I DID DID I | GROUP PAINTING EXHIBITION

Private view
Friday 20 September 6-9pm

One of these men is Genius to the other;
And so of these. Which is the natural man.
And which is the spirit? Who deciphers them?

Duke Solinus. Act V, 'The Comedy Of Errors' by William Shakespeare.

ASC Gallery is pleased to present 'I DID, DID I', a group exhibition of paired paintings by Howard Dyke, Kate Groobey, Dominic Kennedy, Catherine Parsonage and Kes Richardson.

Shakespeare's play 'The Comedy of Errors' is reliant on mistaken identity. Two sets of twins, each being confused for the other.

In the Marx Brothers' film 'Duck Soup' Harpo attempts to convince Groucho that he is looking at a reflection of himself. Both parties become aware of the game to the point where we question who is really mimicking whom.

Two identical spaces have been created in the gallery from theatrical flats. Pairs of artworks are split so that each space contains one piece by each of the five artists. The hang is repeated in the same order in both spaces.

The twin spaces present us with an offbeat echo; an off-register carbon copy; a faulty clone. We are left guessing which is the facsimile and which the archetype. More than a game of spot the difference, we are invited to question authorship, originality, process and the role of sequence and series in contemporary painting. The doppelganger works act as dormant players, props and backdrops in a theatre of the absurd, challenging us to scrutinise them each in turn, to oust the imposter. Each work threatens further subtle transformations as soon as our backs are turned.

Howard Dyke graduated from Goldsmiths in 2002. Recent exhibitions include 'Law of the Jungle', Lehmann Maupin, New York, 'London Twelve', City Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic and solo shows at Charlie Dutton Gallery and Acme Project Space, London.

Kate Groobey graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2010. Recent shows include 'Creekside Open' selected by Paul Noble, 'The Perfect Place To Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art' curated by Robert Upstone and Paul Thompson, 'Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2011', ICA, London, 'Newspeak: British Art Now Part II'  Saatchi Gallery, London.

Dominic Kennedy graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004. Recent exhibitions include 'Dangerous Curves Ahead' at the Bermondsey Project Space, London, and 'Mudlark' and 'Silly Things' at FOLD Gallery, London.

Catherine Parsonage graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013. Recent exhibitions include '21st Century Art & Design RCA - 2013', Christies, London and 'Honeymoon', The Triangle Space, London.

Kes Richardson graduated from Bath Spa University College in 1998. Recent exhibitions include 'Mudlark' and 'Silly Things' at FOLD Gallery, London and 'The Marmite Prize for Painting' touring Tameside, Coventry and London.