Noli Me Legere 08/10/08 – 01/11/08

Noli Me Legere
Jim Allen, Hany Armanious, Simon Denny, Ava Seymour, Wolfgang Tillmans, Emily Wardill

Michael Lett
08/10/08 – 01/11/08
Preview Wednesday 08/10/08 6-8pm

Michael Lett is pleased to present Noli Me Legere, a group exhibition featuring work by Jim Allen, Hany Armanious, Simon Denny, Ava Seymour, Wolfgang Tillmans and Emily Wardill.

An accompanying, limited edition publication will be released during the exhibition, featuring writing by Jan Bryant and Sarah Hopkinson.

Jim Allen has been practicing since the 1960s and has been instrumental in the development of post-object and performance-based art in Australasia. He was among the founders of the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia and Founding Head of the Sydney College of the Arts, Australia. In 2007 Allen restaged his 1976 performance, Poetry For Chainsaws, at Michael Lett, Auckland, and the two-part installation O-AR at St Paul Street Gallery, Auckland; and in 2000 he presented the video works Contact, Post Objective and Hanging by a Thread at Artspace, Auckland. Noli Me Legere presents a vintage photographic print documenting Allen’s performance piece, Contact, first realized in 1974 at the Auckland Art Gallery. Jim Allen currently lives and works in Auckland.

Hany Armanious was born in Egypt and currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Recent solo projects include: Year of the Pig Sty at Michael Lett, Auckland, and Foxy Production, New York; Selflok, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne. Armanious has participated in the 1992 Sydney Biennale, the 1993 Venice Biennale and the 1995 Johannesburg Biennale and his work was recently included in an exhibition at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York and in Lost & Found: An Archaeology of the Present, TarraWarra Biennale, Melbourne. In November this year Armanious will present a new body of work at The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum St Louis, U.S.A.

Simon Denny was born in Auckland and is currently based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Recent exhibitions include: Alexander Bircken / Simon Denny, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Frankfurt am Main; Revolutions: Forms That Turn, 2008 Biennale of Sydney; Recent Haircuts, Uplands Gallery, Melbourne and Gambia Castle, Auckland; and Compression Club, Michael Lett, Auckland. Later this year Denny will participate in the 2008 Brussels Biennial and, during October, will present work at 79a Brick Lane, London.

Over the past ten years Ava Seymour has staged major solo exhibitions of her photographic work throughout New Zealand and Australia. Recent shows include: Corinthos, Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington; The New Order, Brooke Gifford, Christchurch; The White House Years, Michael Lett, Auckland. In 2006 Seymour’s work was included in Collage Effect at 1301PE, Los Angeles and toured Australia and New Zealand in The National Gallery of Australia’s 2003 exhibition, Home Sweet Home. Ava Seymour currently lives and works in Auckland.

Wolfgang Tillmans was born in Remscheid, Germany and currently lives and work in London and Berlin. Recent solo projects include: Strings, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris; Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Wako Works of Art, Tokyo; Paper Drop, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne; Vue d'en Haut, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters, Tate Britain, London. In 2000, Tillmans was awarded the Turner Prize. Noli Me Legere marks the inaugural exhibition of Tillmans’ work in New Zealand.

Emily Wardill lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include: Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London; Ben, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), Perth; and Basking in what feels like 'an ocean of grace', I soon realise that I'm not looking at it, but rather that I AM it, recognising myself, Jonathan Viner / Fortescue Avenue, London. Her works have also been included in group exhibitions such as Lightbox at Tate Britain, Reykjavik Experiment Marathon, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, (Serpentine Gallery / Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland) and An Ambiguous Case, MUMOK, Vienna.

ENDS

478 Karangahape Road
PO Box 68287 Newton
Auckland 1145
New Zealand

www.michaellett.com

© Scoop Media