Simon Patterson, The Undersea World and Other Stories at National Maritime Museum on artrepublic.com

Destroy

Destroy

The Undersea World and Other Stories is an anthology of the artist’s work made over the last decade and features a newly commissioned work that takes as its starting point the figure of Jacques Cousteau. Associated by many for the long-running television programme The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, first screened in 1966, Cousteau was a pioneering scientist who developed the aqualung and extended human exploration of deep water. As with Patterson’s earlier film work Escape Routine (2002, DVD 33 minutes) that collapsed Harry Houdini’s classic escapes with familiar aeroplane safety demonstrations, this new work takes a lateral approach to a well-known and much-loved subject.

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Alongside this commission, The Undersea World and Other Stories takes a journey through Patterson’s work, including his reworked London Underground map, The Great Bear (1992); Monkey Business, a wall drawing inspired by the Marx Brothers’ 1931 film of the same name, showing cargo classified by geological time, animals and ports; Sister Ships (1995), four industrial-scale sculptures bearing the names of ships from the ill-fated White Star Line; Untitled (Sails) (1996), a set of fully rigged racing sails stretching to the upper limits of the exhibition space, bearing references to the writers Raymond Chandler, Laurence Sterne and Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte); and the one-minute film Timepiece (2005) where a pair of pocket watches move in and out of sync against a sound of a man and woman breathing as they push their bodies to physical limits.

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Patterson’s practice subtly subverts the systems and assumptions we live by, offering alternative, sometimes humorous, readings of the apparently familiar. Much of Patterson’s work is concerned with linking seemingly unrelated systems and unpacking the ways in which language is used to make sense of our place in the world. By replacing the names of tube stations with planets and explorers, or by replacing the names of star constellations with the history of a heavy metal band, Patterson turns the familiar inside-out and the trusted back-to-front.

Simon Patterson was born in the UK in 1967. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1996 and has exhibited widely in both group and solo shows in the UK and internationally. His work is included in the Tate Collection, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and many other many international collections. 

OPENING HOURS: Mon - Sun: 10.00 - 17.00

Image Credits:

Image 1: Simon Patterson, Cosmic Wallpaper, 2002, Digital Wallpaper.660 x 1880 cm. © Haunch of Venison Gallery.Photograph by Simon Patterson. 

Image 2: Simon Patterson, The Great Bear, 1992, 4-colour lithograph in glass and aluminium frame, edition of 50.109.2 x 134.6 cm. © Haunch of Venison Gallery, Photograph by John Riddy. 

Image 3: Simon Patterson, Sister Ships, 1995, Steel and plastic.4 parts each 168 x 244 cm. Instillation view: Lisson Gallery, London.© Haunch of Venison Gallery.Photograph by Stephen White.

Image 4: Simon Patterson. Untitled (Sails), 1996.Three parts: steel, aluminium, dacron and mixed media.Each 550 x 400 x 200 cm. Installation view: Lisson Gallery, London.© Haunch of Venison Gallery.Photograph by Stephen White.