Bio Bits
an installation by Alan Phelan
9 November – 8 December, 2006
The LAB is pleased to present the work of Alan Phelan. Over the past ten years Phelan’s practice has been concerned with a variety of approaches to biography which were brought together in the publication “Bio” in 2005. Much of this work has never been exhibited in Dublin. For this show a new configuration of selected works with be installed. The works will be attached to and located around a large scaffold tower in The LAB. This installation will contain sculpture, video, photography, works on paper from various projects from the last 11 years as well as incorporating new works. The installation will promblematise many of the specific narratives associated with the individual works as the works will have to function in a dynamic new context.
The “Bio” book will also be available from The Lab during the exhibition run. The publication includes texts by David Godbold, Jeanette Doyle, Cherry Smyth, Gemma Tipton, Mick Wilson, Sarah Pierce, Henriette Huldisch, Nataša Petrešin, Enda Leaney, Maria Fusco and Ciarán Bennett. These short essays respond to various projects as parallel rather than descriptive texts offering different insights into projects and artworks.
Alan Phelan was in born Dublin in 1968. Received a BA, Dublin City University, 1989 and MFA, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, 1994. He has exhibited in widely in Ireland and also in the UK, USA, Germany, Denmark and Slovenia. Recent exhibitions include the “Fading Fast”, Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland (2006); “Mother’s Ruin”, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (2006); “Test Pieces and Blend-in Moments”, SKC Gallery, Belgrade (2006); “GB and the Western World”, Galway Arts Centre and Letterkenny Arts Centre (2005), “Strata”, Ireland/Wales (2005); “Small: The Object in Film, Video and Slide Installation”, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2004); Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2005). Recent commissions include a web project for DCMNR Broadband www.broadbandart.ie. Curated projects include “Felons”, RHA, Dublin, (2005) “No Respect”, (2004) and “Stand Fast Dick and Jane”, (2001). He has also written several catalogue essays including texts on Vanessa O’Reilly, Abigail O’Brien, Tom Molloy, Mike Fitzpatrick and the forthcoming ”Mother’s Annual” on Petri Ala-Manus and Ciaran Murphy. He has also written for Circa, Contexts, Source and Visual Artists Ireland publications including the SSI Newsletter, VAN and was editor/curator for issue 5 of Printed Project launched at the 51st Venice Biennale. Alan Phelan is represented by Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin.
The exhibition “Fading Fast” at Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown remains open until 18 November, 2006.
Funded also by The Arts Council/An Chomhaire Ealaíon.
Bio Bits ● Alan Phelan ● The Lab ● 9 Nov- 8 Dec 2006
curated by Sheena Barrett
1. Greenberg Pages with Egon Schiele Portraits, 1994
toner on paper with palladium prints in plastic bags.
€4000 (the complete set contains 40 parts)
2. Anonymous, 1996
overhead projector with laser-etched projection bed.
(wiring on projector needs adjusting to function properly)
€1500
3. Self-Rescue Mechanism #8 multiple, 2002 edition of 3/3
rope slip knots, synthetic hair.
€200
4. Self-Rescue Mechanism #5, 1998
balsa wood soap-box cart, parachute, fan.
€2,500
5. Self-Rescue Mechanism #3, 1998
wax, light fixture, aluminium shelf.
€1,000 (original work had many bottles, this final version has one)
6. Self-Rescue Mechanism #11, 1998
sugar glass lenses.
€200 (the lenses come from a transparent telescope sculpture)
7. Cloaked Pig, 2000
cork mounted to homosote with rub down transfers, MDF.
€2,500 (the complete work contains 3 cork panels and a c-print)
8. Taxi, 2000
twenty panels of cork mounted onto MDF with rub down transfers.
€1,000 (the complete work also contains taxi receipts and vinyl lettering)
9. Flip Chart Sheets, 2000
laminated ink-jet print.
€600
10. Drag on a Fag, 2000
c-type colour photograph, PVC, stainless steel cloche.
€500 (there are six dome photos in the series)
11. Pig Trap, 2000
acrylic sculpture.
€2,000 (the complete work contains 3 Pig Traps, video and slide projection)
12. Pedestal, 2000
c-type colour photograph, PVC.
€300 (there are 4 photos in the series)
13. Three Stories, Lies, 2001, special BIO edition of 10
DVD video duration 12:28 mins.
€300
14. Lip Sync with Joe and Mel, 2002
vinyl adhesive sticker.
€200 (the complete work is a video projection on a chalk drawing)
15. Sam Wagstaff Gives Good, 2002
poster of mounted rolodex card from Perspectives 2002 exhibition.
€30 (the graphic comes from a work which is a video projection on painted surface with rolodex card)
16. Republic of Woodquay, 2003, special BIO BITS edition of 10
DVD video duration 2:54 mins.
€300
17. Headline Drawing (1883), 2004
ink on trace paper.
€300 (the complete series contains 22 drawings)
18. Fireplace, 2004
wood, photocopy on paper, poster paint, PVC.
sale: €4,000
19. Bennett Island case, 2006, special BIO BITS work
wood, vinyl adhesive sticker.
€500
20. Grandstand, 2004
acrylic, wood.
€5,000 (the complete work has more slats and a large base in a different configuration)
21. Playboy Riot Protection Structure, 2005
scaffold, polycarbonate, vinyl adhesive stickers, foam tubing.
€5,000 (the complete work has more panels, accessories and a different configuration)
22. Blended-in sensor, 2006
wood.
€200
23. GB Stickers, 2004
vinyl adhesive stickers
€20 each
