but most are of awkward indeterminacy.’

Along with End Credits the ongoing series Horizontal Hold gathers black aerosol drawings on paper of larger dimensions. This time the monochromatic impact is not confronted with text, but the much looser approach of paint application creates layers of marks that hint at a coded language. These drawings ‘embody the most basic act of mark-making by referencing the graffiti of tagging – an urban form of marking territory. Indulgence in this nostalgia is replicated through their presentation of the analogue opacity of electronic communication: white noise. Consequently, the immediacy of their expression is denied contemporary currency and becomes a futile rage in a language that is deliberately limited by its medium.’ (Richard Ducker, January 2018).

About the artist
Richard Ducker has exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, including: Jerwood Space (London), ICA (London); Kettles Yard (Cambridge); Serpentine Gallery (London); Royal Academy (Edinburgh); Mappin Gallery (Sheffield); The Yard Gallery (Nottingham); The Kitchen (New York); Flowers Central (London); Cell Project Space (London); Katherine E Nash Gallery (Minnesota, USA); Standpoint Gallery (London); Café Gallery (London); Anthony Reynolds Gallery (London). In 2006 Ducker was founder and director of Fieldgate Gallery. The space was 10,000 square feet warehouse in Whitechapel, London, and over two and half years hosted 18 exhibitions. Since the space closed in 2008 he has continued to curate under the name of Fieldgate Gallery at a variety of different venues.