No
Exit, Part 2
Ronnie Van Hout
28 October - 22 November 2003
The Physics Room is pleased to present No Exit, Part 2,an exhibition of all new work by Christchurch born, Melbourne based artist Ronnie van
Hout.
Ronnie Van Houts reputation as one of New Zealands
"liveliest and most irreverent artists" has recently been consolidated and
affirmed by the impressive survey show Ive Abandoned Me, organised by
the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and currently touring the major galleries of NZ and
Australia. Unfortunately, Christchurch has missed out on this major mid-career exhibition,
but local audiences will be lucky enough to sample the latest of Ronnie van Houts
works at the Physics Room.
A sequel of sorts, this new body of work follows No Exit Part 1,
shown at Linden gallery, Melbourne and also recently included in Still Life, a
group exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Most of the works for No
Exit Part 2 have been produced by van Hout in Wellington, where he is currently
undertaking an artist in residence programme at Massey University.
No Exit parts 1 and 2 owe their title to Jean Paul Sartre's 1945
'No Exit'. In Sartre's play, three dead people find themselves inextricably linked in a
barely furnished room. The three each slowly realise that they are in their own personal
versions of hell - being locked in a room with each other for eternity.
Van Hout's show at the Physics room, taking Sartre's play as its
influence, focuses on what may happen to the artist when he one day takes it upon himself
to stop. With an art practice full of self-portraits and analysis, van Houts work
here suggests that hell could be an eternity trapped within the desire to know your self.
Reviews, Essays & Articles
No Exit Part 2
the Package, #216, 6 - 12 November, 2003
Andrew Paul Wood
<available online via the Physics Room Archive>
Introspective
The Press, Wednesday 19 November,
2003
Margaret Duncan
About No Exit, Part 2
Postcards (Christchurch)
Art News New Zealand, Autumn, 2004
Sally Blundell
About No Exit, Part 2
No Exit Part 2
Essay by Robin Neate
in The Physics Room Annual 2003
ISBN: 0-9582359-7-X
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