25 St. James's Street
London  SW1A 1HG

28 May – 20 July 2003

Amanda Beech The Patriot

For the first half of the summer, in the foyer at The Economist Tower, London-based artist Amanda Beech will present a body of new works entitled The Patriot.

The exhibition includes four new poster works displayed in wall-mounted light-boxes. These feature digitally manipulated compositions that take their titles from Hollywood action movies and which also appropriate the bombastic propaganda of movie poster advertising. Beech combines images from glossy magazines and advertising collaged with photography and drawing, in order to re-invent and re-play the epic narratives of these heroic adventures.

Beech is currently researching a PhD. in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London. Recent exhibitions have included The Big Warm Open, Cambridge Darkroom Gallery (1999); Break, Galerie Clark, Montréal (2000); Trick Peaser, Mandarina Duck, London (2001); and Blow Up Your TV, York City Art Gallery (2002).  Forthcoming exhibitions include Don't Fight It! at Gasworks Gallery, London in June.

Nick Ferguson LookOut Unit

Concurrently in the outdoor space of the Plaza at 25 St. James’s Street we will be exhibiting; Lookout Unit, a major work by London-based artist Nick Ferguson.

Originally commissioned by English Heritage for Marble Hill Park, Richmond, Lookout Unit is an eight-metre-tall watchtower built from timber, cables and galvanised steel. As his points of reference Ferguson uses the 18^th century folly, the military watchtower of imperialist Britain, and the gamekeeper’s observation post of rural England.

Placed within the modernist framework of the Economist Plaza and its surrounding buildings, the scale and contrasting materials of Lookout Unit creates a powerful interplay with these imposing structures. Whilst maintaining the appearance of function and purpose, the towering inaccessibility of Lookout Unit allows a more ambivalent perception of public space.

Current Exhibition

Forthcoming ExhibitionGdansk (2001).