Ron Terada - Stay Away From Lonely Places
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Ikon Gallery
Ron Terada - Stay Away From Lonely Places
28th March - 28th Sept 2006
Venue: Old Chapel & Sunday School, Fazeley Street & Floodgate Street in Eastside and Ikon Gallery
http://ikon-gallery.co.uk
Ikon presents two works by Canadian artist, Ron Terada (b. British Columbia, 1969). Terada is one of a new generation of artists based in Vancouver, heir to the photo-conceptualism of artists such as Jeff Wall and Roy Arden, whose work typically engages with the social and economic intricacies of the City. Terada’s work reveals an ambivalence with relation to geographical context, refusing to represent it and positioning itself beyond or outside defined borders, most notably in his signage work Welcome to the City of Vancouver. He has instead marked out a territory that blends sharp criticality with an affecting humour, melancholy and pathos. More recently he has focused on the way that language is used within popular culture, using the media of street signage, advertisements and catalogues.
Stay Away from Lonely Places (2005) is a large white neon sign backed on to brushed aluminum and steel. The sign, taken from a Willie Nelson song, will be mounted on to the old Chapel and Sunday School on the corner of Fazeley Street and Floodgate Street in Birmingham’s Eastside regeneration district. The ambiguous sign will compete with the commercial advertising and business signs around it. Illuminated 24 hours a day, the sign will have a ghostly presence in the evenings when the surrounding factories and offices close for business.
For Ikon’s building, Terada will be producing a ‘glitzy’ Hollywood-inspired sign for the main entrance to the gallery. The new commission, IKON (2006) will be permanently installed at the gallery and provide a flamboyant welcome to visitors.
