Iniva is delighted to announce its participation in London Art Fair 2018 within the Art Projects section and as a fair partner in two public talks and tours.
Iniva’s 2018 Art Projects stand focuses on the work of British artist Donald Rodney (1961-1998) with a selection of pieces, some never before seen in public, which capture the breadth of his remarkable practice.
Rodney illustrated his versatility utilizing a range of mediums from painting, installation and photography to robotics, film and digital. He chose to incorporate his medical condition of sickle cell anemia, an illness he had been living with his whole life. He used this as a metaphor for black emasculation, racial stereotyping and wider socio-political concerns in contemporary society.
Rodney was born in Smethwick, West Midlands in 1961 to Jamaican parents. In 1981, Rodney studied BA Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham, where he was profoundly affected by encounters with artists such as Keith Piper, Eddie Chambers, Marlene Smith and Claudette Johnson, who were re-examining social and historical narratives from a black perspective. Rodney became a prominent member of the Blk Arts Group. He had 6 solo exhibitions between 1985-1997, including at Chisenhale Gallery (1989), Rochdale Art Gallery (1990) Camerawork (1991) and South London Gallery (1997). He also showed and participated in numerous other exhibitions and residencies across this period. In 1996, he was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Sculpture and Installation.
Watch Professor Mike Phillips discuss Donald Rodney’s work.
Public Talks Programme
Talks & Discussion Theatre.
Thursday 18 January 2018 – 1pm
Digital Dilemmas, Pt.1: the tale of the artist
How do artists respond to the challenge of archiving their practice particularly if their work borders on physical object-making and born-digital work? What happens to the relationship between artists and audiences when artistic work is digitised or re-imagined in a digital space? Panel discussion chaired by Melanie Keen, Director, Iniva.
Listen back here:
Saturday 20 January 2018 – 4pm
Digital Dilemmas, Pt.2: the tale of the collector
Digital art can be bought and sold, but are collectors – individuals as well as national collections – resistant to collecting it? If collectors can be seen as custodians of public heritage and purveyors of cultural history, then where does the responsibility lie when it comes to preserving works of art that exist in a digital space? Panel discussion chaired by curator Rose Lejeune.
Listen back here:
Public Tours Programme
Led within the Art Projects section of the fair.
Thursday 18 January 2018 – 6.30pm
Art Projects Tour led by Rodrigo Orrantia, Iniva board member, curator and art historian
Saturday 20 January 2018 – 3pm – 4pm
Stand Tour led by Diane Symons, Trustee of the Estate of Donald Rodney