The Butler Gallery is hosting Remote Control, an exhibition of works by David Beattie.
Through his open-ended experimentation and references to significant scientific discoveries in history, Beattie highlights how the language of science has evolved by way of our attempts to understand human existence. The experiential nature of the work, learning by doing, is an important aspect of his art practice. While he researches and investigates the physicality of space, substance, and time through the use of elementary physics and lo-fi aesthetics, Beattie manages to retain a sense of excitement and discovery for both himself and the viewer.
Beattie’s sculptural manipulations remain minimal. The use of movement, image, sound, and physics combine to create unlikely alliances. In this sense, he combines materials as much as he creates relationships between objects usually foreign to each other. These entities, in a newly installed union, remain autonomous in their formal economy. Incorporating an eclectic array of found objects, he utilises anything from electric motors to a child’s snare drum. Thoroughly inventive in his reapplication of once redundant domestic objects and technologies, Beattie then reconstitutes these elements into unique creations.
The exhibition in the Butler Gallery includes ‘Cloudmaker’, which begins with a commonplace water dispenser, elevated by a wooden tripod, which releases a single drop of water at naturally occurring intervals. When the drop hits the surface of a portable electric hob, positioned directly below, it immediately evaporates in a tiny cloud of vapour. ‘Waterfall’, a new video piece of the man-made waterfall in Kilfane Gardens in Kilkenny, plays continuously, permeating the gallery.
For further information on the work of David Beattie visit his website at www.david-beattie.net
