Greg Colson, Tom Friedman, Toland Grinnell, Tim Hawkinson, Tom Sachs
Hand-Made USA
1 November – 2 December 2000

SPROVIERI
27 Heddon Street London W1B 4BJ

Hand-made USA brings together the work of five American artists who belong to the same generation: Tom Sachs (b.1966) and Toland Grinnell (b.1967), live and work in New York, Tim Hawkinson (b.1960) and Greg Colson (b.1956) are based in Los Angeles and Tom Friedman (b.1965) in Conway, Massachusetts.

Even though their work has no apparent similarities, they have in common a critical attitude towards the technological mass production formally expressed with an obsession for hand-made work, and the need to rescue the discarded of our consumerist society. These artists in fact concretely elaborate this critical attitude, by breaking down the spatiotemporal dimension typical of the technological production, choosing a much slower temporality, working with their hands. The rescue operation is carried out by the artists both at a memory level and the object itself, which has been quickly used and rejected by our society.

Colson’s work “Employment” is a composition of signs where he creates a map where he draws a parallel between the dynamics, which rule our lives: intentional and casual.
Friedman’s work exacerbates with a poetical obsession the recovery of any kind of refuse, which belongs to the context in which he lives and works. He recently had a solo exhibition at the MCA in Chicago, which will travel to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the Aspen Art Museum, the SoCCA in Winston-Salem and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
Grinnell constructs a paradox putting together the seductive aspects of the “luxury object” and its cruel sadistic one. He participated in the exhibition “Greater New York” in New York at PS1.
Hawkinson’s work “insomniac” is a self-portrait, giving a grotesque form to some internal dynamic of the artistic being. He recently had a solo exhibition at the Power Plant in Toronto and is currently exhibiting at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sachs uses a complex strategy involving different levels of thought. His elaborate and ironical construction and often employs symbols and images, belongong to Western art, alongside with everyday objects and labels, which refer to our violent and consumerist society.

The work of Greg Colson, Toland Grinnell and Tom Sachs is presented for the first time in the UK.

For further information and images, please contact Peter Contiliozzi,