Charlie Behrens: Shipton Street Gallery 2017 (full catalogue)

Charlie Behrens Shipton Street Gallery 9 — 30 Apr. 2017

all images and content Š Charlie Behrens front cover image: Sky Above Reno, 1983 (detail) 6 layer VHS screenprint 50 x 70 cm, 2017, edition of 20

This exhibition is the outcome of 18 months spent exploring the content of home movies on VHS/ Hi8 tapes, out of print publications and the boundaries of geometric lightbox collaging.

Graphic process has driven outcome where themes such as male body image, intimacy, entrenched Western narcissism and voyeurism emerge via fuzzy, super-saturated video images, screenprinted artworks and loose lightbox creations...

Behrens and David McNeill in Zombie High 2, 1994

The Magnetic Memories project began in late 2015 when Behrens came back into contact with a [bad] horror film he made on VHS with a friend when he was 14.

Watching it again so much later roused conflicting feelings of warmth, hilarity, mortification & self-loathing.

He began a trawl for other unique moments on videotape by offering to digitise publicly submitted footage for free — in exchange for permission to use images from the content to create new artworks.

Across the Street, Reno, Nevada, 1983 HahnemĂźhle VHS print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

School Play, North London, 1994 HahnemĂźhle VHS print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

Danielle on her Bike, Reno, Nevada, 1983 6 layer VHS screenprint 50 x 70 cm, 2016, edition of 35

Glitter Wrestling for Madame Jojo’s, London, 2001 Hahnemühle VHS print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

Danielle’s Father, Reno, Nevada, 1983 Hahnemühle VHS print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

Sue on the Sofa, Stockwell, London, 1997 HahnemĂźhle VHS print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

Fin on Summer Camp, Northumberland, 1995 HahnemĂźhle VHS/Hi8 print 10 x 12.5 cm, 2016

Disorders of Narcissism 2.1 3 layer screenprint 50 x 70 cm

This guy’s an architect living in a big city. He practices yoga in an attempt to augment his physique and to try and centre his mind which suffers from off-thecharts narcissism.

He often makes love to himself for hours at a time...

Eventually he comes in long and violent shudders, the sound of which send ripples of despair through the disconnected community around him.

Disorders of Narcissism 3 50 x 70 cm | 2 layer screenprint on newsprint artist’s proof

Disorders of Narcissism 1.1 3 layer screenprint 50 x 70 cm, 2017, edition of 9

Disorders of Narcissism 2.2 3 layer screenprint 50 x 70 cm, 2017, edition of 9

VHS diagram sourced from televideoramamuseum.blogspot.com

The Tape Head series is based on the mechanics of VHS playback and recording.

They grew from simple geometric illustrations loosely informed by diagrams of early VCRs. Behrens generates layer upon layer of these drawings and merges them via an iterative lightbox process.

Tape Head 5 HahnemĂźhle print 50 x 60 cm, edition of 5

1

3

4

Tape Head 2 HahnemĂźhle print 41 x 30 cm, edition of 10

A VHS tape head (1) rotates at 1500 RPM for PAL/SECAM systems (Europe, France, Japan, Australia etc) and 1798.2 RPM for NTSC (North America/Brazil etc).

It does this so that the tape can move very slowly, allowing for lengthy running times on the cassettes.

The tape head, aligned at an angle, reads the equally angled interlaced fields on the tape (2), sending the images (3) out to the TV set (4).

2

Tape Head 1 HahnemĂźhle print 41 x 30 cm, edition of 10

Tape Head 4 HahnemĂźhle print with screen printed colour layer 54 x 74 cm, edition of 5

The candid nature of some of the footage submitted to the Magnetic Memories Project was sometimes unsettling, since it raised the issue that not everyone captured on these tapes could have consented to the material being submitted.

Behrens couldn’t sit comfortably with the idea of sharing such images.

Instead of using the more ethically problematic content, he began to work on “staged� VHS prints.

Voyeur 6 layer VHS screenprint 50 x 70 cm, 2016, edition of 15

inkjet test image for 6 layer screenprint “Intimacy�, still in production at time of going to print.

Special thanks to the following brilliant individuals and organisations for their creative, personal or professional help over the last 18 months: Danielle Otnes, Amanda Grace Johnson, Jess O’ Keeffe, Lauren Matthews, Joe Hanson, Nadeem Chughtai, Becalelis Brodskis, Carla Houston and everyone who submitted to the MM project; Andy Pyett for surprising me with a copy of Zombie High and the good vibes; Blacklisted Editions for the shit-hot VHS screenprinting; Jemima Carter-Lewis, David Shand, Isabella Cotier, Mark McClure, Simon Way, Kat Lyne-Watt, Ben Rider, Russell Taysom, James Davison, Andy Macgregor, and everyone at Absorb Arts for lending hands, kit and helping bounce ideas; Nadia Otshudi for her awesome photography, Puck Studio for the amazing vinyl lettering; Instil Drinks; We Are Facility; The Print Space; Fred Higginson, Oli Fowler, Craig Keenan and everyone at Print Club London; Anna Artale, Jo Hogan, Lauren Jones, James Putnam, Ben Hardy, Alex Baxter-Brown, Mark Noad, Panopus Printing; Peter Mahon at the Shipton Street Gallery; Amelie Lindsay-Behrens, her mother Simone Lindsay, my mother Harriet Frazer and my stepfather Simon Frazer for their unending support.

“This exhibition is dedicated

to my father Tim, who passed away in A Coruña on February 8th 2017...

He never gave a fuck what anyone thought of his work or behaviour — he just put it out there and did what he did. Creatively he will always be an inspiration.”

charliebehrens.com Instagram: @charliebehrens contact: info@charliebehrens.com Shipton Street Gallery Shipton Street, London E2 7RZ shiptonstreetgallery.co.uk