Tate Britain features the work of Clunie Reid and James Richards as part of the Art Now programme of contemporary displays. Open through Sunday 12 September 2010.

Reid and Richards create installation and video collages that explore the immersive nature of visual culture. They weave together imagery from found sources including advertising, magazines, cinema and the internet, and interject elements of the personal into otherwise banal material. Both artists subtly manipulate some images while leaving other untouched, exploiting the emotive potential of their material, and its cumulative effect on the viewer.

For Art Now, Clunie Reid has created Your Higher Plane Awaits 2010, a new installation of photo collages. The glossy images, often overlaid with scrawled text, possess an ambivalent status that nevertheless appears to interrogate the media from which they have emerged. Gaffer-taped to the wall, the black margins dictate the way in which the eye scans and moves across the surface, encouraging us to question our relationship to these images and mirroring the speed at which they are consumed.

Also on display is James Richards’ Call and Bluff 2009, in which footage from a promotional video for lighting equipment is presented on three monitors opposite a tightly edited sequence of shots from three different films. Image and soundtrack are arranged in a chorus and verse structure. The interplay between different elements subtly alters our reading of the images, and creates a state of continuing narrative tension.

Clunie Reid was born in Pembury in 1971. She lives and works in London. Her work has previously been exhibited at ICA, London; Focal Point Gallery, Southend; MOT International, London; the Saatchi Gallery, London; and most recently at Studio Voltaire, London.

James Richards was born in Cardiff in 1983. He lives and works in London. His work has been exhibited at the ICA, London, New Museum, New York; Tramway, Glasgow and most recently Focal Point Gallrey, Southend-on-Sea.

The Art Now programme at Tate Britain reflects the latest happenings in contemporary British art. It consists of a regular series of exhibitions, designed to demonstrate the quality and variety of new art in the UK.

Image: Clunie Reid, Your Higher Plane Awaits 2010. Courtesy the artist. James Richards, Call and Bluff 2009. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Tate Photography

www.tate.org.uk

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