CutUp
5 April - 30 April 05

Kemistry Gallery is pleased to introduce an exhibition set to infiltrate the streets of Shoreditch. The show, at the gallery from 5th – 30th April, is the first exhibition of South London based creative group CutUp. The artists and graphic designers who form CutUp came together through a collective desire to visually reorder the urban landscape, taking their lead from Situationist theory. In CutUp Show they dramatically communicate a shared belief that constant exposure to advertising and media images has altered the way in which we show and communicate our feelings. Their mantra goes that “Street adverts are a privileged form of address and the space they commandeer is disproportionate. Advertisements and the mass media depict life and how we
should live it in a spectacular way. We find it increasingly difficult to know how to express our inner thoughts and
feelings, which seem mundane in contrast to the emotional saturation in the plethora of advertising surrounding us.” CutUp’s billboard images are created by slicing up an a carefully selected billposter and then collaging all the pieces into a newly ordered image. The images are portraits of people who are suffering or have suffered under the strain of this spectacular society. They are accompanied by slogans expressing thoughts that are not usually articulated aloud. The effect is overwhelming and confusing. The billboards are transformed from commercial message bearers into public talking points. CutUp work in collage and photomontage following a tradition that dates back to the Victorian era. “The procedure of cutting and retouching using synthetic images reflected radical leaps of imagination characteristic of an age of turmoil and utopian idealism. We live in similarly tumultuous times
and this is reflected by the return to photomontage by contemporary illustrators and designers. “ The exhibition will be hosted within the gallery and on the surrounding streets of Shoreditch. The gallery site will feature a
series of smaller scale lightbox images and a 16mm film documenting the making of a billboard piece. CutUp will also
create a series of full size billboard images in the surrounding urban environment.

Kemistry Gallery
43 Charlotte Rd, Shoreditch
London EC2