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MPHQ in London at They Come. They Sit. They Go

https://theycometheysittheygo.co.uk

In June 1891 Paul Gauguin landed in Tahiti with a romantic image of an untouched paradise. After six years settled on the island, and crippled by self-doubt and unable to paint for six months, Gauguin vowed to paint his final masterpiece, his last work, inscribed with the questions: ‘D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous’  I ‘Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

In September 2022 MPHQ Project Space Cologne I London presented the exhibition Paradise Lost in Cologne. With the title taken from John Milton’s 1667 epic poem, Paradise Lost gave artists the scope to approach and explore the questions Gauguin had posed in the 19th century: How artists reflect on the changing world around them and maintain dialogue in a time of crisis. 

Paradise Lost II in London presents 5 artists from Cologne and 5 artists from London to further ensure the exchange between artists and gallery spaces in the UK and the EU and to explore the questions we pose and the answers we seek as the flood of images force the artist to question their role as image and social commentary provider, that emphasises the ongoing importance of artistic endeavour and cultural exchange in a rapidly changing world. 

MPHQ Pictures is an independent film production company currently in production on the film BACON’S HISTORIES shooting in Greece, London, Paris, Spain and Germany.

The final film in Martha Parsey’s Francis Bacon trilogy explores the influence of the Histories, namely the Greek dramas, Egyptian sculpture, and poetry and literature on Francis Bacon’s painting; both in his style and choice of subject matter. The film is underscored by previously unpublished interviews with Francis Bacon discussing at length the influence of the Greeks and Egyptians, as well as the influence of the poets T.S Eliot and the work of Shakespeare. 

The style of this film is derived from Greek tragedy, note the closing words of Oedipus… ‘Then learn that mortal man must always look to his ending’. The origins of the art of drama, its roots in the instinct for ritualistic expression, impersonation, and interpretation of the power of natural forces, the nexus of past, present and future, the expression of the sensation and reasonings excited by the battles with the external forces that appear to govern man’s life: in Sophocles’ words ‘the battle of man with more than man’. 

GERMAN:

Der dritte Teil einer Francis-Bacon-Filmtrilogie.

Der letzte Film in Martha Parseys Francis Bacon-Trilogie untersucht den Einfluss der Historien, d.h. der griechischen Dramen, der ägyptischen Skulptur sowie der Poesie und Literatur auf Francis Bacons Malerei, sowohl in seinem Stil als auch in der Wahl seiner Themen. Der Film wird durch bisher unveröffentlichte Interviews mit Francis Bacon untermauert, in denen er ausführlich über den Einfluss der Griechen und Ägypter sowie über den Einfluss der Dichter T.S. Eliot und Shakespeare spricht.

Der Stil dieses Films ist von der griechischen Tragödie abgeleitet, man beachte die abschließenden Worte von Ödipus: “Dann lerne, dass der sterbliche Mensch immer auf sein Ende schauen muss”. Die Ursprünge der Kunst des Dramas, ihre Wurzeln im Instinkt für rituellen Ausdruck, Verkörperung und Interpretation der Macht der natürlichen Kräfte, die Verknüpfung von Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft, der Ausdruck der Empfindungen und Überlegungen, die durch die Kämpfe mit den äußeren Kräften, die das Leben des Menschen zu bestimmen scheinen, angeregt werden: in Sophokles’ Worten “der Kampf des Menschen mit mehr als dem Menschen”.

Michael Conrads is an artist who divides his time between Germany and Mexico. Known for his geometric abstract painting he has recently been exploring new directions in his painting, sculpture and ceramics during a residency in Mexico. Michael is represented by Produzentengalerie Hamburg.

a

An Exhibition of Cinematic Art

15th April- 30th April 2023

Opening screening Saturday 15th April

MPHQ Project Space presents the first gallery screening as a motion picture artwork of Ken McMullen’s ‘Hamlet Within’ starring Ian McKellen, John Shrapnel, Ben Turner, Lex Shrapnel, Gabriella Wright, Jacques Derrida, Dominique Pinon and Martha Parsey. Written and Directed by Ken McMullen. Produced by Art Cinema, Scape Productions and Twenty One Productions. The film is in English, German, French, Mandarin, Italian and Russian with English subtitles.

Hamlet Within is a radical cinematic investigation into the myth of Hamlet, its origins and its enduring appeal across cultures and systems of beliefs. Drawing on post-modernist movements in Art, History, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis the work asks the question ‘why Hamlet?’ and indeed ‘why now?’.

German / Deutsch: MPHQ Project Space präsentiert die erste Galerieaufführung als Filmkunstwerk Deutschlandpremiere von Ken McMullens “Hamlet Within” mit Ian McKellen, John Shrapnel, Ben Turner, Lex Shrapnel, Gabriella Wright, Jacques Derrida, Dominique Pinon und Martha Parsey. Buch und Regie: Ken McMullen. Produziert von Art Cinema, Scape Productions und Twenty One Productions. Der Film ist in Englisch, Deutsch, Französisch, Mandarin, Italienisch und Russisch mit englischen Untertiteln.

Hamlet Within ist eine radikale filmische Untersuchung des Hamlet-Mythos, seiner Ursprünge und seiner anhaltenden Anziehungskraft über Kulturen und Glaubenssysteme hinweg. Unter Rückgriff auf postmoderne Bewegungen in Kunst, Geschichte, Philosophie und Psychoanalyse stellt das Werk die Frage “Warum Hamlet?” und in der Tat “Warum jetzt?

Press release ‘Hamlet Within’:

In June 1891 Paul Gauguin landed in Tahiti with a romantic image of an untouched paradise. After six years settled on the island, and crippled by self-doubt and unable to paint for six months, Gauguin vowed to paint his final masterpiece, inscribed with the questions:
D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

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The press release for the exhibition with all available work can be downloaded here:

All enquiries please contact us by email on info@mphqprojectspace.com

Walter Dahn is a German painter, photographer and sound artist, who is one of the most important ‘Jungen Wilden’ of the 1980s and taught Painting at the Art School in Braunschweig. From 1971 to 1979 Dahn studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf as a Master Student of Joseph Beuys. His first works were drawings and installations in Room 19 of the Academy. The focus of his work rests largely in drawing, photography, and making Super 8 and 16mm films. From 1979 to 1982 he was a member of the Artists Collective Mülheimer Freiheit, along with Hans Peter Adamski, Peter Bömmels, Jiří Georg Dokoupil, Gerard Kever and Gerhard Naschberger. Walter Dahn lives and works in Cologne.

http://www.spruethmagers.com/artists/walter_dahn@@overview

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Ken McMullen is an award-winning film director and artist living currently in London. His feature films are distributed world wide, his documentaries broadcast extensively and his art works exhibited in leading contemporary art galleries in Europe, The United States and the Far East. Whilst his primary studio is in London he has been working in the CERN Prototype Workshop in Geneva and in Greece and Lisbon. Ken McMullen is an artist who became a filmmaker, and his films are both cinematic and painterly. He works intuitively and visually, with his films grounded in philosophy, history, psychoanalysis and literature.  McMullen’s exhibition Signatures of the Invisible brought together artists and scientists working at CERN, the European particle physics facility near Geneva, and was shown at Centre de Edition Contemporaine, Geneve, the Museu Gulbenkian, Lisbon and at PS1 MOMA New York.

https://kenmcmullenfilms.wordpress.com/

Frequently employing dark glamour and a wry deliberate humour, her paintings, depicting female impropriety, work within the tradition of feminist art to offer a riposte to self-censure. Drawn to investigate the meaning of cultural trends she invites the viewer to reflect on the ways in which gender, class, sexuality and spectatorship slyly intersect to circumscribe the repertoire of legitimate actions available to women.

While sceptical of straightforward narratives of empowerment, the paintings depict the differences between private and public selves, as well as the adoption of protective guises as a form of subterfuge, often discomfortingly at odds with the inner self.

https://roxanahalls.com

https://www.paulstolper.com/exhibitions/54-snap-the-portfolio-2011/works/