EXHIBITIONS
martin lau
'The Menagerie Part 1: The Hermit and The Sleeping Beast'
Photographs
October 14t - 24th 2010
Part of Photomonth.
[Documentation / Catalgoue here]
Intimate portraits of behemoths. This one returns to the earth. This one shapes it with a roar.
[Documentation / Catalgoue here]
This show comprises the first two installments of the ongoing series The Menagerie.
Martin has been fascinated by industrial vehicles such as the ones featured here for as long as he can remember. They are undoubtedly impressive in terms of engineering ingenuity, but he has been drawn to them by their aesthetic as much as by their technical qualities.
On the one hand they are 'purely' utilitarian objects, but by virtue of the complex and exposed nature of their working parts, they take on an almost Baroque intricacy at times. It’s because of his deeply felt personal response to these machines that Martin considers these photographs to be intimate portraits.
Martin Lau was born at an early age in Oxfordshire, England, and grew up and is based in London. He works in film and photography, but uses whatever form is appropriate for conveying a given subjective experience. The photography frequently focuses on the man-made landscape around us, particularly forms arising as a by-product of function. The films tend to have a surreal, or hyper-real approach to what it’s like to alive and human. This is Martin’s second solo exhibition of work, following on from the urban landscape series Covered City, which also premiered at the NO:ID Gallery.
The private view on Oct 14th features sonic interpretations of The Hermit and The Sleeping Beast by Cos Chapman (of Rude Mechanicals) and Isnaj Dui (on Fbox Recordsrespectively, on a variety of electric and acoustic instruments.
Here you can download Cos' personal statement.