"Threshold"Nathaniel Rackowe
FOLD Gallery
158 New Cavendish St London W1W 6YW United Kingdom 
Telephone : +44(0)207 436 8050 email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
8th June > 15th July, 2017
Image by Brian Slater | Dancer Stine Nilsen
FOLD Gallery is pleased to present an exhi
bition of new work by
Nathaniel Rackowe, his
first solo presentation in
the
gallery.
The show will con sist of a large installation pr esented as a diptych along side smaller , more intimate , wall - based works . The diptych titled ‘ U N touched ’ is a collaborative performance piece between Rackowe and choreographer Angela Woodhouse .
‘ U N touched ’ operates on several levels ; as object - by creati ng a dialogue with the architecture of the gallery, inhabiting the space but also reflecting on its proportions and architecture. The audience is invited to occupy two separate but related sculptures incorporating glass, fl uorescent tubes and steel mesh so w hen viewed in conjun ction with the performance, the dialogue expands to explore ideas of intimacy and se paration as simultaneous events.
The corridor - like structure allows for multiple view ing points from outside, within and through. The glass becomes e ither transparent or reflective , depending on the sequencing of fluorescent lights attached to the steel, shifting the accent abruptly - from one of all encompassing to isolation. As an audience, while witnessing the performers interact with object and our own reflections appearing and disappearing, we are encouraged to question whether division can allow for in timate encounters.
The other half of the diptych consists of a glass platform onto which the viewer is invited to walk. Sub merged beneath are the pe rformers, whose presence is again revealed depending on the shifting light . This reaffirms the relationship betw een the performance , the object and audience. All of the participants become a part of the visual schema. There is a sense of voyeurism and dist ant views, which become checked in the gaze of others seeing you , or in y ou viewing others. The reality of separation suggests a touch that has no consequences, and yet the act of touch or walking over the surface of a body trig gers affecting notions of po wer and control .
The smaller works will relate to the main installation, and although they are part of the ‘whole’ can be read as separate interventions and operate individually . With t he incorporation of coloured surfaces, the cool glare of fluorescent tu bing is turned a bilious yellow or an acid green, emphasising the artificial, almost alien nature of these otherworldly hybrid objects. We are very aware that f or Rackowe, light is more a method than a medium, used to accent, to fill, to delineate, to high light; he carves it into r ays or floods it from apertures to e xplore both space and structure, surface and depth.
The show will con sist of a large installation pr esented as a diptych along side smaller , more intimate , wall - based works . The diptych titled ‘ U N touched ’ is a collaborative performance piece between Rackowe and choreographer Angela Woodhouse .
‘ U N touched ’ operates on several levels ; as object - by creati ng a dialogue with the architecture of the gallery, inhabiting the space but also reflecting on its proportions and architecture. The audience is invited to occupy two separate but related sculptures incorporating glass, fl uorescent tubes and steel mesh so w hen viewed in conjun ction with the performance, the dialogue expands to explore ideas of intimacy and se paration as simultaneous events.
The corridor - like structure allows for multiple view ing points from outside, within and through. The glass becomes e ither transparent or reflective , depending on the sequencing of fluorescent lights attached to the steel, shifting the accent abruptly - from one of all encompassing to isolation. As an audience, while witnessing the performers interact with object and our own reflections appearing and disappearing, we are encouraged to question whether division can allow for in timate encounters.
The other half of the diptych consists of a glass platform onto which the viewer is invited to walk. Sub merged beneath are the pe rformers, whose presence is again revealed depending on the shifting light . This reaffirms the relationship betw een the performance , the object and audience. All of the participants become a part of the visual schema. There is a sense of voyeurism and dist ant views, which become checked in the gaze of others seeing you , or in y ou viewing others. The reality of separation suggests a touch that has no consequences, and yet the act of touch or walking over the surface of a body trig gers affecting notions of po wer and control .
The smaller works will relate to the main installation, and although they are part of the ‘whole’ can be read as separate interventions and operate individually . With t he incorporation of coloured surfaces, the cool glare of fluorescent tu bing is turned a bilious yellow or an acid green, emphasising the artificial, almost alien nature of these otherworldly hybrid objects. We are very aware that f or Rackowe, light is more a method than a medium, used to accent, to fill, to delineate, to high light; he carves it into r ays or floods it from apertures to e xplore both space and structure, surface and depth.
