Project 4 is pleased to present “TOIL,” an exhibition of recent work by British artist, Jill Townsley. In her first solo exhibition in the United States, Townsley examines the role of repetition in art production through sculpture, installation, drawings, and video.
The exhibit title, “TOIL,” refers not only to Townsley’s workman-like dedication and painstaking process, but also serves as an acronym for Time Off In Lieu. Mind numbingly tedious tasks like scribbling, counting, or stacking, are coupled with large accumulations of everyday materials such as, till rolls, and hairgrips. Hours and hours of repeated action transform these otherwise meaningless objects into something greater than the sum of its parts. Through this excruciating repetition, Townsley questions wider cultural concerns of time and temporality, the concept of the moment, failure, erasure and authorship.
Jill Townsley studied Sculpture at the Royal College of Art and has a practice based PhD in Fine Art from Liverpool University, for which she received a Gladstone Fellowship from the University of Chester. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including the exhibitions: ‘Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive’ at Towner Contemporary in Eastbourne, UK, ‘Second Lives – Remixing the Ordinary,’ at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, and a solo exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in London.
Please join us for an opening reception Saturday, September 8, 6:00-8:30 pm with the artist in attendance. Jill Townsley will be giving an artist talk on Sunday, September 9, 2:30 before she returns to the UK.
Follow us on facebook For additional information or images please contact: Rachel Jennings
image: Jill Townsley, 10,000 Till Rolls, installation detail
Project 4
1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor, Washington, DC 20009
tel: 202 232 4340 [email protected]
Website: http://www.project4gallery.com/
Hours: Wed – Sat 12:00 – 6:00 pm, during exhibitions and by appointment.
