NAVAN.- Of Peras and Apeiron: ends and infinity is an exhibition of artists who explore systematic processes as an inherent part of their practice. Francis Halsall and Belinda Quirke have curated a selection of work that explores the different numerical, geometrical and methodical systems that can be used to make art. They have found artists who both explore the potential of the infinite and unbounded (Apeiron) whilst acknowledging they will always be bound by limits (Peras). The resulting work reveals approaches that are mathematical and rational, fictional and personal whilst exploring the deep creativity of systems made by humans and other agents.

Gerard Caris (Netherlands) devoted his arts practice to endless applications of what he termed pentagonism in drawing, print and sculpture.

Channa Horwitz’s (US) extraordinary system of notation, Sonakinatography embeds colour, sound and motion into unparalleled logic scores. Working methodically on common US graph paper with eight squares to the inch, Horwitz’s Sonakinatography allows the artist to “see time visually”, and create a universal notational language for creative interpretation.

Roy Johnston’s (Northern Ireland) work of the late sixties to early eighties, employs rigorous Pythagorean rationalism and colour permutation both in sculptural form and 2D relief.

Neil Clements (NI/Scotland) sets the year 1968 as a control method in deference to Johnston’s “Systems”. Facsimiles of abstract paintings characterised as peripheral to central art historical narratives are recreated by the artist in tread plate.

Ronnie Hughes (Ireland) memetic paintings thwart mathematical exactitudes through symmetrical slippages that optically and somatically perplex the viewer.

The grid is often referenced in Grace McMurray’s (Northern Ireland) practice as both a tool, and framing device to the quiet, hidden fabrication of gendered labour. McMurray uses drawing, patchwork, knitting, and weaving within their work, seeking succor in memetic, geometric construction of handcrafted textiles.

Possible Utopian futures are explored in both Dannielle Tegeder’s (US) and Suzanne Treister’s (UK) practice. Tegeder summons the cosmological and the spiritual by means of invented sigils within fabricated urban schematics, whilst Treister’s multi-planetary, fictional persona, and tech futurism frequently allude to the Kabbalistic gematria and mystic systems.

Gerard Caris, Neil Clements, Channa Horwitz, Ronnie Hughes, Roy Johnston, Grace McMurray, Dannielle Tegeder and Suzanne Treister.

Curated by Francis Halsall and Belinda Quirke