rub-a-dub-dub, / three men in a tub; / and who do you think they be? / the butcher, the baker, / the candlestick maker. / turn 'em out knaves, all three!
the exhibition is titled after a traditional english nursery rhyme, which depicts the scurrilous behaviour of three audience members at a fair‘s bawdy side-show attraction. «rub a dub dub» presents individual and collaborative work from three uk-based artists: jacob cartwright, nick jordan and stephen mcneilly – who work in painting, drawing, sculpture, text and video. the exhibition highlights the different approaches, connections, discords and dialogues that operate between each artist‘s practice, and illustrates an irreverent multiplicity at the centre of their work.
for projectroom exex butcher, baker and candlestick maker have each produced three new works, and will premiere a collaborative film: descriptions and sketches of some remarkable oaks. the film depicts three protagonists (the artists themselves) climbing, measuring, photographing and documenting some aged or dead oak trees, dramatically revealed in the birch-coppiced clearings of sherwood forest. the soundtrack comprises of three mechanical, distorted voices, each with a different pitch, reading william cowper‘s epic unfinished poem yardley oak, written in 1791. cowper presents the twisted and ancient oak as a totemic monument to a shared english identity, through which the inevitability of time‘s dissolution and decay is brought home to roost.
cartwright and jordan regularly produce work together, with their on-going project «würstundgritz», highlighting the contingencies and encounters of collaboration. their book, alien invaders, was recently published (2006), and exhibitions together include godwottery, transition gallery, london; the goose fair, castlefield gallery, manchester; künstlerhaus, castle plüschow, germany. they are currently undertaking a fellowship at the manchester museum. the exhibition expands their collaborative practice with mcneilly, who currently works with plasticine, photography and animation. mcneilly recently exhibited at vertigo gallery, london and redux, london; publications include in search of the absolute (2004); between method & madness (2005); the commonplace book (2007).
back to the german introduction
RUB-A-DUB-DUB, pressure points #2
jacob cartwright, nick jordan, steve mcneilly
may 4th to june 17th 2007
curator rachel lumsden
with friendly sponsorship from the british council
rub-a-dub-dub. opening, dialogue, party
the opening of the latest exhibition brings with it a line-up of surprises. at 20.00 rachel lumsden engages the three artists in conversation about their work and collaborations and from 22.00, dj stanley (alias marcel elsener) accompanied by a cool beer, presents manchester sounds: from the fall to john cooper clark …
thurs 3th may 2007, opening 19.00, artists talk 20.00, dj stanley from 22.00
live wires. cartwright, jordan and mcneilly
the artists jacob cartwright, nick jordan und stephen mcneilly debate and speculate over the airwaves by video conference and present directly from England, their favourite film.
thurs 14th june 2007, 20.00